"Lisa Goldstein - The Phantasma of Q---" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldstein Lisa)

from the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, over thirty years ago — probably the last time the poor
dear had been away from home. I must have been in hundreds of parlours just like this one, I reflected,
and the familiarity of my surroundings worked a strange kind of magic on me. I grew certain that I would
find the phantasma, if not tomorrow, then some time during my stay at Q—————-; in my tired state
I even thought I knew which paths within the forest to pursue. At that moment Mr and Mrs Wallis came
into the parlour, talking to one another and laughing. Mrs Jones hurried into the kitchen for more
sandwiches.
"Arbuthnot, good afternoon," Wallis said. He caught sight of the bulky pack near my chair and
laughed louder. "Good Lord, Adele, look at all this equipment. Come, sir, who are you really—the White
Knight in Carroll's Through the Looking Glass?"
"And where's Alice?" Mrs Wallis asked.
"Why, you must be Alice, my dear," Wallis said. "But then who am I?"
Their banter annoyed me. "How was your day in the forest?" I asked, as politely as I could.
"Oh, very good, very good," Wallis said. "Well, we haven't discovered anything yet, but we have
some ideas where to look. And you?"
"The same," I said shortly. My annoyance with them grew. To me, and to my fellows at the club,
exploration was almost a sacred task; certainly we felt that it should not be approached in such a
light-hearted, frivolous spirit. And what were these ideas they claimed to have had?
"Dark in there, though, isn't it?" Wallis said.
"A bit."
"A bit! Listen to him, Adele! I suppose you have gas lamps in that pack of yours? Along with a full
set of Dickens?"
"I have matches, certainly. Don't you?"
"Matches!" he said, smiting his forehead in what was intended to be a comical manner. "I knew we
forgot something."
Mrs Jones returned with more sandwiches. I stood and shouldered my pack. "I'm afraid I'll have to
leave you," I said. "I must write my journal entry for today." And in truth I was anxious to return to my
room; I wanted to record the insights I had had while relaxing and taking tea.
"Good afternoon," Wallis said. His manner seemed to soften. "I hope we haven't offended you—we
were only joking."
"Oh, no," I said, abstracted. I nodded to the couple and began to climb the stairs.

I set off eagerly the next morning, so early that I did not encounter the Wallises. The night before I
had started a map of the forest, sketching in the areas I had already explored. It seemed to me I had
found a spot the phantasma might frequent, a lonely place about a mile away that was halfway between
Q—————-and the nearest village. Some of the writers I had consulted before I set out thought that
these creatures preferred places of solitude and quiet.
Now I skirted the forest, holding the compass in one hand and my rough map in the other. The sun
rose higher in the sky. As I walked, though, I began to wonder what had made me so certain I would
find the phantasma in this area. It looked the same as any other part of the forest, as deserted and as far
from civilization as anything I had already seen. If you could count the Wallis couple as civilization, I
thought, and laughed bitterly to myself.
My thoughts turned to the encounter I had had with them the evening before. What had they
discovered? What were the ideas they said they had? How galling it would be, I thought, if these utter
beginners were to find the phantasma before I did.
When I had judged that I had walked a mile from Q—————-, I entered the forest. The great
trees clustered around me, dark and silent, as I passed. I performed all the same actions as before,
lighting matches, getting my bearings from the compass, checking the various dials and gauges on the
musopticon. By the time I was ready for my midday meal I had grown tired and irritated, certain I was
wasting my time.