"Jack Vance - Elder Isles 02 - The Green Pearl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

"Nicely spoken, Tamurello!" said Desmei. "Truly, you are most gracious!"
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"Only when circumstances warrant. Will you take refreshment? Here is a soft wine pressed from the
Alhadra grape."



For a time the two sat discussing themselves and their concepts. Desmei, finding Tamurello both
stimulating and large with vitality, decided to take him for her lover.



Tamurello, who was keen for novelty, made no difficulties and matched her energy with his own, and for
a season all was well. However, in due course Tamurello came to feel that Desmei, to an enervating
degree, lacked both lightness and grace. He began to blow hot and cold, to Desmei's deep concern. At
first she chose to interpret his waning ardor as a lover's teasing: the naughtiness, so to speak, of a
pampered darling. She thrust herself upon his attention, tempting him with first one coy trick, then
another.



Tamurello became ever more unresponsive. Desmei sat long hours with him, analyzing their relationship
in all its phases, while Tamurello drank wine and looked moodily off through the trees.



Neither sighs nor sentiment, Desmei discovered, affected Tamurello. She learned that he was equally
proof against cajolery, while reproaches seemed only to bore him. At last, in a facetious manner, Desmei
spoke of a former lover who had caused her pain and hinted of the misfortunes which thereafter had
dogged his life. Finally she saw that she had captured Tamurello's attention, and veered to more cheerful
topics.



Tamurello let prudence guide his conduct, and once again Desmei had no complaints.



After a hectic month Tamurello found that he could no longer maintain his glassy-eyed zest. Once again
he began to avoid Desmei, but now that she understood the forces which guided his conduct, she brought
him smartly to heel.