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

"I was informed otherwise."
She whirled about to face me. "You know him? Oh, tell him I am not a
wealthy woman, but I will pay whatever I can. Do you really know him?"
"No." I shook my head. "I was informed by your own police."
She stared at me. "But you are an outlander. So is he, I think."
"Ah, we progress. Is there another chair in the rear of your booth? Your
police are not above going outside your own country for help, you see, and
we should have a little talk."
"They are not our police," the young woman said bitterly, "but I will talk to
you. The truth is that I would sooner talk to you, though you are French. You
will not tell them that?"
I assured her that I would not; we borrowed a chair from the flower stall
across the corridor, and she poured forth her story.
"My father died when I was very small. My mother opened this booth to
earn our living - old dresses that had belonged to her own mother were the
core of her original stock. She died two years ago, and since that time I
have taken charge of our business and used it to support myself. Most of
my sales are to collectors and theatrical companies. I do not make a great
deal of money, but I do not require a great deal, and I have managed to
save some. I live alone at Number 877 ____strasse; it is an old house
divided into six apartments, and mine is the gable apartment."
"You are young and charming," I said, "and you tell me you have a little
money saved. I am surprised you are not married."
"Many others have said the same thing."
"And what did you tell them, Frфulein?"
"To take care of their own affairs. They have called me a man-hater -
Frau G____, who has the confections in the next corridor but two, called
me that because I would not receive her son. The truth is that I do not care
for people of either sex, young or old. If I want to live by myself and keep
my own things to myself, is not it my right to do so?"
"I am sure it is; but undoubtedly it has occurred to you that this person
you fear so much may be a rejected suitor who is taking his revenge on
you."
"But how could he enter and control my dreams?"
"I do not know, Frфulein. It is you who say that he does these things."
"I should remember him, I think, if he had ever called on me. As it is, I am
quite certain I have seen him somewhere, but I cannot recall where. Still . .
."
"Perhaps you had better describe your dream to me. You have the same
one again and again, as I understand it?"
"Yes. It is like this. I am walking down a dark road. I am both frightened
and pleasurably excited, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I walk for a
long time, sometimes for what seems to be only a few moments. I think
there is moonlight, and once or twice I have noticed stars. Anyway, there is
a high, dark hedge, or perhaps a wall, on my right. There are fields to the
left, I believe. Eventually I reach a gate of iron bars, standing open - it's not
a large gate for wagons or carriages, but a small one, so narrow I can
hardly get through. Have you read the writings of Dr. Freud of Vienna? One
of the women here mentioned once that he had written concerning dreams,
and so I got them from the library, and if I were a man I am sure he would