"Damar - 01 - The Blue Sword" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinley Robin)

Sir Charles and Lady Amelia were all that was kind to her, and she was fond of
them after a few weeks in their company. They had, indeed, been far more than
kind. When her father died a year ago, Richard, a very junior military adjutant,
had laid the difficulty of an unmarried sister and an entailed estate before Sir
Charles, and begged for advice. (She heard all this, to her acute embarrassment,
from Richard, who wanted to be sure she understood how much she had to be
grateful for.) He and his wife had said that they would be happy to offer her a
home with them, and Richard, too relieved to think hard about the propriety of
such a godsend, had written to her and said, Come out. He had not specifically
said, Mind your manners, but she understood that too.
She hadnТt any choice. She had known, because her father had told her five years
ago when her mother died, that she would have no inheritance; what money there
was was tied up very strictly for the eldest son. УNot that Dickie will mistreat
you,Ф their father had said, with the ghost of a smile, Уbut I feel that, with
your temperament, you had best have as long as possible a warning to resign
yourself to it. YouТll like being dependent on your brother even less, I fancy,
than you like being dependent on me.Ф He tapped his fingers on his desk. The
thought that lay silent between them did not need to be spoken aloud: that it
was not likely she would marry. She was proud, and if she had not been, her
parents would have been proud for her. And there is little market for penniless
bluebloods of no particular beautyЧespecially when the blueness of the blood is
suspected to have been diluted by a questionable great-grandmother on the
motherТs side. What the questionableness exactly consisted of, Harry was not
sure. With the self-centeredness of childhood she had not thought to ask; and
later, after she had realized that she did not care for society nor society for
her, she had no desire to ask.
The shipboard journey east on the Cecilia had been long but uneventful. She had
found her sea legs almost at once, and had made friends with a middle-aged lady,
also traveling alone, who asked no personal questions, and loaned her novels
freely to her young companion, and discussed them with her upon their return.
She had let her own mind go numb, and had read the novels, and sat in the sun,
and strolled the decks, and not thought about the past or the future.
They docked at Stzara without mishap, and she found the earth heaved under her
strangely when she first set foot ashore. Richard had been granted a monthТs
leave to meet her and escort her north to her new home. He looked younger than
she had expected; he had gone overseas three years ago, and had not been Home
again since. He was affectionate to her at their reunion, but wary; they seemed
to have little in common any more. I shouldnТt be surprised, she thought; itТs
been a long time since we played together every day, before Dickie was sent off
to school. IТm an encumbrance now, and he has his career to think of. But it
would be nice to be friends, she thought wistfully. When she pressed him to give
her some idea of what she could expect of her new life, he shrugged and said:
УYouТll see. The people are like Home, you know. You neednТt have much to do
with the natives. There are the servants, of course, but they are all right.
DonТt worry about it.Ф And he looked at her with so worried a face that she
didnТt know whether to laugh or to shake him. She said, УI wish you would tell
me what is worrying you.Ф Variations of this conversation occurred several times
during the first days of their journey together. At this point there would be a
long silence.
Finally, as if he could bear it no more, he burst out: УYou wonТt be able to go