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

two of us to live on. His family, which surprised me at first though it made sense afterwards, didnтАЩt
approve of me one whit more than mine approved of him. So it could have been a real Romeo and Juliet
affair if not for Daddy seeing sense and coming over to my side.

тАЬHaving seen you together and talked to young David, I donтАЩt doubt that, funnily enough,тАЭ Daddy said.
тАЬBut what I want to know is whether thatтАЩs enough. LoveтАЩs a wonderful thing, but it can be a fragile
flower when the winds blow cold against it, and I can see a lot of cold winds poised to howl down on the
pair of you.
тАЬJust so long as youтАЩre not one of those winds, Daddy,тАЭ I said, pressing my knees together and sitting up
straight, to look as mature and sensible as I could.

Daddy laughed. тАЬIтАЩve seen you sitting like that when you want to impress me since you were five years
old,тАЭ he said. Then he suddenly leaned forward and turned really serious. тАЬHave you thought what itтАЩs
going to mean being Mrs. Kahn? We share a name that we didnтАЩt do anything personally to earn but
which we inherited from our Eversley ancestors, who did. It is a name that opens doors for us. YouтАЩre
talking about giving that up to become Mrs. KahnтАФтАЭ

тАЬKahn means that DavidтАЩs ancestors were priests in Israel when ours were painting themselves blue with
woad,тАЭ I said, quotingтАФor probably misquotingтАФDisraeli.

Daddy smiled. тАЬAll the same, what it means to people now and in England will close a lot of doors in
your face.тАЭ

тАЬNot doors I want to go through,тАЭ I said.

Daddy raised an eyebrow at that.

тАЬNo, really, I have thought this through,тАЭ I said, and I had, or thought I had. тАЬYou remember when Billy
Cheriton was taking me about everywhere?тАЭ Billy had been one of MummyтАЩs worst ideas, the younger
son of the Earl of Hampshire, whoтАЩs MummyтАЩs cousin and who happened to be married to one of her
best friends. WeтАЩd known each other all our lives, gone to the same nursery parties, and then the same
young-people parties, and MummyтАЩs idea had been what a natural match it would have been.

Daddy nodded. He didnтАЩt think much of Billy.

тАЬOnce we were down at Cheltenham for the racing because Tibs had a horse running and Billy was
showing the family flag. We were in a crowd of nice people just like us, and the horse lost, of course.тАЭ

тАЬTibs Cheriton has never had an eye for horseflesh,тАЭ Daddy said. Sorry. Go on.

тАЬSo we were drowning our sorrows in Pimms, and I was bored, suddenly, bored to screaming point, not
just with Cheltenham and that crowd but with the whole thing, the whole ritual. Tibs and one of the other
boys were talking about horse breeding, and I thought that it was just the same with us, the fillies and the
stallions, the young English gentry, breeding the next generation of English gentry, and I couldnтАЩt think of
anything more excruciatingly boring than to be married to Billy, or Tibs, or any of that cackling crowd.тАЭ
Not that IтАЩd have married Tibs if he were the last man in the world, because I was pretty sure he was
Athenian, and I think Mummy knew it too, otherwise it would have been Tibs sheтАЩd have been pushing
me into going around with, not Billy. тАЬI donтАЩt want that. IтАЩve been presented and done all the deb stuff
and even before I met David I knew it wasnтАЩt what I wanted.тАЭ