"P. N. Elrod - Jonathan Barrett 01 - Red Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

"Are my sister and father. You know what I mean. Some of those long conve
rsations we've had with Rapelji would have bored them to death."
He nodded agreement and his brows dropped back into place. "Speaking of hi
m, did he not give you some more Greek to interpret?" He looked at the pil
e of books on the table before him.
"Doesn't he always?" Greek was not my favorite study and my tutor well knew
it and thus emphasized it more than any other. "I'll see to it later tonig
ht. My head hurts too much for that kind of work right now."
"I'll go get you some moss snuff," he said, rising.
"Ugh, no. Mrs. Nooth can take it herself. It's never helped any headache I've
had and never will. I'll just lie down until the pain's out of me."
Pushing away from the wall, I wandered over to the bed and almost dropped
into its welcome comfort. Almost, because Jericho was instantly at my side
 to remove my coat. Since a lazy refusal would only inspire silent, long-s
uffering reproach from him, I gave in and gave up. Once started, off came
the
waistcoat and shoes as well, all to be taken away for brushing or polishing.
I managed to retain my breeches and outer shirt; both would be changed befo
re going down to supper so it didn't matter if I napped in them or not.
"When Father comes home . . ."
"I shall inform you," he promised, as he started for the door.
Then peevishly, I asked, "What the devil is that row?"
lericho listened with me. "A coach, I think."
My heart jumped, but only once. Father had left on horseback, not in the c
oach. Jericho and I looked at one another in mutual puzzlement, then he ga
ve back my shoes. Curiosity triumphed over my headache. I reached for an e
specially florid, Oriental-looking dressing gown that Elizabeth had painst
akingly made for me, and shrugged it on.
"Let's go see," I sighed.
No one was in the upper hall, but as we came downstairs we glimpsed one of
the maids haring off to the kitchen, no doubt with fresh news for Mrs. Noot
h. Mother emerged from the library like some ship under full sail and stopp
ed the girl with a curt order. The little wench came to heel and hastened t
o open wide the big front door. Outside stood a battered-looking coach and
four, and there was much activity about the baggage and two alighting passe
ngers. With a great smile, Mother went out to greet them.
I shifted uneasily and glanced at Jericho. He shrugged slightly. Having end
ured an extremely long month of Mother's quirky temperament I was hard pres
sed to imagine that anyone or anything could give her joy. Apparently the p
ossibility existed; we'd just never seen it before.
"They must be friends of hers from Philadelphia," I speculated.
Outside, Mother exchanged a kiss on the cheek with a woman and extended h
er hand to a man, who bowed deeply over it. Rather too deeply, I thought.
What sort of people would find Mother's company so agreeable that they w
ould come for a visit?
Through the broad door the wind blew in a few stray leaves and other... rub
bish. That's the word that occurred to me when I got a good look at them. T
hey swept into the house, surveying it with bright eyes as if they owned th
e place. They noticed me
at the same time and the woman gave a little exclamation of pleased surprise