"James White - Custom Fitting" - читать интересную книгу автора (White James)

Producing a glorified horse blanket would be insurance against the dress wear turning out to be a sartorial
disaster. But if he made the blanket he would simply be obeying orders and shifting the responsibility
back to Fox. He would also be allowing a man who knew less than he did to tell him what to do.

Then suddenly the morning coat and trousers were finished, pressed, and hanging with their accessories
on the form which Hewlitt had adapted from the limbs and torsos of one and a half window-display
models; and there was no longer enough time to make a blanket because it was the morning of The Day
and Scrennagle was due at any moment.

The ambassador said little while Hewlitt was showing him how to fasten the shirt, knot the tie, and fit,
among other items, the footless dark socks over his black-painted hooves. While fitting the trousers,
waistcoat, and jacket the tailor talked about the desirability of moving slowlyтАФsudden movements
lacked dignity and looked bad on TV. He was aware that he was talking too much and that he was
making himself sound ridiculous by punctuating every few words with a yawn.

Perhaps Scrennagle would not realize how nervous and unsure of himself Hewlitt felt because the over-all
ensemble did not look exactly as he had envisaged itтАФand in his present physical and mental state of
fatigue he did not know what it looked like.

During the proceedings Fox maintained the tightest-lipped silence he had ever experienced; but he tossed
Hewlitt a copy of the morning paper and nodded worriedly as they left.

The news about Scrennagle was published as a Court Circular:

His Excellency the Lord Scrennagle of Dutha will be received in audience by the Queen this morning, and
will present his Letters of Credence as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from the Galactic
Federation to the Court of St. James. A State Reception will be held in his honor at the Palace, during
which sound and vision broadcast facilities will be available.
Hewlitt moved the TV into his workroom so that he could watch without disturbing his wife, who was still
asleep, while he worked on the evening suit. But the TV coverage was unsatisfactory. Apparently the
Court Circular had been treated by the press as some kind of hoax. A tourist had been able to film
Scrennagle's arrival at St. James's, and he would probably receive a fortune for a few feet of badly
focused film which did not give any indication of how well or otherwise the ambassador's suit fitted him.

Hewlitt waited for a couple of hours, then switched on his transistor radio to hear an excited voice saying
that news had just been received from the Palace to the effect that Dutha was an inhabited planet circling
a sun some two thousand light-years from Earth and that the Duthan, Scrennagle, was being accorded
the honors of a visiting head of state as well as those of an ambassador. Whether the whole thing was a
hoax or not, the voice went on, tonight's reception would be covered to the same extent as the early
moon landings.

His wife heard the same news item. She looked dreadfully tired but happier than he had seen her for a
great many years. But she was not talking to him for the time being because he had told her the truth and
had deliberately made it sound like a lie.

Hewlitt's mind and fingers were so stiff and tired that he was almost an hour late in completing the suit.
But that did not matter: Scrennagle did not call for it. Just two hours before the reception was due to
begin, a uniformed inspector arrived to say that there had been unforeseen delays and that he would
collect the outfit and take it to Scrennagle's ship. A few minutes later, a more senior police officer arrived