"Jo Walton - Farthing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Walton Jo)

тАЬI shouldnтАЩt mind it,тАЭ David said, taking my hands and looking down at me. тАЬExcept that it reflects on
you. YouтАЩd have been much more comfortable marrying someone of your own kind.тАЭ

And this was true of course, there is a sort of comfort in being with people who think exactly as you do
because theyтАЩve been brought up exactly the same way and share all the same jokes. ItтАЩs a feeble kind of
comfort and doesnтАЩt last beyond seeing that youтАЩve nothing truly in common except that kind of
upbringing and background. тАЬPeople donтАЩt marry in order to be comfortable,тАЭ I said. Then, as usual with
people I trust, I let my train of thought go haring off out of control. тАЬUnless maybe Mummy did. That
would explain a lot about her marriage.тАЭ I put my hand to my mouth to cover a horrified laugh, and also
to try to catch back the train of thought that had got away from me. My old governess, Abby, taught me
to think of it that way and to do that. It helps for the blunders, at least if I do it in time, but it does mean
that Mummy has reproved me on several occasions for keeping my hand up to my mouth more than a
lady ought!

тАЬThen are you sure you didnтАЩt marry me for the opposite reason?тАЭ David asked, ignoring the diversion.
тАЬEspecially so you could use me to enjoy snubbing people like Lady Thirkie?тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs absurd,тАЭ I said, and turned back to the mirror, and this time I caught up my hair and the pearls all
in one swirl and managed to get it just right where all my careful trying before had failed. I smiled at my
reflection, and at David where he was standing behind me.

There was a certain grain of truth in what he said, but a very distant grain that wouldnтАЩt be good for either
of us or for our marriage if we spent time dwelling on it. Daddy had made me face all that on the night
heтАЩd agreed to the marriage going ahead. David had imagined that Daddy would make endless
difficulties, but in fact he just gave me that one really hard talk and then buckled down and accepted
David as one of the family. It was Mummy who made the difficulties, as IтАЩd known it would be.

Daddy had called me into his office in London and told all the secretaries and everyone not to let
anybody in. IтАЩd felt simultaneously rather important, and as if I were ten years old and on the carpet for
not doing my homework. I had to keep reminding myself I was the thoroughly grown-up and
almost-on-the-shelf young lady I really was. I sat in the leather chair he keeps for visitors, clutching my
purse on my knee, and he sat down behind his big eighteenth-century desk and just looked at me for a
moment. He didnтАЩt beat about the bush at all, no nonsense with drinks and cigarettes and getting
comfortable. тАЬIтАЩm sure you know what I want to talk to you about, Luce,тАЭ he started.

I nodded. тАЬDavid,тАЭ I said. тАЬI love him, Daddy, and I want to marry him.тАЭ

тАЬDavid Kahn,тАЭ Daddy had said, as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

I started to say something feeble in DavidтАЩs defense, but Daddy held up a hand. тАЬI already know what
youтАЩre going to say, so save your breath. He was born in England, heтАЩs a war hero, his family are very
wealthy. I could counter with the fact that he was educated on the Continent, heтАЩs a Jew, and not one of
us.тАЭ

тАЬI was just going to say we love each other,тАЭ I said, with as much dignity as I could manage. Unlike
Mummy, who could only make a nuisance of herself, Daddy really could have scuppered the whole thing
at that point. Although I was twenty-three and, since Hugh died, heir to pretty much everything except
Farthing and the title, I didnтАЩt have any money of my own beyond what Daddy let me have, and neither
did David. His family were wealthy enough, but he himself hardly had a bean, certainly not enough for the