"Kate Wilhelm - Dark Door" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

neglected, of course--rhododendrons thirty feet high, blackberry brambles,
sumac--and the building had the windows boarded up. But even so its air of
regal affluence was unmistakable. Three stories high, with a wide antebellum
porch and beautifully carved pillars that reached to the third level, it
bespoke the graciousness of the century past. "We'd keep the upper levels for
our own living quarters," he said over his shoulder to John Loesser. "A main
dining room downstairs, several smaller rooms for private dinners, a lounge,
that sort of thing. I'll have to do a lot ofremodeling of course, but cheaper
than trying to build at today's prices." "If it's structurally sound," John
Loesser said in his precise way. He did not have stars in his eyes, and that
was all to the good, Carson thought. One of them should stay practical, add up
the pennies, add in insurance costs. That was John Loesser's department,
assessing the insurability of the place. He stopped his Buick at the front
entrance. As soon as they left the air-conditioned car, the heat of late June
in Virginia assailed them. Carson pulled off his coat, and after a moment John
Loesser did also. Elinor was sensibly dressed in a cotton shift and sandals,
her legs bare, and Gary had on shorts and a tank top. Only the businessmen,
Carson thought with some amusement, went through the motions of suits and
ties. And after he bought River House, made it the restaurant he had long
dreamed of owning, he promised himself never to wear a necktie again in his
life, or a coat in the summer. "I have flashlights," he said, opening the
trunk of the Buick. "I loosened some of the boards on the windows last week,
but the basement's like a cave." He handed John Loesser a large flashlight,
took another for himself, and saw that the other man was staring at two rifles
also in the trunk.

"Gary's going to get in some practice while we're going over the building." He
closed the trunk and tossed the keys to his son. Elinor watched the three men
remove some of the window boards, then go on to the next bunch and take them
down. How alike they were, she thought, surprised, all three over six feet,
all blond. Of course, Gary was still somewhat frail-looking, having shot
upward over twelve inches in the past year; it might take him three or four
years to fill in the frame he was constructing for himself. Seventeen, she
found herself marveling. A sharp image superimposed itself before her eyes,
eclipsing for a second the three men: an image of herself walking with Carson,
with Gary in the middle swinging from their hands, laughing. Yesterday. Ten
years, twelve years ago. She shook her head and turned to the front door of
the inn, put the key in the padlock, and opened it. When she entered, she left
the door wide oper/to admit air and more light. On one side was a wide
sculpted staircase sweeping up in a graceful curve. They would have a women's
lounge up there; permit the customers to fantasize briefly of being the lady
of the house, making a grand entrance to a crowded, suddenly hushed ballroom,
glittering with the wealth of the Virginia aristocracy. Elinor smiled to
herself. That was her fantasy. The area to the right had held the registration
desk; nothing was there's now. A dosed door led to a narrow hallway and small
offices. To the left of the entrance stretched a very large room with a
centered fireplace built with meticulously matched river stones. She could
visualize the palm trees, the velvet-covered lounges and chairs, low, ornately
carved tables, brass lamps .... Only faded, rose-colored flocked wallpaper
remained. She moved through the large open space toward the back of the