"Gene Wolfe - Detective of dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wolfe Gene)

"I believe he is correct."
"But on state occasions we sometimes ride in a glass coach to the
Rathaus. There are uhlans all around us to protect us then. I am certain that
- before the dreams began - I saw the face of this man in the crowd."
"Very well. Now tell me your dream."
"I am here, at home-"
"In this palace, where we sit now?"
She nodded.
"That is a new feature, then. Continue, please."
"There is to be an execution. In the garden." A fleeting smile crossed the
countess's lovely face. "I need not tell you that that is not where the
executions are held; but it does not seem strange to me when I dream.
"I have been away, I think, and have only just heard of what is to take
place. I rush into the garden. The man Baron H____ calls the
Dream-Master is there, tied to the trunk of the big cherry tree; a squad of
soldiers faces him, holding their rifles; their officer stands beside them with
his saber drawn, and my husband is watching from a pace or two away. I
call out for them to stop, and my husband turns to look at me. I say: 'You
must not do it, Karl. You must not kill this man.' But I see by his expression
that he believes that I am only a foolish, tender-hearted child. Karl is . . .
several years older than I."
"I am aware of it."
"The Dream-Master turns his head to look at me. People tell me that my
eyes are large - do you think them large, monsieur?"
 "Very large, and very beautiful."
"In my dream, quite suddenly, his eyes seem far, far larger than mine,
and far more beautiful; and in them I see reflected the figure of my
husband. Please listen carefully now, because what I am going to say is
very important, though it makes very little sense, I am afraid."
"Anything may happen in a dream, Countess."
"When I see my husband reflected in this man's eyes, I know - I cannot
say how - that it is this reflection, and not the man who stands near me, who
is the real Karl. The man I have thought real is only a reflection of that
reflection. Do you follow what I say?"
I nodded. "I believe so."
"I plead again: 'Do not kill him. Nothing good can come of it . . .' My
husband nods to the officer, the soldiers raise their rifles, and . . . and . . ."
"You wake. Would you like my handkerchief, Countess? It is of coarse
weave; but it is clean, and much larger than your own."
"Karl is right - I am only a foolish little girl. No, monsieur, I do not wake -
not yet. The soldiers fire. The Dream-Master falls forward, though his
bonds hold him to the tree. And Karl flies to bloody rags beside me."

On my way back to my hotel, I purchased a map of the city; and when I
reached my room I laid it flat on the table there. There could be no question
of the route of the countess's glass coach - straight down the Hauptstrasse,
the only street in the city wide enough to take a carriage surrounded by
cavalrymen. The most probable route by which Herr R____ might go from
his house to his bank coincided with the Hauptstrasse for several blocks.
The path Frфulein A____ would travel from her flat to the arcade crossed