"T. H. White - The Once and Future King" - читать интересную книгу автора (White T.H)

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them was Morgan le Fay. But that there Morgause ran her close."
"It makes one sorry for Mordred."
"You keep your pity for yourself, my lady, for you will get none from him."
"He has been polite since he was left in charge."
"Aye, that he has. It is the quiet ones that do the mischief."
Guenever considered this, holding her material to the light. She asked with some anxiety: "You don't
think that Sk Mordred means to do wrong, do you, Agnes?"
"He is a dark one."
"He wouldn't do anything wrong when the King has left him to look after the country, and to look after
us?"
"That King of yours, madam, if you will excuse the liberty, is quite beyond my comprehension. First he
goes to fight with his best friend because Sir Gawaine tells him to, and then he leaves his bitterest enemy
to be the Lord Protector. Why does he choose to act so blind?"
"Mordred has never broken the laws."
"That is because he is too cunning."
"The King said that Mordred would have to be the heir to the throne, and you could not take the King
and the heir out of the country at the same time, so naturally he had to be left as the Protector. It was
only fair."
"That fairness, madam, it will never come to no good."
They sewed away.
Agnes added: "The King should have stayed, if that is true, and let Sir Mordred go."
"I wish he had."
Later she explained: "I think the King wants to be with Sir Gawaine, in case he can moderate between
them."
They stitched uneasily, the needles fusing through the dark material with a long gleam like falling stars.
"Are you frightened of Sk Mordred, Agnes?"
"Yes, madam, that I am."
"So am I. He walks about so softly lately, and... looks at people in a queer way. And then there are all
these speeches about Gaels and Saxons and Jews, and all the shouting and hysterics. I heard him

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laughing last week, by himself. It was horrible."
"He is a sly one. Maybe he is listening now."
"Agnes!"
Guenever dropped her needle as if she had been struck.
"Oh, come now, madam: you must not take on. I was only having my joke."
But the Queen remained frozen.
"Go to the door. I believe you are right"
"Oh, madam, I couldn't do that."
"Open it at once, Agnes."
"Madam, but suppose he is there!"
She had caught the feeling. The hopeless rushlights were not enough. He might have been in the room
itself, in a dark corner. She rose in a flutter, like a partridge while the hawk is over, and plucked at her
skirt. For both women the castle was suddenly too dark, too empty, too lonely, too northerly, too full of