"David Brin - Fourth Vacation of George Gustaf" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brin David)

autographs.
"Please! Please, dear ladies and gentlemen!" Farrell Cooper called out with
archaic formality. "His Grace has a schedule to keep. Please! May we have some
room here? You there! Mind the horses!"
Two of the large pipers arrived to help the amateur proctors push back the
crowd. George Gustaf looked up after signing the book a young woman held out for
him; she clutched it to her breast and gasped as he winked at her. Gustaf motioned
for the pipers and proctors to let one man through the cordon.
"Hello, Mr. Smith," he said. He shook Hamilton's hand then turned to take
another autograph book. "Come to watch another phenomenon in vivo? I must say,
your articles have made a quaint little hereditary chore into a gigantic responsibility!"
Hamilton smiled back at the young man.
"Well, isn't that what being a king is all about, Dr. Gustaf? From my own reading,
I'd say it was often harder work than anything else... at least for the monarchs who
tried to be good at it. Tell me something, do you ever wonder what it would have
been like? I mean if . .
"If the monarchies had never declined? If I was the inheritor of true power,
instead of the leader of a ritual club? Well, of course I've thought about it, Mr.
Smith. I'd have been guilty of a faulty imagination if I hadn't!"
Gustaf finished with the last autograph seeker, waved at the crowd, then turned to
look at Hamilton seriously.
"As to the reasons my ancestors had for merging their bloodlines the way they
did--long after most of them had lost power--I'm as much in the dark as you are.
But I can tell you something of the result.
"I'll not deny that there is something within me that resonates with the emotions of
this crowd. I've always had an instinct for people--and androids, for that matter.
And I score at the top of the scale on all of the aptitude tests for leadership and
justice-sense."
"I know. Your amateur courtroom is one of the most popular, and the pros never
overturn your decisions."
Gustaf shrugged.
"So the question is, did my ancestors bestow something unusual upon me? Or is
it all coincidence? It's an interesting topic for speculation, though it doesn't really
matter all that much."
Farrell Cooper came up alongside. He nodded quickly at Hamilton, then spoke to
his club leader.
"Your Grace, we are behind schedule. If it pleases you, may we mount so the
vanguard doesn't get too far ahead of us?"
Hamilton smiled. He'd had plenty of time to get used to Cooper's fixation. Gustaf
caught his eye with a wink.
"We'll talk more later, Hamilton. I hope to have a chance to tell you how much
I've been edified by your micro-sociological treatise on the Bath and Garter."
Hamilton felt himself blushing. It was an involuntary reaction, and he hurried to
cover it up.
"One last question, Dr. Gustaf, before you go." Hamilton motioned to the crowd.
"How do you account for this outpouring of feeling toward you and your club, here
in Orleans and in the other towns you've visited during this tour?"
Gustaf frowned.
"You're the sociologist, Hamilton..."
"Just guess, please. I'd like your gut feeling."