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

over me. I weep, and at last I throw myself at his feet - with my head under
the table, if you can credit it, crying like an infant.
"Then he stands and pulls me erect, and says, 'You would never be able
to pay all you owe, and you are a false and dishonest servant. But your debt
is forgiven, forever.' And as I watch, he tears a leaf from his account book
and hands it to me."
"Your dream has a happy conclusion, then."
"No. It is not yet over. I thrust the paper into the front of my shirt and go
out, wiping my face on my sleeve. I am conscious that if any of the other
servants should see me, they will know at once what has happened. I hurry
to reach my own counting room; there is a brazier there, and I wish to burn
the page from the owner's book."
"I see."
"But just outside the door of my own room, I meet another servant - an
upper-servant like myself, I think, since he is well dressed. As it happens,
this man owes me a considerable sum of money, and to conceal from him
what I have just endured, I demand that he pay at once." Herr R____ rose
from his chair and began to pace the room, looking sometimes at the
painted scenes on the walls, sometimes at the Turkish carpet at his feet. "I
have had reason to demand money like that often, you understand. Here in
this room.
"The man falls to his knees, weeping and begging for additional time; but
I reach down, like this, and seize him by the throat."
"And then?"
"And then the door of my counting room opens. But it is not my counting
room with my desk and the charcoal brazier, but the owner's own room. He
is standing in the doorway, and behind him I can see the open window, and
the blossoms of the cherry tree."
"What does he say to you?"
"Nothing. He says nothing to me. I release the other man's throat, and he
slinks away."
"You awaken then?"
"How can I explain it? Yes, I wake up. But first we stand there; and while
we do I am conscious of . . . certain sounds."
"If it is too painful for you, you need not say more."
Herr R____ drew a silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face.
"How can I explain?" he said again. "When I hear those sounds, I am aware
that the owner possesses certain other servants, who have never been
under my direction. It is as though I have always known this, but had no
reason to think of it before."
"I understand."
"They are quartered in another part of the house - in the vaults beneath
the wine cellar, I think sometimes. I have never seen them, but I know н
then - that they are hideous, vile and cruel; I know too that he thinks me but
little better than they, and that as he permits me to serve him, so he allows
them to serve him also. I stand - we stand - and listen to them coming
through the house. At last a door at the end of the hall begins to swing
open. There is a hand like the paw of some filthy reptile on the latch."
"Is that the end of the dream?"
"Yes." Herr R____ threw himself into his chair again, mopping his face.