"House On Parchment Street" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKillip Patricia A)

"Is that far enough?"
His face tugged into a smile. "It might help. We'll probably see all the ghosts of the kings of England walking in and out of walls."
They saw the long line of the kings and queens of England standing waxen and ghostly in a museum in the middle of London the next day.
"They aren't moving," Carol said. Her voice was hushed. The museum was filled with wax people who stared at them, silent and aloof from other ages, caught forever in some intense memory of their lives. Uncle Harold and Aunt Catherine strolled ahead, unconcerned beneath the regal eyes of dead kings. Bruce flicked through the pages of the guidebook.
"Richard III. That's who comes after Edward V. I never can remember."
"What happened to Henry VII?"
"He's down a bitЧthat man with the long fur coat. And then there'sЧ"
"Henry VIII. I know him." She stopped before him and he surveyed her glassily, his brows proudly arched. "He had six wives, and he chopped their heads off when he got tired of them."
"Not all of themЧsome of them just died. That's Queen Elizabeth with the red hair. She liked to win arguments, too."
"What do you mean 'too'?" Carol asked suspiciously, but he had moved on to a slender gentleman with a little pointed beard.
"That's Charles I. He got his head chopped off."
"I didn't know you were allowed to chop kings' heads off."
"There was a war." He stopped, his eyes narrowed a little, as though he were trying to remember something. "The Civil War. He lost his head, and after him cameЧ"
"Charles II?"
"No. Cromwell."
"He's not in the guidebook."
"He wasn't a king. He was a Puritan."
"I thought the Puritans all left England and went to Massachusetts."
He shook his head. "They were very strong followers of Cromwell during the Civil War. They didn't like churches with stained-glass windows and bell-towers and statues, and they destroyed a lot of them during
the war. They also didn't like the way Charles I was ruling. So they had a war in 1642 and chopped his head off in 1649, and put Cromwell in to rule. But when Cromwell died and his son began to rule, they decided anything else was better than him, and they asked Charles II to come back."
"That was a good bird's-eye view of the first half of the seventeenth century," Uncle Harold said behind him, and they turned. "Well, are you about finished?"
"Dad, we haven't even seen the Chamber of Horrors yet," Bruce said. "We got stuck on the Stuart Kings."
"Oh, by all means," Uncle Harold said. "Take your time." He tucked Aunt Catherine's hand under his arm. "I'll go and commune with the famous statesmen."
"What is the Chamber of Horrors?" Carol said, looking over Bruce's shoulder as he turned pages.
"It's full of murderers, criminals Е old-fashioned torturesЕ ." His voice died away. He stood frowning down at the guidebook, and for a moment Carol did not even hear him breathe. "CarolЧ"
"What is it?"
"Look at that man in the picture."
"Hold still, I can'tЧOhЕ ." Her fingers closed tightly on his wrist as she stared at the pale grim face half-hidden under his thumb. Her voice rose in a wail. "He's a ghostЧwhat's he doing in the Chamber of Horrors?"
"Sh! He's not in the Chamber of Horrors." He looked around. "Come on. This way."
Carol followed him out of the room. They saw the man again, one of a group of people in a motionless wax tableau. They stopped in front of it. Five men sat at a table. Their hats and clothes were dark; there was no lace on their plain white collars and cuffs. A small boy stood before them on a footstool. His hair was bright in the somber room. There were bows on his shoes and round his knees. His collar was peaked with points of lace. Behind him a portly man wearing a helm and a breastplate of steel quieted three anxious women whose rich clothes seemed to draw the light away from the darkly dressed men.
"It's not him," Carol said softly.
"But it could be."
УItТs not.Ф
"That's not the pointЕ . Carol, those men are dressed exactly like the ghost wasЧand the girl has that same kind of white lace collar, and her hair comes down in curls like that woman'sЧshe's from their time."
Carol stared at them. They were frozen in some elusive, unexplained moment. "What are they doing?"
" 'When Did You Last See Your Father?' It's a reproduction of a painting."
"I don't get it."
"I don'tЧ" He lifted his head, looking down the room. "Dad."
Uncle Harold left Mary Queen of Scots kneeling with her head on a chopping-block and came to them. "Problem?"
"Yes. What is happening here?"
"Oh. It's quite simple. The men in black are Puritan leaders. They are looking for the boy's father, who is evidently a Royalist leader, because if he were a good staunch Puritan, he wouldn't let his family wear such rich colorful clothes. One of the women is probably the boy's mother."
"Would that be during the Civil War?"
"During it, or shortly after it, I expect. The Puritans seem to be definitely in power."
"Dad. That painting in your studyЧthis reminds me of it."
Uncle Harold glanced at him. "I didn't know you had looked that closely at it."
"Yes. I like it."
"So do I. The dress seems to be of the same period, doesn't it. Perhaps she was looking for her father, too. She always seemed to me to be looking for someone. Е I wonder where your mother is. I think I left her in the Chamber of Horrors."
"I'm here," Aunt Catherine said. "And I am starving. Intellectual pursuits always have that effect on
me."
"But Dad," Bruce said, "we haven't seen the Chamber of Horrors yet." They were finally ready to leave, when Carol saw