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

humming with pleasure. Jericho wasn't there or he might have willingly help
ed out—if I'd invited him. I made a fast job of it, though, and before long
was marching up to the kitchen to wheedle a meal from the cook.
Then someone hissed from the corner of the house. Elizabeth stood there,
eyes comically wide and lips compressed, urgently waving at me to come ov
er. Curiosity won out over hunger.
"What is it?" I asked, trotting up.
"Not so loud," she insisted, grabbing my arm and dragging me around the cor
ner. She visibly relaxed once we were out of sight from the kitchen.
"What is it?" I repeated, now mimicking her hoarse whisper.
"Mother was furious that you missed lunch."
I gave vent to an exasperated sigh and raised my voice back to normal. "Da
mnation, but I'm an adult and my time is my own. She's never minded before
."
"Yes, but she wanted to talk to you about Cambridge."
"She told you all that nonsense?"
"In extraordinary detail. She seems to have decided how you're to spend you
r next few years down to the last minute."
"How very kind of her."
"She's in the kitchen with Mrs. Nooth planning out meals, and I didn't think
you'd want to run into her."
I took one of Elizabeth's hands and solemnly bowed over it. "For that, dear
sister, you have my undying gratitude, but I am famished and must eat. A f
ellow can hardly spend his life going about in fear of his own mother."
"Ha! It's not fear, it's only avoiding unnecessary unpleasantness."
She was quite right. I really didn't want to face the woman on an empty stom
ach; some alternative needed to be thought up, but not out here. The day had
warmed a little, but Elizabeth's hand was icy. "Let's go inside, you're fre
ezing. Where's your shawl?"
She shrugged indifferently. "Upstairs someplace. You should be the one to tal
k; look at yourself, riding all morning without hat or even gloves. It will s
erve you right if you get the rheumatics, God forbid."
I chuckled. The ailments of age were still very far away for me. My morning'
s ride was worth a spot of stiffness in the joints. We went in by the same s
ide door I'd used to escape, and Elizabeth led me to the library. A good fir
e was blazing there now, and forgetting her lack of concern about the cool d
ay, we rushed toward it like moths.
"So you think your going to Cambridge is nonsense?" she asked, stretching o
ut her hands and spreading her long fingers against the flames.
"Mmm. The woman's mad. When I see Father I'll sort it out with him as you
said.
"She's very sure of herself. What if he's on her side?"
"Why should he be?"
"Because he usually does whatever she wants. It's not as noisy as arguing,
you know."
"I don't think he will for something as important as this. Besides, look at t
he impracticality of it all. Why send me all the way to England to read law?
It may garner me some status, but what else?"
"An education?" she suggested.
"There's that, but everyone knows you really go to a university to make the k