"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - The Spider Glass" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yarbro Chelsea Quinn)

buy cabbages to boil for her babes. But it was inevitable that there would come a time when she would
not have enough money even for those inadequate things, and her children would have no shelter or
food.тАЭ
тАЬWhat on earth has that to do with the glass?тАЭ Twilford asked, blustering to conceal his perplexity.

тАЬIтАЩm coming to that,тАЭ Charles Whittenfield said with a great show of patience. тАЬIf youтАЩll let me do it in my
own way.тАЭ

тАЬWell, I donтАЩt see how we can stop you,тАЭ muttered a younger man sitting in the corner, hunched over his
pipe.

тАЬEverard, please,тАЭ Dominick put in imperiously.

The older man beside him gave Dominick a contemptuous glare. тАЬNo manners these days. None at all.тАЭ

тАЬPray go on,тАЭ said the sixth guest in slightly accented English. It might have been because he was the only
man not drinking that his clothes were the neatest and most elegant of any manтАЩs in the room.

тАЬI intend to,тАЭ Whittenfield said to his guests. тАЬAs IтАЩve intimated, my many-times-great Aunt Sabrina was
stranded in Antwerp because Sir James was in prison and she was destitute. She had been cast out by
her family when she had elected to follow her husband to the Continent, so she could not turn to them for
relief, not that she was the sort who would have, in any case. Of course, Sir JamesтАЩs family had washed
their hands of him some years before and would have nothing to do with him or any of his. Sabrina could
play the virginal and had a fair knowledge of botany, as many well-bred women did in those days, but
those were the limits of her skills. Yet she must have had courage for all of that, because she did not
despair, or if she did, she conquered it. She was determined to keep her children with her, as the
alternative was giving them to the care of nuns, and being a good English churchwoman, she could not
bear to surrender her unprotected babes to Roman Catholics.тАЭ He recrossed his legs. тАЬMy Uncle George
married a Roman Catholic, you know. There was the most frightful uproar and dire predictions, but Clara
has shown herself to be a most reasonable woman and a truly excellent wife. No trouble there, I assure
you. So all those warnings came to naught.тАЭ

тАЬThe glass, Charles, the glass,тАЭ Twilford insisted.

тАЬIтАЩm coming to that,тАЭ the young peer protested with mock dismay. тАЬYouтАЩve no patienceтАФpositively, you
havenтАЩt a jot.тАЭ He held out his glass for refilling as Everard helped himself to the port. тАЬSo,тАЭ he resumed
after an appreciative moment, тАЬI trust IтАЩve made her predicament clear to you. Her husband was in
prison, she had no one to turn to, her children as well as herself were in real danger of starvation, she was
living in the poorest part of the city in a low-ceilinged garret in a house that should have been pulled down
before the Plantagenets fell. There was no reason for her to hope for anything but an early grave in
PotterтАЩs Field.тАЭ

тАЬYes, yes, yes,тАЭ Dominick interrupted. тАЬVery touching plight. But as her daughter had a daughter, we
must assume that all was not lost, at least not then.тАЭ He splashed a bit more port into his glass and lit
another cigar.

тАЬWell, Charles, what happened?тАЭ Everard demanded. тАЬDid she catch the eye of an Earl traveling for
pleasure, or did some other person come to her aid?тАЭ

тАЬNot quite that,тАЭ Whittenfield conceded. тАЬNot a traveling Earl in any case, but a traveling Count.тАЭ