"Madeliene E Robins - Somewhere In Dreamland Tonight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robins Madeleine E)

stood rock still, looking at him. What does he want? she wondered, and answered
herself: he wanted something. That was what Aunt Min would say. Men always
wanted some unimaginable something. For the first time in her life Ruth
wondered, seriously wondered, what the something was.

He stood a few feet behind the barker, near the curtain at the back of the
platform. He didn't seem to have a part in the show; he was simply observing.
Ruth was so fascinated by the dark sparkle of the man and the flush of
excitement that made her blush, that she didn't see Leda and Jonah and Pearline
continuing on to the Creation pavilion, pushing through the crowd as oblivious
to her loss as she was to their absence.

He was dark and polished, like an onyx pebble. His pearl gray suit was fresh
despite the heat, his tie and collar crisp at his throat. His eyes were dark as
onyx and his smile had a cool, white light all its own. From the platform the
barker spoke insinuatingly, drawing the crowd in to see the Bearded Lady, the
Man with Two Mouths. As she pushed forward with them, searching for a coin in
her pocketbook, a hand at her elbow stopped her. He was there beside her, the
onyx-dark man, saying, "Keep your money, darling. It will be my pleasure."

Blushing, Ruth let him guide her into the show. Light from the incandescents
flooded the area unevenly, leaving dark pockets between the exhibits; they gave
a low sizzling noise which blended into the calls and sighs and shrieks of the
crowd and the performers. They paced leisurely from one platform to the next as
the barker's feverish baritone extolled the strangeness of this one, the
awfulness of that. Ruth listened with half an ear, distracted by the presence of
the onyx man at her side. His light touch on her elbow that kept her constantly
aware of things she had never known existed: heat and scent and male presence.

They strolled past the freaks and wonders and Ruth accepted each of them without
question because they were dressed in his glamor. He murmured softly into her
ear until she giggled nervously at his comments about the fat lady's beard and
the sword-swallower's wrinkled tights. His breath was hot in her ear, moving the
strands of her red hair against her cheek. When they came to the show's end and
the barker exhorted the audience to Come Again, Come Again, Ladeees and
Gentle-men, the stranger leaned close. "Rose-pink lady," he murmured. "Will you
take a walk with me?"

Then they parted from the audience and left the hall by a doorway in the rear,
their passage noted by the barker with a knowing glance. Her onyx-dark man led
her through an alley and out into the main street, and they sauntered like any
other summer beaux in the crowded lamplight. A sudden turn just past the
Hellgate, down an alley, and then he brought Ruth through a door and into a
dusty vaulted room. It was dim after the glare of the street; Ruth blinked
owlishly. She could make out wooden struts and draped canvas. There was a strong
smell of paint and varnish and moldy sawdust. Ruth turned toward the man only to
find him there beside her, very close. He traced the bow of her upper lip with
one long finger, a gesture which shocked Ruth and moved her in a way she could
not understand. When she closed her eyes she could feel his breath on her ear
again. Inside her something like Aunt Min's voice told her to run for her life.