"Mercedes Lackey - EM 1 - The Fire Rose" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

ability to dance.
From the look of her clothing, she had fallen on hard times-unless, of course, she was a natural
ascetic, or was donating all of her resources to the Suffrage Movement. Either was possible; if
the latter was an impediment to her accepting employment, the Salamander would have rejected her
as a candidate.
"We will apply to her-or rather to her mentor," he decided, and gave the Salamander the signal to
resume its place above the half-written letter. "I am willing to pay handsomely for the services
of any male or female with such qualifications, to compensate for the great distance he or she
must travel. The tutor will be installed in my own household, drawing a wage of twenty dollars a
week as well as full room and board, and a liberal allowance for travel, entertainment, and books.
San Francisco affords many pleasures for those of discriminating taste; this year shall even see
the glorious Caruso performing at our Opera." Clothing he would have supplied to her, having it
waiting for her if she consented to come; easier to supply the appropriate garments than to hope
the girl had any kind of taste at all. He would not have a frump in his house; any female entering
these doors must not disgrace the interior. While his home might not rival Leland Stanford's on
the outside, the interior was enough to excite the envy of the richest "nob" on "Nob Hill." There
would be no cotton-duck gowns from a mail-order catalog trailing over the fine inlay work of his
floors, no coarse dark cottons displayed against his velvets and damask satins.
"I hope you will have a student that can match my requirements," he concluded without haste. "Your
scholarship is renowned even to the wilds of the west and the golden hills of San Francisco, and I
cannot imagine that any pupil of yours would disgrace the master. To that end, I am enclosing a
rail ticket for the prospective tutor" it was not a first-class ticket for a parlor car; such
might excite suspicion. A ticket for the common carriage would be sufficient, and a journey by
rail would be safe enough, even for a woman alone. "I am looking forward to hearing from you as
soon as may be."
"The usual closing?" the Salamander asked delicately. He nodded, and it finished, burning his name
into the vellum with a flourish. It continued to hover above the paper, as the paper itself folded
without a hand touching it, and slipped itself and a railway pass into a matching envelope. The
Salamander sealed it with a single "hand" pressed into the wax, then burned the address into the
obverse of the envelope.


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"Take it to Professor Cathcart's office and leave it there," he instructed, and the Salamander
bowed. "If she does not take this bait, we will have to devise something else."
"She would be a fool not to take it," the Salamander replied, surprising him a little with its
retort. "She has no other place to go."
"Women are not always logical," he reminded the creature. "We were best to assume that the initial
attempt will be balked at, and contrive another."
The Salamander simply shook its head, as if it could not understand the folly of mortals, and it
and the sealed letter vanished into thin air, leaving the Firemaster alone in the darkness.


CHAPTER
ONE


Rosalind Hawkins answered the door with her entire being in a knot of anxiety; expecting yet