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

case in hand and his sister in tow. He was dressed for bed, but had thrown
on a coat and shoved his bare feet into some shoes. Neither spared a word
for us, though Mrs. Hardinbrook paused as though sorely tempted. But she
went on to be with Beldon and thus watch whatever might come next. She was
welcome to do so.
Partway down the stairs we encountered the first of the servants roused by t
he row, a sleep-drugged maid. I ordered her to the kitchen to brew up some s
trong tea. She tottered out of our path, her face coming awake with question
s. I ruthlessly confiscated her candle.
The library was cold, but the fireplace had been swept and readied for tomorr
ow. I knelt and busied myself with the tinder, bringing it to fiery life with
the candle flame while Elizabeth sank onto a settee.
"Are you hurt?" I asked.
Silence, and then an eloquent sniff. She rubbed her swelling and now wet ch
eek with an impatient hand. "Are you? Your face . .."
"Stings." I began to shake all over. A piece of kindling dropped on the ston
e hearth. "My God, Elizabeth."
"I know. It's impossible. She's impossible. We can't live like this." Elizabet
h hated crying and I hated watching her fight it. I left the fire and sat next
to her, an arm around her slumped shoulders. It was as much for my solace as
hers.
With only the one candle and the embyronic fire, the library was filled with
shadows. I'd seen it like this many times, foraging down here for a book when
the house was asleep, but never with such a heaviness in my heart. I was afr
aid. I was in my own house and afraid. It was not a child's fear of the dark,
or even of that time when I'd fallen down into the kettle, or of a hundred o
ther times and incidents. Those fears pass quickly and may eventually be laug
hed at; this was of an altogether different kind. It would not go away so eas
ily, if at all.
"Why did she ever have to come home?" I muttered.
Elizabeth had recovered somewhat when the maid turned up with the tea. I ha
d the girl pour; neither of us were steady enough to do it without dropping
the pot.
"What's going on up there?" I asked her. I'd heard a lot of rushing about and
voices.
"They're all taking care of Mrs. Barrett, sir. Mrs. Nooth is with her and so
's that Dr. Beldon. Mrs. Nooth said she'd had some kind of a fit." The girl
waited, perhaps hoping to glean more information from me. I disappointed her
with a nod of thanks and a clear dismissal.
" 'Some kind of a fit'?" Elizabeth echoed sarcastically when we were alone.
"That seems to describe it well enough."
She pulled herself straight and reached for one of the cups. "I can see us de
scribing it like that from now on. What are we going to do with her? Lock her
in the attic? Or will we build her a little block house and hire someone to
feed her through a slot in the door?"
"It won't come to that," I said.
"Better that than to go through this night again. I didn't hate her before, Jo
nathan, but I do now. What she said ... what she
thought... is unforgivable. It's twisted and horrible. I won't put up with it."
"But—"