"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 23 - World of Promise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

Valued comforts on any world and to be envied on Podesta.

Dumarest nodded, swung the girl from his shoulder,
straightened to face the vendor who still held the doll.

"How much?"

The price had been decided as the child had made her choice.
The family were poor and Dumarest wore a student's robe to
match that of the youth but their poverty need not be mutual. A
man studying for a whim, a noble paying a forfeit, a rich man
amusing himselfтАФsuch were not uncommon at the fair. But the
vendor had seen his face and had abandoned the hope of an
inflated profit. Here was no gull to be cheated.

"Fifteen corlms, my lord." As she picked up the coins she
added, mechanically, "Good luck attend your studies."

"I'll echo that." Roy cleared his throat, aware of his previous
antagonism and embarrassed by it. "I thought you were taking
pity on us at first, but Fiona explained. A superstition, I
understand. Well, I'm no man to deny another his search for
luck. You're for Ascelius, I see. Just like Bran here." He nodded at
his son. "I've got him passage on the EvidiaтАФfifth class, hard but
cheap." Then, as Dumarest made no comment, he coughed and
ended, "Well, I just wanted to thank you. We all did."

The woman, with her quick wit and the facile lie which had
saved her husband's pride, now as Dumarest extended the doll to
the child, said quickly, "Don't snatch it, Lavinia. Thank the
gentleman properly."

"How can I, Mummy?"

"You'll have to kneel," she said to Dumarest. "Allow her to kiss
you."

For a moment he hesitated, looking at the woman, reading
the understanding in her eyes. Then he knelt, the doll in one
hand, arms extended as the child ran into their embrace.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for the doll." Then
she was warm and soft against him, the touch of her lips moist
on his cheek, small hands at his shoulders. A timeless instant
which shattered as he rose to stand above her, the silken
smoothness of her hair a memory against his palmтАФa moment
she had already forgotten, engrossed as she was with her new
toy.