"Jonathan Stroud - Bartimaeus 2 - The Golem's Eye" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stroud Jonathan)

birth name, if you know it. Keep your mouth shut like a clam. They'll pry it all out of you otherwise."

"Who will?" he asked her.

"Enemies you haven't yet made. They like to plan ahead."

A magician's birth name was certainly a source of great weakness if uncovered by another, and
Nathaniel guarded his with great care. At first, however, he was considered something of a soft touch.
Pretty female magicians approached him at parties, lulling him with compliments before inquiring
closely into his background. Nathaniel fended off these crude enticements fairly easily, but more
dangerous methods followed. An imp once visited him while he slept, cooing gentle words into his ear
and asking for his name. Perhaps only the loud tolling of Big Ben across the river prevented an
unguarded revelation. As the hour struck, Nathaniel stirred, woke, and observed the imp squatting on
the bedpost; in an instant, he summoned a tame foliot, which seized the imp and compressed it to a
stone.

In its new condition, the imp was sadly unable to reveal anything about the magician who had
sent it on its errand. After this episode, Nathaniel employed the foliot to guard his bedroom
conscientiously throughout each night.

It soon became clear that John Mandrake's identity was not going to be compromised easily,
and no further attempts occurred. Soon afterward, when he was still scarcely fourteen, the expected
appointment was made and the young magician joined the Department of Internal Affairs.




2
Nathaniel
 In his office, Nathaniel was welcomed by a glare from the secretary and a teetering pile of new
papers in his in-box.

The secretary, a trim, well-kempt young man with oiled ginger hair, paused in the act of leaving
the room. "You're late, Mandrake," he said, pushing his glasses higher with a swift, nervous gesture.
"What's the excuse this time? You've got responsibilities, too, you know, just the same as us
full-timers." He hovered by the door and frowned fiercely down his little nose.

The magician threw himself back into his chair. He was tempted to put his feet up on the desk,
but rejected this as being too showy. He restricted himself to a lazy smile. "I've been at an incident
scene with Mr. Tallow," he said. "Been working there since six. Ask him if you like, when he gets in;
he might tell you a few detailsтАФif they're not too secret, that is. What have you been up to, Jenkins?
Photocopying hard, I hope."

The secretary made a sharp noise between his teeth and pushed his glasses higher up his nose.
"Keep it up, Mandrake," he said. "Just keep it up. You may be the Prime Minister's blue-eyed boy
now, but how long's that going to last if you don't deliver? Another incident? The second this week?
You'll soon be back scrubbing teacups again, and thenтАФwe'll see." With something between a scuttle
and a flounce, he departed.

The boy made a face at the closing door and for a few seconds sat staring at nothing. He rubbed