"Robert F. Young - L'Arc de Jeanne" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

Marie would be less apt to question a cliche than she would an original lie. Apparently he was right, for
she made no attempt to check the story out by examining the bump on the side of the head which D'Arcy
had had the pilot of the ship-to-ground sled administer to him. On the other hand, she seemed
inordinately interested in D'Arcy's face and incapable of taking her eyes from it. He had no way of
knowing that it bore a startling resemblance to Joseph Eleemosynary'sтАФJeanne Marie's version, that
isтАФnor that at that very moment Rachel de Feu was saying, "He certainly seems like a nice enough young
man, childтАФwhy don't you help him?"
Jeanne Marie needed no second invitation. "Come, Raymond," she said, "and I will fix you something
to eat at my house. It's only a little ways from here."
She set off along the brook, leading St. Hermann O'Shaughnessy. Guiltily, D'Arcy walked along
beside her. "I have a very lovely house," she said, "wait'll you see. Some people would call it a cave, but
they would be surprised. Of course," she added, "I've never invited anyone inside before."
He took advantage of their proximity and got a good look at the bow. Aside from discovering that it
had been formed from an alloy which he couldn't identify and which left painful afterimages on his retina,
he ended up no wiser than he had been before. A scrutiny of the arrows netted him even less. All he
could see of them were notched ends and their silvery tufts, and somehow he got the impression that he
wasn't seeing even that much of them.
He wanted to question her about the unusual weapon. But decided to defer doing so till a later date.
For some time now, the ground on either side of the brook, excluding the flower-pied terraces that
bordered the water, had been rising. Soon, tree-clad successions of hills appeared, and the hillsides grew
more and more abrupt. When at length the girl, D'Arcy, and St. Hermann O'Shaughnessy came opposite
the cave, D'Arcy didn't even know it was there. The trees by this time had given way to vinelike growths
and it wasn't till Jeanne Marie parted a curtain of these vines that he saw the opening. She parted another
curtain, and he saw St. Hermann O'Shaughnessy's cave-stable. The floor was lined with hay, and there
was a manger for him to eat out of and one for him to drink out of. He even had a light to see byтАФa
self-perpetuating pinup lamp with a pink shade.
She left Hermann on the terrace to grazeтАФhe was such a stay-at-home, she said, that she didn't even
bother to tether him except at nightтАФand escorted D'Arcy into her cave-house. He was astonished when
he saw the interior. There were four rooms and a closetтАФat least he assumed that the door in the
bedroom gave access to a closetтАФand each room was completely furnished. Walls and ceilings were
composed of fine-grained natural wood; the floors were tile, and strewn with throwrugs. The lights were
of the self-perpetuating type, and each of the appliances had its own self-perpetuating motor. Running
water was provided by subterranean pressure-pipes leading up from the brook.
Jeanne Marie seated him at the kitchen table and got eggs and bacon out of a little refrigerator that
looked for all the world like a hope chest, and while the bacon was sizzling on the stove, she made
coffee. She had a cup with him after he finished eating, and when he asked her how in the world a slip of
a girl like her had been able to transform an ordinary cave into a house fit for a princess, she smiled. "I
can't tell you," she said, "because it's a secret." And then, astonishingly, "Would you like to live here with
me?"
He tried not to stare at her, but he wasn't altogether successful. Surely, he thought, she can't be that
naive. It seemed almost a shame to take advantage of her. "What do your voices think of the idea?" he
countered.
"Oh, they are all for it. I can fix a place for you to sleep on the sofa. It's quite large, and I'm certain
you'll be quite comfortable. Also, I'll thinkтАФI'll make you some pajamas, and some trousers and shirts.
Would you like another cup of coffee?"
"Thanks," said D'Arcy weakly.
Living in Le Bois Feerique with Jeanne Marie Valcouris, he discovered presently, was a little like
being a child all over again and livingтАФreally living, that isтАФin one of the make believe worlds your nine-
or ten-year-old mind had devised.
Long before his coming Jeanne Marie had invented all sorts of games to amuse herself, and now she