"Louis L'amour - sackett05 - Ride The River" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Amour Louis)

Womenfolks did not go armed in Philadelphia, Ma said, unless they carried a
hatpin, but nobody needed hatpins with the poke bonnets everybody was wearing. I
let mine sort of hang back on my neck by its ribbon because I could see better
from the corners of my eyes, and I'd spent too much time in the woods to want my
vision blocked to the sides.
There were handsome buildings to right and left, with marble steps. The streets
were of brick. Passing by a building with a beautiful marble front to it and
marble steps, all the marble with blue veins, I glimpsed some brass plates with
the names of the occupants on them.
One I noticed in particular because it had a familiar sound.
CHANTRY & CHANTRY, LAWYERS
Seemed to me it was a name I'd heard at storytelling time back in the mountains.
We'd set around with the fire crackling, sometimes popping corn or having a
taffy pull, and there would be stories told.
2
Sure enough, I found James White's office on a side street. Opening the door, I
entered and found it was a small room with a couple of hard chairs, a sofa, and
a small desk with a young man settin' behind it. Yet just as I entered, the door
across the room was closing and I caught a glimpse of a boot heel and some pants
leg before the door closed. Looked like that man who followed me, but how he
could have gotten ahead without me seeing him, I did not know. Maybe it was
somebody else.
The young man behind the desk had rumpled hair and a sly look to him. He looked
kind of unwashed and slept-in. He looked at me impudent-like and said, "What's
for you?"
"I would like to see Mr. White. Tell him Miss Sackett is here."
He sat there for a minute like he had no idea of moving, and then he stood up.
"Sackett, is it? You that hillbilly girl?"
"If you will tell Mr. White that I am here ..."
"Little thing, ain't you?"
"I am as big as I need to be."
He leered. "Reckon that's so. Yes, sir! I reckon you're right, at that!"
"Mr. White, please."
He turned lazily and went to the door, opened it, and said, "Girl to see you.
Name of Sackett."
There was the sound of a chair moving and then the young man drew back and an
older man, short and heavyset, pushed by him. His black hair was slicked down
over a round skull. As he came through the door he was shrugging into a coat,
and he wore a bushy mustache.
His wide smile revealed more teeth than I'd seen in a long time and he said,
"Miss Sackett? I am James White. Will you come in, please?"
He let me go past him and then he followed, waving me to a chair and sitting
down behind his desk. "Is this your first trip to Philadelphia, Miss Sackett?"
"Yes, sir. We don't have much occasion to come down to the Settlements."
"Settlements?" He looked surprised, then chuckled. "Of course! Settlements. I
suspect it has been a long time since Philadelphia has been referred to as a
Settlement."
"I came about the money."
"Ah, yes. Of course. You can prove who you are, Miss Sackett? I mean, that you
are a descendant of Kin Sackett?"