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

mountains, sir, and my father loved the echoes."
"The mountains? Tennessee, no doubt?"
"Why, yes, sir. How did you know? Oh! My accent!"
"On the contrary, Miss Sackett. I once knew someone of your name, a very long
time ago, and he was from Tennessee."
Finian Chantry moved some papers aside, and marking his place in the open book,
closed it. "He was a fine man, a great man in his way. Were it not for him, I
might not be here tonight. He was a good friend to me, and an older friend of my
brother's."
"If you could tell me his name, sir?"
"Daubeny Sackett. He fought in the Battle of King's Mountain, among others."
"He was my grandfather, sir."
Finian Chantry sat back in his chair. With his shock of white hair and his lean,
strong features, he was a strikingly handsome man.
"Then perhaps I can call you Echo?" His face became serious. "Now, Echo, what
can I do for you?"
Seated across from him, I told him my story as simply and directly as possible.
How we had seen the notice in the Penny Advocate and how I had written to James
White and had come to claim my inheritance.
"This inheritance. Do you know from whom it comes?"
"No, sir. It was to go to the youngest of Kin Sackett's line, so whoever left
the money must have known our family for a very long time. Kin Sackett has been
dead for two hundred years."
"Strange," Chantry agreed, "but interesting, very interesting. And this James
White advertised in the Penny Advocate?"
"Yes, sir, and anyone who knew of Kin Sackett would know we lived in Tennessee
or west of there."
He got to his feet. "Miss Sackett, I shall escort you home. It is not well for a
young gisl to be on the streets of Philadelphia at night, even if she is a
Sackett."
When we went outside, a carriage pulled up before the door and a man stepped
down to open the door for us. Riding in a carriage! If only Ma could see me now!
"Tomorrow when you call upon Mr. White, I shall attend you. I scarcely believe
there will be trouble."
3
James White sat at his desk staring at the accumulated papers, a disgusted
expression on his face. He glanced up as the thickset man in the square gray hat
entered.
"What is it, Tim? I am busy!"
"You'll be busier if you expect to pull this off. You take my advice an' get to
that hillbilly girl an' get her to sign a release."
"When did I ask your advice?"
"You never did. That ain't to say you couldn't have used it a time or two. That
hillbilly girl's no damn fool. She's gone to another lawyer."
"What? Who?"
"She went right from here to Chantry's office. Walked right in."
"That's impossible!"
"You believe that an' you're liable to find yourself in jail. Old Chantry's
nobody to fool with. You know it an' I know it."
White brushed his mustache with a forefinger, throwing a quick, angry look at