"Robin McKinley - Rose Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinley Robin)

little track to Rose Cottage. тАЬI forgot to ask about a green witch! Fiddle, fiddle, fiddlesticks. If Lionheart
hasnтАЩt got the chimney clear, thereтАЩll be no living with her. ItтАЩs odd, though; I didnтАЩt see a signboard for a
greenwitch, did you? FdтАЩve expected her to be in the centre of town. Longchance is a little bigger than
we expected, isnтАЩt it? Or more energetic, at least. I thought... well, never mind. IтАЩm glad of it; I like it; it
has a good air. But IтАЩdтАЩve guessed it might almost support a seer or a small magician, and I didnтАЩt see
hide nor hair of any of the professions. Well, a penny saved. And it will be much harder to sneak anything
of that sort past Father in a house the size of Rose Cottage.тАЭ
But they arrived home to discover Lionheart triumphant, if a little red from scrubbing, and two fully
functional chimneys.
Opring advanced. Beauty and Lionheart were relieved to find that their awkward carpentry and
inexperienced mends were holding firm and that, so far as they could tell, there was nothing terribly
wrong with their little house. They hoped the thatch would keep the rain oul one more year; perhaps next
spring, somehow, they could find the money to have it redone. Meanwhile, their father slept in a
truckle-bed by the warm banked kitchen fire downstairs, and the three sisters rigged a patchwork
canopyтАФJeweltongue took time out from making shirts to put together scraps from her mending
basketтАФover the mattress they shared in the loft, so that the pattering rain of little many-1 egged
creatures falling out of the thatch did not trouble them as they slept.
Beauty began to have strange, vivid dreams unlike any she had had before. Sometimes she saw great
lordly rooms like those of a palace, though of nowhere she had ever herself been; sometimes she saw
wild landscape, most often in moonтАФand starlight. Sometimes she saw her family: Jeweltongue speaking
to a young man wearing a long apron, his hands covered with flour; Lionheart, with her hair cropped off
so short that the back of her neck was bare, rubbing the ears of a horse whose nose was buried in her
breast, while a man with a kind earnest face stood leaning against the horseтАЩs shoulder; her father, in a
fine coat, reading aloud from pages he held in his hands, to an attentive audience.
And then one night her old dream came back. She had not had it in so longтАФand her life had
changed so much meanwhileтАФshe had almost forgotten it; or rather, when she remembered it, which she
occasionally did. she thought of it as a part of her old life, gone forever. Its return was as abrupt and
terrifying as a blow from a friend, and Beauty gave a convulsive lurch in bed, and a half-muffled shriek.
and sat up as if she were throwing herself out of deep water.
тАЬOh, help!тАЭ said Jeweltongue, who lay next to her and was awakened by BeautyтАЩs violence. тАЬMy
dear, whatever is the matter?тАЭ She sat up too, and put an arm round Beauty. rubbing her own eyes with
her other hand. Beauty said nothing, and Jeweltongue began to pat her sisterтАЩs arm and back in a desire
to comfort them both. Beauty turned jerkily and put her head on her sisterтАЩs shoulder. тАЬWas it a bad
dream?тАЩтАЩ said Jeweltongue.
тАЬYes,тАЭ said Beauty. тАЬYes. It is a very old dreamтАФIтАЩve had it all my lifeтАФI thought it had goneтАФthat
I had left it behind in the city.тАЭ
тАЬAll your life?тАЭ said Jeweltoague slowly. тАЬYou have had this nightmare all your life and I never knew?
IтАФтАЭ
But Beauty put her hand over her sisterтАЩs mouth and said, тАЬHush. We were different people in the
city. It doesnтАЩt matter now.тАЭ
Jewekongue kissed her sisterтАЩs hand and then curled her own fingers tightly round it and held it in her
lap. тАЬ1 swear you must he the nicest person ever bom. If I didnтАЩt love you, I would hate you for it, I
think.тАЭ
тАЬNow you know how I fee! the six hundred and twelfth time in a row youтАЩre right about something,тАЭ
said Lionheart sleepily from JeweltongueтАЩs other side. тАЬWhat is happening?тАЭ she said through an audible
yawn, тАЬItтАЩs still dark. ItтАЩs not morning already, is it, and 1 have forgotten to open my eyes?тАЭ
тАЬNo,тАЭ said Jeweltongue. тАЬBeautyтАЩs had a nightmare,тАЭ
тАЬNightmares are hell,тАЭ said Lionheart feelingly. тАЬI used to have themтАФтАЭ She stopped abruptly. тАЬNot
so much anymore,тАЭ she said, тАЬexcept some nights, when the beetle and spider rain is bad, I start
dreaming the thatch is leaking.тАЭ