"Elgin,.Suzette.Haden.-.Ozark.-.01.-.Twelve.Fair.Kingdoms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elgin Suzette Haden)

•^ and back home."

"But, my dear niece," he said—Jubal Brooks was stubborn,
grant him that—"though it's but one day from Kintucky's
southernmost coast to the coast of Tinaseeh, that one day will
set you down not at Castle Traveller but on the edge of the
largest Wilderness Lands on Ozark. Larger than the entire land
area of this continent, for example; I strongly doubt you'll do
the trip over that in less than three days. and you'd still have
two days ahead of you before you reached the Castle gates!"

My grandmother stepped in then; the man was getting above
himself, but tact, of course, was necessary. Men are a great
deal of trouble, I must say.

"Jubal Brooks," she said, firmly but courteously, "Respon-
sible was properly named. I suggest we do her the courtesy of
trusting her in this."

"Distances," he began—the man was ranting!—"are dis-
tances. Name or no name—"

We might of wasted a lot more time on that kind of thing, if
there hadn't of been a knock on the door just as he was hitting
his stride. For all that we were in Council, we could spare time
to answer the door; and we did. Nobody was there, of course,
leading Emmalyn to look puzzled and Patience to look
innocent, but it served its purpose.

I dismissed Council with thanks, letting Jubal run down
naturally as we all filed out, paid a visit to the guestchambers
only to be told that the baby's parents had gone with full
ceremonial tent to camp in the bed of needles beneath their son
and heu; taking along the infant daughter of a servingmaid to
see to the problem of Vine of Motley's milk—a practical
solution, if a bit hard on the servingmaid—and then I ran for
the stables.

So far as I was concerned, we were late already,

CHAPTER 2

So CLOSE TO HOME I didn't dare take chances, and so I let my
Mule fool about and waste hours in the air on the first stage of
my journey, to Castle McDaniels. I wore an elaborate gown of
emerald green; under it I had on flared trousers of a deeper
green, tucked into trim high boots of scarlet leather with silver
bells about the bootcuffs and silver spurs all cunningly worked.
And I had over that a tight-laced corselet of black velvet
embroidered in gold and silver, and it was all topped with a