"Diana Wynne Jones - The Game" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

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This one is for Frances


1
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When Hayley arrived at the big house in Ireland, bewildered and in
disgrace, rain was falling and it was nearly dark. Her cousin
Mercer had called the place just тАЬthe Castle.тАЭ As far as Hayley could
see, peering up at the place while Cousin Mercer was paying the
taxi, the building was a confusing mixture of house and castle and
barn. She could see turrets and sharply sloping roofs, tall chimneys,
a wooden wall, and a stone part at one side that seemed to have
been patched up with new bricks. Then the taxi drove off in a spurt
of mud. Cousin MercerтАФwho had confused Hayley all along by
turning out to be a grown-up youngish man and not a cousin her
own ageтАФpicked up HayleyтАЩs small old-fashioned suitcase and
hurried her into the house, where it was more than ever confusing.
They came into a large stone-floored dining room full of people
milling about around the enormous dining table, or in and out of
the big kitchen beyond. Most of them were children, but all
older-seeming and larger than Hayley, while distracted-looking
ladies, who were probably aunts, pushed this way and that among
them with piles of plates and baskets of bread.
Nobody took any notice of Hayley at all. True, somebody said,
тАЬGood. SheтАЩs here. Now we can eat at last,тАЭ but nobody really
looked at her. Cousin Mercer left Hayley standing beside her
suitcase and threaded his way to the kitchen, shouting, тАЬMother!
Sorry about this. The plane was late and the taxi driver lost the
way!тАЭ
Hayley stood. Her arms hung slightly outwards from the rest of
her and her hands dangled, useless and floppy with strangeness.
She had never been in the same room with so many people in her
life. She was used to the hushed and sequestered way Grandma and
Grandad lived, where nobody ran about, or laughed much, and
nobody ever shouted. These people were so lively and so loud . She
didnтАЩt know who any of them were, apart from Cousin Mercer who
had brought her here from England, and she missed her friend
Flute acutely, even though it was probably FluteтАЩs fault that she
was here and in disgrace. She still didnтАЩt understand how she had
made Grandma so angry.
Hayley sighed. The other main thing about these tall, rushing,
shouting children was that they all wore jeans or long baggy
trousers with lots of pockets down the sides and bright stripy tops.
Hayley sadly realised that her neat floral dress and her shiny
patent leather shoes were quite wrong for this place. She wished
she had jeans and trainers too, but Grandma disapproved of