"The Hunters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

"Was I humming?"
"I thought I recognized itЧAll of Me, Why Not Take All of Me? That's it! Your
subconscious gives you away. You really want to marry me!"
"A mistake," she said coolly. "My subconscious doesn't know what it's talking
about. All I want of you is the usual ten per cent."
"Can't you forget for a moment that you're an agent, and remember that you're a
woman, too?"
"No. Not unless you forget that you're a drunk, and remember that you're a man.
Not unless you make me forget that you drank your way through AfricaЧ"
"Because you weren't there with me!"
"Чwith hardly enough energy to let them dress you in that hunter's outfit and
photograph you as if you were shooting lions."
"You're so unforgiving, Carol. You don't have much use for me, do
youЧconsciously, that is?"
"Frankly, Curt, no. I don't have much use for useless people."
"I'm not entirely useless. I earn you that ten per centЧ"
"I'd gladly forego that to see you sober."
"But it's your contempt for me that drives me to drink. And when I think of
having to face those dear little kiddies with nothing inside meЧ"
"There should be happiness inside you at the thought of your doing a good deed.
Not a drop, George, not a drop."
The two little girls drew apart from the others and began to whisper into each
other's ears. The whispers were punctuated by giggles which made the entire
childish conversation seem quite normal. But Palit was in no laughing mood. He
said, in his own language, "You're getting careless, Manto. You had no business
imitating her expression."
"I'm sorry, Palit, but it was so suggestive. And I'm a very suggestible person."
"So am I. But I control myself."
"Still, if the temptation were great enough, I don't think you'd be able to
resist either."
"The issues are important enough to make me resist."
"Still, I thought I saw your own face taking on a bit of her expression too."
"You are imagining things, Manto. Another thing, that mistake in starting to say
you were two hundred years oldЧ"
"They would have thought it a joke. And I think I got out of that rather
neatly."
"You like to skate on thin ice, don't you, Manto? Just as you did when you
changed your height. You had no business shrinking right out in public like
that."
"I did it skillfully. Not a single person noticed."
"I noticed."
"Don't quibble."
"I don't intend to. Some of these children have very sharp eyes. You'd be
surprised at what they see."
Manto said tolerantly, "You're getting jittery, Palit. We've been away from home
too long."
"I am not jittery in the least. But I believe in taking due care."
"What could possibly happen to us? If we were to announce to the children and
the teacher, and to every one in this zoo, for that matter, exactly who and what
we were, they wouldn't believe us. And even if they did, they wouldn't be able