"Jody Lynn Nye - Everything to Order" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nye Jody Lynn)

knew they heard her.
She returned to the salon, clasped her hands together nervously and beamed at her guests.
"We shall be ready to present our line to you shortly. In the meantime, may I offer you refreshment?"
"Thank you," said the second-oldest, raising her hooded eyes to Miss Carr. The glance was piercing and
disquieting. Miss Carr suppressed a shudder. "But not just now."
"Of course," Miss Carr said, feeling her heart flutter. "IтАж
Countesses, how shall I address you to distinguish among you? Are you perhaps sisters?" she asked,
though she couldn't see how the third woman might have been related to the first two. "Or are your

file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Jody%20Lynn%20Nye%20-%20Everything%20to%20Order%20(v1.0).html (3 of 11)15-8-2005 0:28:00
 Everything to Order


husbands brothers? Cousins?"
"We are all the wives of the great Count Dracula," said the second woman, with great pride.
"Our ways are not your ways, I know," the eldest countess said. She smiled, showing her teeth. All three
had red, lush lips framing perfectly white teeth.
"I hope you will not think that I am questioning your ways!" Miss Carr exclaimed, shocked.
"No. Of course you are not," the eldest Countess Dracula said, with a smile.
"Indeed, it is a fascinating concept of those of us in England," Miss Carr went on, "that a man should
have three wives, rather like a Turkish sultan." The ladies, to her great surprise at women of such
elegance, all spat on the white silk carpet.
"The Turks," said the eldest, disdainfully. "The Turks are barbarians."
"I apologize," she said hastily. "I did not mean to offend."
"It is not you," said the second-eldest countess. "It is the Turks who offend by their existence."
Miss Carr was relieved having just experienced an inner vision of the countesses sweeping out of the
salon and into the night, outraged; and herself, standing on the very same stoop the next morning,
unemployed, having wasted resources of the House of Feldon, then driven away the customers. She
supposed that her grandmother might have made a similar gesture regarding the French, so perhaps the
ladies' reaction was not so outrageously exotic as it at first seemed. What an odd thing it must be to be a
co-wife, she thought, like those people who lived in the American states. What were they called,
Mormons? Miss Carr had thought that the religion was new, but it might have originated in the Balkans,
for all the proponent was a man called Joseph Smith. Perhaps there was a Rumanian equivalent of the
name.
Mannequins swirled into the room like a bouquet of flowers. Each turned this way and that before
promenading slowly around the room clockwise, then counterclockwise. In all, each spent nearly ten
minutes displaying the dress she was wearing. The girls may have come from the poorer classes, but
each one was attractive, perfectly groomed, and bore herself with the carriage of a queen, full tribute to
Mrs. Feldon-Jacobs's rigorous training.
"You must tell me, Countesses, if there is any dress that appeals to you that you would wish to try on
yourselves. We would be more than happy to assist you during the second showing."
The visitors chatted excitedly among themselves in their own tongue, leaving Miss Carr to watch the
mannequins. One young woman was particularly good. Miss Carr recalled that her name was Claire
Stimson, and that she was new to the House of Feldon. The dress she wore was Miss Carr's favorite of

file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Jody%20Lynn%20Nye%20-%20Everything%20to%20Order%20(v1.0).html (4 of 11)15-8-2005 0:28:00
 Everything to Order


the season's line. The cream-silk evening dress daringly displayed a good deal of long, slender neck and