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

table and noticed that Cousin Mercer, sitting behind the remains of
the turkey, was the only grown-up man there. All the family? she
thought. ShouldnтАЩt there be some uncles? But she was afraid it
might be rude to ask.
The turkey was followed by treacle pudding that Hayley was far
too full to eat. While everyone else was devouring it down to the
last few sticky golden crumbs, the rain got worse. Hayley could
hear it battering on the windows and racing through pipes outside
the walls. The Laxton cousins were very put out by it. It seemed
that there was some game that they always played when they were
at the Castle and they had wanted to start playing it that very
evening.
тАЬWe couldnтАЩt have played tonight anyway,тАЭ Troy said in his calm
way. тАЬItтАЩs too dark to see, even if it wasnтАЩt raining.тАЭ
Then the Tigh cousins wanted to know if they could play the
game indoors instead. The Laxtons thought this was a splendid
notion, and said so at the tops of their voices. тАЬWe could use the big
drawing room for it, couldnтАЩt we?тАЭ they demanded of Harmony, who
seemed to be in charge of the game.
тАЬNo way,тАЭ Harmony said. тАЬIt has to be done out of doors. WeтАЩll do
it tomorrow, when the grass in the paddock has dried.тАЭ
This raised such a shout of disappointment that Harmony said,
тАЬWe can do hide-and-seek indoors, if you like.тАЭ
There were cheers. Aunt Geta murmured, тАЬBless you, Harmony.
Keep them organised till bedtime if you can and weтАЩll let you off
clearing the dishes.тАЭ
So while the aunts cleared away the stacks of plates, everyone
except Hayley rushed away into other parts of the house. Aunt May
picked up HayleyтАЩs suitcase and showed her up a flight of stairs into
a small white bedroom with a fluffy bedspread which Hayley much
admired. There Aunt May drew the curtainsтАФwhich flapped and
billowed in the gusts of rainy wind outsideтАФand then helped
Hayley unpack the suitcase.
тАЬAre these all the clothes youтАЩve got, my dear?тАЭ Aunt May asked,
shaking out the other two floral dresses. тАЬThese are not very
practicalтАФor very warm.тАЭ
Hayley felt hugely ashamed. тАЬGrandma said Aunt Ellie was going
to buy me clothes in Scotland,тАЭ she said. тАЬTo go to school in.тАЭ
тАЬHm,тАЭ said Aunt May. тАЬIтАЩll have a look and see if I can dig you out
something to wear while youтАЩre here.тАЭ She carefully spread HayleyтАЩs
pink-and-white pajamas out over the white bed. тАЬHm,тАЭ she said
again. тАЬHayley, if you donтАЩt mind my asking, just what did you do
to make your grandmother so angry?тАЭ
Hayley knew she would never be able to explain, when she
hardly knew what had happened herself. Aunt May would surely
not understand about Flute and Fiddle. Besides, Grandma had
never seen either of them. She had only seen the boy with the dogs,
but why that had made her so very angry Hayley had no idea. All
she could manage to say was, тАЬGrandma said I was romancing at
first. Then she said I was bringing the strands here and destroying