"Деннис Уитли. The Devil Rides Out (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

must have taken fright when he and Rex had forcibly abducted Simon,
and fled, abandoning their unholy operations for the night. He
gently replaced the blind and they crept back into the hall.
One other door opened off it besides those to the servants'
quarters and the vestibule. De Richleau slowly turned the knob and
pressed. The room was a small library, and at the far end a pair of
uncurtained french-windows showed the garden, ghostly and mysterious
in the starlight. Leaving Rex by the door, the Duke tiptoed across
the room, drew the bolts, opened the windows and propped them wide.
>From where he stood he could just make out the laburnum by the wall.
A clear retreat was open to them now. He turned, then halted with a
sharp intake of breath. Rex had disappeared.
'Rex!' he hissed in a loud whisper, gripped by a sudden nameless
fear. 'Rex!' But there was no reply.


5

Embodied Evil

De Richleau had been involved in so many strange adventures in
his long and chequered career, that instinctively his hand flew to
the pocket where he kept his automatic at such times, but it was
flat-and in a fraction of time it had come back to him that this was
no affair of shootings and escapes, but a grim struggle against the
Power of Darkness-in which their only protection must be an utter
faith in the ultimate triumph of good, and the use of such little
power as he possessed to bring into play the great forces of the
Power of Light.
In two strides he had reached the door, grabbed the electric
switch, and pressed it as he cried in ringing tones: 'Fundamenta
ejus in montibus sanctis!'
'What the hell!' exclaimed Rex as the light flashed on. He was at
the far side of the hall, carefully constructing a booby trap of
chairs and china in front of the door that led to the servants'
quarters.
'You've done it now,' he added, with his eyes riveted upon the
upper landing, but nothing stirred and the pall of silence descended
upon the place again until they could hear each other's quickened
breathing.
'The house is empty,' Rex declared after a moment. 'If there were
anyone here they'd have been bound to hear you about. It echoed from
the cellars to the attics.'
De Richleau was regarding him with an angry stare. 'You madman,'
he snapped. 'Don't you understand what we're up against? We must not
separate for an instant in this unholy place-even now that the
lights are on.'
Rex smiled. He had always considered the Duke as the most
fearless man he knew, and to see him in such a state of nerves was a
revelation. 'I'm not scared of bogeys, but I am of being shot up