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

the denizens of the night left her alone. She was an Englishwoman, donтАЩt you see, and isolated from them.
It was a cold, raw night and her shawl did not keep her warm. Think of her predicament, gentlemenтАФis
it surprising that she nearly turned back half a dozen times?тАЭ

тАЬWhatтАЩs surprising is that she attempted it at all,тАЭ Dominick said quietly. тАЬNot that I approve of thieving,
but in this caseтАжтАЭ

тАЬPrecisely my point,тАЭ Whittenfield burst out, the contents of his glass sloshing dangerously. тАЬMost women
would have not been able to do a damned thing, at least not any of the women I know. Sabrina, though,
was mostтАж unfeminine.тАЭ
тАЬHardly that,тАЭ murmured the sixth guest.

тАЬShe reached the house of the foreigner and slipped into the doorway of the shuttered bakerтАЩs shop
across the street, and set herself to wait for her prey to appear.тАЭ

тАЬHow do you know that?тАЭ one of the guests interrupted. тАЬHow do you know that her shawl wasnтАЩt
warm, or that there was a bakerтАЩs shop where she could wait for the man?тАЭ

тАЬI know,тАЭ Whittenfield said with a faintly superior air, тАЬbecause she kept a diary, and IтАЩve read it. She
devoted a great many pages to this unfortunate time in her life. Her description of the rooms where she
lived with her children almost make me itch, so deeply does she dwell on the filth and the vermin that
lived there.тАЭ He shuddered as proof of his revulsion.

тАЬWell, youтАЩve got to expect that poor housing isnтАЩt going to be pleasant,тАЭ Twilford observed, appealing
to the others with a wave of his hand. тАЬSome of the tenant farmers IтАЩve visitedтАФappalling, thatтАЩs what it
is.тАЭ

тАЬNow whoтАЩs digressing?тАЭ Whittenfield asked.

тАЬCharles is right,тАЭ Dominick admitted. тАЬLet it keep, Twilford.тАЭ

тАЬWell, I only wanted to let you know that I had some comprehension of whatтАФтАЭ Twilford began but was
cut off.

тАЬWe can all agree that weтАЩre shocked by the reduced circumstances of your
whatever-many-times-great-aunt,тАЭ Lord Graveston said portentously. тАЬGet on with it.тАЭ

Whittenfield glared around the room to be certain that all his guests had given him their attention. All but
one had. His sixth guest was staring at the spider glass with a bemused smile on his attractive, foreign
face. Whittenfield cleared his throat and was rewarded by the sixth guestтАЩs reluctant attention.

тАЬPray forgive me,тАЭ he said politely. тАЬThat glassтАжтАЭ

тАЬPrecisely,тАЭ Whittenfield said. тАЬThat is why it has remained intact for so long, I am convinced. In any
case, I was telling you about how Sabrina Grossiter came to try to rob this foreigner in Antwerp. She
took up her post outside the bakerтАЩs shop, hidden in the shadows, and waited for many long hours. She
had thought that the foreigner used the house for romantic assignations, but that did not seem to be the
case, for no woman came to the house, or man either, for that matter. Well after midnight a middle-aged
man in servantтАЩs livery left the building, but the foreigner remained. It was cold, very cold, and SabrinaтАЩs
hands and feet were numb by the time she saw the lights in the upper windows go out. She hoped that