"Melanie Rawn - Salve Regina" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

the name Ashtoreth is a word damned and damned again in the Holy
Bible! As for the seeming miracle of the apple treeтАФdo you not recall that
it was this very fruit in the hand of a woman that led to banishment from
Eden? You did not see the Blessed Virgin, you did not hear the words of
the Mother of God! You saw and heard the Devil!"
 Reeling with fear and confusion, she cried out. "ButтАФbut she was so
beautiful, so kindтАФshe smiled at meтАФ"

"And do you believe that Satan cannot assume any shape he pleases, to
trick and betray foolish women? How much wicked pleasure you gave,
kneeling at the Evil One's feet instead of to God!"

"She bade me not to kneel, but to lift up my hands in joyful thanksтАФ"

"Which only proves that she was not Holy Mary! Before her, all people
and especially all women should go down on their knees, for she alone
among you is without sin!"

"No, P├иre JeromeтАФplease, noтАФ"

"You have consorted with the very author of all our misery! When we
turn our hearts from God, who is waiting to seize us? To torment us? To
make of our lives on earth a foretaste of the Hell that awaits us for all
eternity?"

Struggling, the air clogging in her throat, she protested, "ButтАФbut my
childrenтАФthey are well now, they sleep peacefully and without feverтАФthe
water cured themтАФ"

"The water is accursed," he intoned, and with his bare foot kicked both
buckets over onto the stone floor. Crossing himself, he said, "It cannot
harm consecrated ground."

Berthilde moaned. "It will save usтАФthe people, the animals, the
cropsтАФit saved the apple treeтАФ"

"The tree must be cut down, for any fruit of it is accursed. You and your
children, having drunk of the water, are accursed until confessions are
made and penances given. Perhaps even an exorcism is needed." He fixed
her with dark eyes that burned. "Kneel, and give thanks that Almighty
God has brought you to His Church in order to save your soul."

Berthilde shook like a willow in the wind. Her knees quiveredтАФbut she
did not fall upon them. She could not.

"On your knees, and beseech the Lord to forgive your sin!"
 She could not.

Through the thin worn leather of her shoes she felt the water, pooling in
tiny lakes on the rough-hewn stones, soaking into the skin of her feet. She