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

to wear off gradually, and I shall get more and more like myself, you see."
Sophie was so astonished that she finished her cake without noticing what kind it had been. "Why ten
children?"
"Because that's how many I want," Said Martha.
"I never knew!"
"Well, it wasn't much good going on about it when you were so busy backing Mother up about me
making my fortune," Martha said. "You thought Mother meant it. I did too, until Father died and I saw
she was just trying to get rid of us- putting Lettie where she was bound to meet a lot of men and get
married off, and sending me as far away as she could! I was so angry I thought, Why not? And I spoke
to Lettie and she was just as angry and we fixed it up. We're fine now. But we both feel bad about you.
You're far too clever and nice to be stuck in that shop for the rest of your life. We talked about it, but
we couldn't see what to do."
"I'm all right," Sophie protested. "Just a bit dull."
"All right?" Martha exclaimed. "Yes, you prove you're all right by not coming near here for months,
and then turning up in a frightful gray dress and shawl, looking as if even I scare you! What's Mother
been doing to you?"
"Nothing," Sophie said uncomfortably. "We've been rather busy. You shouldn't talk about Fanny that
way, Martha. She is your mother."
"Yes, and I'm enough like her to understand her," Martha retorted. "That's why she sent me so far away,
or tried to. Mother knows you don't have to be unkind to someone in order to exploit them. She knows
how dutiful you are. She knows you have this thing about being a failure because you're only the eldest.
She's managed you perfectly and got you slaving away for her. I bet she doesn't pay you."
"I'm still an apprentice," Sophie protested.
"So am I, but I get a wage. The Cesaris know I'm worth it," said Martha. "That hat shop is making a
mint these days, and all because of you! You made that green hat that makes the Mayor's wife look like
a stunning schoolgirl, didn't you?"
"Caterpillar green. I trimmed it," said Sophie.
"And the bonnet Jane Farrier was wearing when she met that nobleman," Martha swept on. "You're a
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genius with hats and clothes, and Mother knows it! You sealed your fate when you made Lettie that
outfit last May Day. Now you earn the money while she goes off gadding-"
"She's out doing the buying," Sophie said.
"Buying!" Martha cried. Her thumbs whirled. "That takes her half a morning. I've seen her, Sophie, and
heard the talk. She's off in a hired carriage and new clothes on your earnings, visiting all the mansions
down the valley! They're saying she's going to buy that big place down at Vale End and set up in style.
And where are you?"
"Well, Fanny's entitled to some pleasure after all her hard work bringing us up," Sophie said. "I suppose
I'll inherit the shop."
"What a fate!" Martha exclaimed. "Listen-"
But at that moment two empty cake racks were pulled away at the other end of the room, and an
apprentice stuck his head through from the back somewhere "Thought I heard your voice, Lettie," he
said, grinning in the most friendly and flirtatious way. "The new baking's just up. Tell them." His head,
curly and somewhat floury, disappeared again. Sophie thought he looked a nice lad. She longed to ask
if he was the one Martha really liked, but she did not get a chance. Martha sprang up in a hurry, still
talking.
"I must get the girls to carry all these through to the shop." She said. "Help me with the end of this
one." She dragged out the nearest rack and Sophie helped her hump it past the door into the roaring,
busy shop. "You must do something about yourself, Sophie," Martha panted as they went. "Lettie kept
saying she didn't know what would happen to you when we weren't around to give you some