"Tom Purdom-A Proper Place To Live" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

very moment, in fact, the Society for the Improvement of the Manners of the Lower Orders is holding a
meeting which may decide its entire future. If it were to fall into the wrong hands...."
A chair carried by two broad-shouldered youths swept around the corner in response, apparently, to
a sweep of Sir Harold's stick. A card and a small purse were thrust into Mr. Herbert's hand.
The clergyman stared for a moment at his pulpit and the scene in the street. His eyes seemed
particularly attracted by the point at which the three matrons and the tousle-haired young girl were still
eyeing each other.
"I need you desperately, Mr. Herbert. England needs you. The Society for the Improvement of the
Lower Orders faces, in my opinion, decades of legal injustice and public calumny. If you will simply
present this card at the door...."
Mr. Herbert straightened. Sir Harold leaned on his stick and watched the two broad-shouldered
youths trot him around the corner to the land of his dreams.
An older man had already stepped into the pulpit and taken Mr. Herbert's place, but it was clear the
people around the platform were having trouble hearing him over the charms of Mr. Telemann's bour├йe.
The red faced young girl was dancing again, now that Mr. Herbert had been replaced, and the three
older women and their friends were now the people who looked as if they might be seriously
contemplating violence.
The populace of his London, in Sir Harold's opinion, was basically peaceful and contented, but the
strain created by Mr. Herbert's sermon and Mr. Tyler's machine had been building up for several hours
now. All around him he could see angry faces, sullen faces, brooding faces. Even most of the dancers
were casting defiant or arrogant looks at the people watching them. A few steps from Mr. Tyler's house
a little boy was deliberately executing a cheeky set of movements in front of two tight-faced couples.
Lady Millicent was still chatting with her two admirers. Sir Harold's walking stick and his apologetic
smile got him through the crowd in front of the house again and a tip of his hat and a soft word shifted the
two ladies to the left and placed him on the steps. He looked around the street, smiling vacantly. and saw
six well-fed, well-dressed men and women striding around the north corner with containers of various
sizes and shapes clutched in their hands.
"Excuse me, Millicent. If you don't mind, ladies..."
"Yes, Harold?"
"Our friends from the Musicians' Guild seem to be here. Would you mind talking to them for a moment
and then joining me upstairs?"
"Certainly, Harold."
A minute later Sir Harold and Mr. Tyler were once again bent over the machine and Mr. Tyler's
daughter was perched on the edge of a chair with her arms folded over her pinafore.
"I would appreciate it if you would let me indulge in a bit of business talk." Sir Harold said. "I have a
certain interest in supporting the arts, as you may be aware..."
Mr. Tyler's face brightened. "Would you care for some refreshment, Sir Harold? Can I offer you some
tea? Or do you prefer coffee?"
"Tea will do nicely, thank you."
A trumpet call interrupted their conversation a moment after Miss Tyler exited in search of the tea. The
trumpet broke into a bour├йe very similar to the dance she had been playing and then more just
instruments joined in, one by one. By the time Miss Tyler had returned with a tray, Lady Millicent had
re-entered the parlor, and the musicians had switched to an allemande, from a suite by Herr Bach, whose
sonorities included the sound of a few string instruments.
Miss Tyler stared out the window with a frown on her round little face. "We seem to have attracted
some street musicians," Sir Harold said.
"It does sound that way," Mr. Tyler said. "Actually, I'm afraid I'm not really much of a one for music.
That's not bad though, if you don't mind my saying so. Did I tell you I've been thinking about ways my
thing could imitate almost anything else -- anything you blow into anyway?"
Sir Harold had asked Mr. Tyler about his financial ambitions while they were waiting for the tea and he