"Jones, Diana Wynne - Chrestomanci 2 - 1980 - The Magicians of Caprona" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

even lower whisperЧhad babies like kittens; how they were apt to drown their
unwanted babies, again like kittens, and had even been known to eat unwanted
uncles and aunts; and how they were so dirty that you could smell the Casa
Petrocchi and hear the flies buzzing right down the Via Sant' Angelo.
There were many other things besides, some of them far worse than these, for
Lucia had a vivid imagination. Paolo and Tonino believed every one, and they
hated the Petrocchis heartily, though it was years before either of them set
eyes on a Petrocchi. When they were both quite small, they did sneak off one
morning, down the Via Sant' Angelo almost as far as the New Bridge, to look at
the Casa Petrocchi. But there was no smell and no flies buzzing to guide them,
and their sister Rosa found them before they found it. Rosa, who was eight years
older than Paolo and quite grown-up even then, laughed when they explained their
difficulty, and good-naturedly took them to the Casa Petrocchi. It was in the
Via Cantello, not the Via Sant' Angelo at all.
Paolo and Tonino were most disappointed in it. It was just like the Casa
Montana. It was large, like the Casa Montana, and built of the same golden stone
of Caprona, and probably just as old. The great front gate was old knotty wood,
just like their own, and there was even the same golden figure of the Angel on
the wall above the gate. Rosa told them that both Angels were in memory of the
Angel who had come to the first Duke of Caprona bringing a scroll of music from
HeavenЧbut the boys knew that. When Paolo pointed out that the Casa Petrocchi
did not seem to smell much, Rosa bit her lip and said gravely that there were
not many windows in the outside walls, and they were all shut.
"I expect everything happens around the yard inside, just like it does in our
Casa," she said. "Probably all the smelling goes on in there."
They agreed that it probably did, and wanted to wait to see a Petrocchi come
out. But Rosa said she thought that would be most unwise, and pulled them away.
The boys looked over their shoulders as she dragged them off and saw that the
Casa Petrocchi had four golden-stone towers, one at each corner, where the Casa
Montana only had one, over the gate.
"It's because the Petrocchis are show-offs," Rosa said, dragging. "Come on."
Since the towers were each roofed with a little hat of red pan-tiles, just like
their own roofs or the roofs of all the houses in Caprona, Paolo and Tonino did
not think they were particularly grand, but they did not like to argue with
Rosa. Feeling very let down, they let her drag them back to the Casa Montana and
pull them through their own large knotty gate into the bustling yard beyond.
There Rosa left them and ran up the steps to the gallery, shouting, "Lucia!
Lucia, where are you? I want to talk to you!"
Doors and windows opened into the yard all around, and the gallery, with its
wooden railings and pan-tiled roof, ran around three sides of the yard and led
to the rooms on the top floor. Uncles, aunts, cousins large and small, and cats
were busy everywhere, laughing, cooking, discussing spells, washing, sunning
themselves or playing. Paolo gave a sigh of contentment and picked up the
nearest cat.
"I don't think the Casa Petrocchi can be anything like this inside."
Before Tonino could agree, they were swooped on lovingly by Aunt Maria, who was
fatter than Aunt Gina, but not as fat as Aunt Anna. "Where have you been, my
loves? I've been ready for your lessons for half an hour or more!"
Everyone in the Casa Montana worked very hard. Paolo and Tonino were already
being taught the first rules for making spells. When Aunt Maria was busy, they