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

"She would make even you look glamorous, you dowdy old thing. Other ladies look at Lettie and
despair."
Sophie talked to hats more and more as weeks went by. There was no one else much to talk
to. Fanny was out bargaining, or trying to whip up custom, much of the day, and Bessie was busy
serving and telling everyone her wedding plans. Sophie got into the habit of putting each hat on the
stand as she finished it, where it sat almost looking like a head without a body, and pausing while she
told the hat what the body under it ought to be like. She flattered the hats a bit, because you should
flatter customers.
"You have mysterious allure," she told one that was all veiling with hidden twinkles. To a
wide, creamy hat with roses under the brim, she said, "You are going to have to marry money!" and to a
caterpillar-green straw with a curly green feather she said, "You are young as a spring leaf." She told
pink bonnets they had dimpled charm and smart hats trimmed with velvet that they were witty. She told
the mushroom-pleated bonnet, "You have a heart of gold and someone in a high position will see it and
fall in love with you." This was because she was sorry for that particular bonnet. It looked so fussy and
plain.
Jane Farrier came into the shop next day and bought it. Her hair did look a little strange,
Sophie thought, peeping out of her alcove, as if Jane had wound it round a row of pokers. It seemed a
pity she had chosen that bonnet. But everyone seemed to be buying hats and bonnets around then.
Maybe it was Fanny's sales talk or maybe it was spring coming on, but the hat trade was definitely
picking up. Fanny began to say, a little guiltily, "I think I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to get
Martha and Lettie placed out. At this rate we might have managed."
There was so much custom as April drew on towards May Day that Sophie had to put on a
demure gray dress and help in the shop too. But such was the demand that she was hard at trimming
hats in between customers, and every evening she took them next door to the house, where she worked
by lamplight far into the night in order to have hats to sell the next day. Caterpillar-green hats like the
one the Mayor's wife had were much called for, and so were pink bonnets. Then, the week before May
Day, someone came in and asked for one with mushroom pleats like the one Jane Farrier had been
wearing when she ran off with the Count of Catterack.
That night, as she sewed, Sophie admitted to herself that her life was rather dull. Instead of
talking to the hats, she tried each one on as she finished it and looked in the mirror. This was a mistake.
The staid gray dress did not suit Sophie, particularly when her eyes were red-rimmed with sewing, and,
since her hair was a reddish straw color, neither did caterpillar-green nor pink. The one with the
mushroom pleats simply made her look dreary. "Like an old maid!" said Sophie. Not that she wanted to
race off with counts, like Jane Farrier, or even fancied half the town offering her marriage, like Lettie.
But she wanted to do something-she was not sure what- that had a bit more interest to it than simply
trimming hats. She thought she would find time next day to go and talk to Lettie.
But she did not go. Either she could not find the time, or she could not find the energy, or it
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seemed a great distance to Market Square, or she remembered that on her own she was in danger from
Wizard Howl- anyway, every day it seemed more difficult to go and see her sister. It was very odd.
Sophie had always thought she was nearly as strong-minded as Lettie. Now she was finding that there
were some things she could only do when there were no excuses left. "This is absurd!" Sophie said.
"Market Square is only two streets away. If I run-" And she swore to herself she would go round to
Cesari's when the hat shop was closed for May Day.
Meanwhile a new piece of gossip came into the shop. The King had quarreled with his own
brother, Prince Justin, it was said, and the Prince had gone into exile. Nobody quite knew the reason for
the quarrel, but the Prince had actually come through Market Chipping in disguise a couple of months
back, and nobody had known. The Count of Catterack had been sent by the King to look for the Prince,
when he happened to meet Jane Farrier instead. Sophie listened and felt sad. Interesting things did seem