"Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

hills, he was known to amuse himself by collecting young girls and sucking the souls from them. Or
some people said he ate their hearts. He was an utterly cold-blooded and heartless wizard and no young
girl was safe from him if he caught her on her own. Sophie, Lettie, and Martha, along with all the other
girls in Market Chipping, were warned never to go out alone, which was a great annoyance to them.
They wondered what use Wizard Howl found for all the souls he collected.
They had other things on their minds before long, however, for Mr. Hatter had died suddenly
just as Sophie was old enough to leave school for good. It then appeared that Mr. Hatter had been
altogether too proud of his daughters. The school fees he had been paying had left the shop with quite
heavy debts. When the funeral was over, Fanny sat down in the parlor in the house next door to the
shop and explained the situation.
"You'll all have to leave that school, I'm afraid," she said. "I've been doing sums back and
front and sideways, and the only way I can see to keep the business going and take care of the three of
you is to see you all settled in a promising apprenticeship somewhere. It isn't practical to have you all in
the shop. I can't afford it. So this is what I've decided. Lettie first-"
Lettie looked up, glowing with health and beauty which even sorrow and black clothes could
not hide. "I want to go on learning," she said.
"So you shall, love," said Fanny. "I've arranged for you to be apprenticed to Cesari's, the
pastry cook in Market Square. They've a name for treating their learners like kings and queens, and you
should be very happy there, as well as learning a useful trade. Mrs.Cesari's a good customer and a good
friend, and she's agreed to squeeze you in as a favor."
Lettie laughed in a way that showed she was not at all pleased. "Well, thank you," she said.
"Isn't it lucky that I like cooking?"
Fanny looked relieved. Lettie could be awkwardly strong-minded at times. "Now Martha,"
she said. "I know you're full young to go out and work, so I've thought around for something that would
give you a long, quiet apprenticeship and go on being useful to you whatever you decide to do after
that. You know my old school friend Annabel Fairfax?"
Martha, who was slender and fair, fixed her big gray eyes on Fanny almost as
strong-mindedly as Lettie. "You mean the one who talks such a lot," she said. "Isn't she a witch?"
"Yes, with a lovely house and clients all over the Folding Valley," Fanny said eagerly. "She's
a good woman, Martha. She'll introduce you to grand people she knows in Kingsbury. You'll be all set
up in life when she's done with you."
"She's a nice lady," Martha conceded. "All right."
Sophie, listening, felt that Fanny had worked everything out just as it should be. Lettie, as
the second daughter, was never likely to come to much, so Fanny had put her where she might meet a
handsome young apprentice and live happily ever after. Martha, who was bound to strike out and make
her fortune, would have witchcraft and rich friends to help her. As for Sophie herself, Sophie had no
doubt what was coming. It did not surprise her when Fanny said, "Now, Sophie dear, it seems only right
and just that you should inherit the hat shop when I retire, being the eldest as you are. So I've decided to
take you on as an apprentice myself, to give you a chance to learn the trade. How do you feel about
that?"
Sophie could hardly say that she simple felt resigned to the hat trade. She thanked Fanny
gratefully.
"So that's settled then!" Fanny said.
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The next day Sophie helped Martha pack her clothes in a box, and the morning after that
they all saw her off on the carrier's cart, looking small and upright and nervous. For the way to Upper
Folding, where Mrs. Fairfax lived, lay over the hills past Wizard Howl's moving castle. Martha was
understandably scared.
" She'll be all right," said Lettie. Lettie refused all help with the packing. When the carrier's