"Madeline L' Engle - A Live Coal in the Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Engle Madeleine)

She walked slowly into the hall, still feeling caught in pain, said hello to
four girls at the card table in the smoker, playing their interminable game
of
bridge and piling up cig-, arette butts in the ashtray. If they ever studied,
they kept it a secret. And yet they were seniors, ready to graduate in the
spring.
She climbed the stairs. She had to pass Luisa Rowan's
A Live Coal in the Sea┬╗19
room to get to her own, and she shook her head, willing Luisa's door to be
closed. Luisa was her oldest friend, her only school friend from New York,
sharp
of eye, quick of mind, insatiably curious and, where Camilla was concerned,
possessive.
The door was open. Luisa was on the floor, breathing into an open notebook
filled with diagrams of the various parts of the equine brain. Luisa was on
full
scholarship and studied wherever she was, a cigarette in the corner of her
mouth, long slugs of ashes dropping onto the pages. When Camilla commented on
her nicotine-stained fingers Luisa replied that she had to have one vice, and
when she got to medical school she probably wouldn't be able to afford more
than
one pack a month. Smoking was still more a matter of morals than health, and
Luisa liked to make her statements as clear as possible.
Of course Luisa looked up to see who was passing. 'So where've your been?'
'I went for a walk. Where's Nan?'
Nan was Luisa's roommate. At least Luisa had the sense not to want to room
with
Camilla.
'Can't you hear her?'
She had not been listening, automatically isolating herself from sound. She
let
her ears open and heard the clear notes of the piano in the living room
downstairs. Nan would be at the upright piano, her left leg stretched out to
the
side in her typical position (Luisa nagged her about it, saying that it would
never do in a concert hall), her right foot hovering over but not touching
the
damper pedal. She was playing a fugue. As far as Nan was concerned, she and
Scarlatti were alone in the living room.
'Well?' Luisa demanded. 'Well what?V
'She gone? The Rose of Sharon?'
'Tomorrow morning.' Thank God, she thought, Luisa did not know about Rose
Dickinson and the astronomy professor. Luisa's concerned curiosity burned
like
flame on an open
Madeleine L'Engle
20
A Live Coal in the Sea┬╗21
ing the fork from Raffi's fingers. She did not need to tell her, not yet,
that