"Katherine Kurtz - Adept 01 - The Adept" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

Moroccan leather caught his eye.
On an impulse, he drew it off the shelf and turned it over in his hands, appreciating the workmanship of the
fine binding. Riffling through the pages, he discovered that it was a first edition of Psychologic und Alchemic
by Carl Jung, dated 1944. On the flyleaf, a handwritten note read:
"To Philippa Sinclair," followed by an inscription in German. The signature was that of Jung himself.
A shadow fell across Peregrine's right shoulder. "My mother was a student of Jung's," Adam said from behind
him. "She's also a psychiatrist. He sent her that book shortly after she and my father were married."
Peregrine turned to glance at his host, the book still open in his hands. "Is she Swiss, then?"
"No, she's an American," Adam said, "but she was in Switzerland, studying with Jung, when the Second
World War broke out. When the United States entered the war in 1942, she joined the U.S. Army Medical
Corps. She and my father met up in a field hospital behind the lines - and the rest, as they say, is history."
Peregrine closed the book and carefully returned it to its place on the shelf. "I gather she's still alive?"
"Oh, quite," Adam returned with a laugh. "At the moment she's in America, supervising the running of her
clinic in New Hampshire. That was a bone of contention while my father was alive, since he thought she
should be here all the time, attending to her duties as lady of the manor. Since his death, however, that's
where she spends most of her time. She maintains that the work keeps her young."
He might have said more, but at that moment Humphrey's discreet knock heralded the arrival of tea and
scones. As Peregrine followed Adam back to the fireside, he reflected that a capacity for remarkable
achievements seemed to run in the Sinclair family.
They passed the evening quietly at Strathmourne. A simple but excellent dinner was followed by brandy in
the now-familiar environs of the library.
"I suggest we make an early evening of it," Adam said. "I think you'll agree that last night was - ah -
something less than restful, and tomorrow, after I make my rounds down at Jordanburn, I've got to drive up to
Gleneagles for the afternoon. It's the quarterly meeting of the Royal Scottish Preservation Trust, and I'm
speaking. Perhaps you'd like to come along."
"Well, I - "
"It's no intrusion, if that's what you're thinking," Adam said with a smile. "I think you'd enjoy it - and it would
give me the chance to present you to some good friends of mine who are members of the Trust - friends who
might be the source of future commissions," he added, raising his glass in smiling salute, "if the prospect of
my company for the day and a bunch of probably boring lectures aren't sufficient enticements."
Warmed through by the brandy and the glow of their growing camaraderie, Peregrine found himself agreeing.
Only much later, after he had retired to his room for the night and was drifting off to sleep, did it occur to him
that this was the first social engagement in months that he had allowed himself to accept. Nor had he
thought even once about the despair that had driven him here to Strathmourne not twenty-four hours before.
The next day, Monday, dawned fair and fine. After an early breakfast, Adam left Peregrine on his own for a
few hours while he zipped into Edinburgh to see patients, returning just after eleven to pick him up.
"Traffic was lighter than I expected," Adam said, as he leaned across to open the passenger door of the
Jaguar for Peregrine. "We may even have time for a proper lunch. I told some friends we'd try to join them, if
we got there before one."
They arrived at the Gleneagles Hotel with plenty of time to spare. Adam's friends turned out to be the Duke of
Glendearn, who was president and principal patron of the Trust, and several other titled notables, several of
whom were acquainted with Peregrine's work. The warmth of their reception did much to dispel Peregrine's
initial shyness, and by the time lunch was finished, he was well on the way to finding himself at home.
Peregrine glanced at the program leaflet Adam handed him as they went into the lecture room. The morning's
program, he found, had included the society's business meeting and several addresses on various aspects of
Scottish history. The events scheduled for the afternoon included several more speeches and a series of
panel discussions - none of which turned out to be at all boring, so far as Peregrine was concerned.
Adam's own contribution, last on the agenda, was a lecture on the subject he termed "Intuitive Archaeology."
Interestingly enough, to Peregrine's way of thinking, no one seemed inclined to leave early. In fact, people
who had been wandering in and out during the afternoon made a point to come back in as the duke was