"Neal Stephenson - Baroque Cycle 3 - The System of the World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sterling Bruce)

Dartmoor, to one of his two fellow-travelers.
 The wind had paused, as though Boreas had exhausted his lungs and was drawing in a new breath of air
from somewhere above Iceland. So the young Earl was able to say this in matter-of-fact tones. тАЬMr.
Newcomen and I are very glad of your company, butтАФтАЭ

The wind struck them all deaf, as though the three men were candle-flames to be blown out. They
staggered, planted their downwind feet against the black, stony ground, and leaned into it. Lostwithiel
shouted: тАЬWeтАЩll not think you discourteous if you return to my coach!тАЭ He nodded to a black carriage
stopped along the track a short distance away, rocking on its French suspension. It had been artfully
made to appear lighter than it was, and looked as if the only thing preventing it from tumbling
end-over-end across the moor was the motley team of draught-horses harnessed to it, shaggy manes
standing out horizontally in the gale.

тАЬI am astonished that you should call this an extremity of cold,тАЭ answered the old man. тАЬIn Boston, as
you know, this would pass without remark. I am garbed for Boston.тАЭ He was shrouded in a rustic leather
cape, which he parted in the front to reveal a lining pieced together from the pelts of many raccoons.
тАЬAfter that passage through the intestinal windings of the Gorge of Lyd, we are all in want of fresh
airтАФespecially, if I read the signs rightly, Mr. Newcomen.тАЭ

That was all the leave Thomas Newcomen wanted. His face, which was as pale as the moon, bobbed
once, which was as close as this Dartmouth blacksmith would ever come to a formal bow. Having thus
taken his leave, he turned his broad back upon them and trudged quickly downwind. Soon he became
hard to distinguish from the numerous upright bouldersтАФwhich might be read as a comment on his
physique, or on the gloominess of the day, or on the badness of DanielтАЩs eyesight.

тАЬThe Druids loved to set great stones on end,тАЭ commented the Earl. тАЬFor what purpose, I cannot
imagine.тАЭ

тАЬYou have answered the question by asking it.тАЭ

тАЬI beg your pardon?тАЭ

тАЬDwelling as they did in this God-forsaken place, they did it so that men would come upon these
standing stones two thousand years after they were dead, and know they had been here. The Duke of
Marlborough, throwing up that famous Pile of Blenheim Palace, is no different.тАЭ

The Earl of Lostwithiel felt it wise to let this pass without comment. He turned and kicked a path through
some stiff withered grass to a strange up-cropping of lichen-covered stone. Following him, Daniel
understood it as one corner of a ruined building. The ground yielded under their feet. It was spread thin
over a shambles of tumbledown rafters and disintegrating peat-turves. Anyway the angle gave them
shelter from the wind.

тАЬSpeaking now in my capacity as Lord Warden of the Stannaries, I welcome you to Dartmoor, Daniel
Waterhouse, on behalf of the Lord of the Manor.тАЭ

Daniel sighed. тАЬIf IтАЩd been in London the last twenty years, keeping up with my Heraldic Arcana, and
going to tea with the Bluemantle Pursuivant, I would know who the hell that was. But as matters standтАФтАЭ

тАЬDartmoor was created part of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1338, and as such became part of the
possessions of the Prince of WalesтАФa title created by King Edward I inтАФтАЭ