"Andre Norton - The Opal-Eyed Fan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Where was her clothing?
At least that wind was gone. But under her feet the floor still seemed to sway as if it were the deck of the lost
Arrow. She made her way to the nearest window by holding on to the edge of the bed as a support.
To throw open the shutters was a task she fumbled over, though she was usually quick with her fingers.
Then she looked out into a still morning. At first noth-ing was visible but the crowns of palms. Then, by lean-ing
forward on the broad windowsill, she discovered that she was on the second story of a house which had been, in turn,
erected on a mound of—shells? Could they be shells? How could so substantial a dwelling have been placed on a
foundation of shells?
There was water below, and a wharf on which were piled boxes and barrels and—yes—her very own trunk!
Also, there were people; Persis watched three dark-skinned men trundle a large box by wheelbarrow back
toward a building of which she could see only a bit of roof. The three wore breeches cut off at the knees, leaving their
brown legs bare, and their shirts were much patched, faded, and salt stained.
 Wreckers—like that brute aboard the Arrow.
Persis felt distaste and a touch of fear. Though Uncle Augustin had said that the wreckers of the
Keys saved lives and goods, she remembered talk in New York of their greediness, tales of conspiracy
between some captains and the Key men to lose ships on marked reefs. They were certainly not very far
re-moved from the pirates who had earlier made these same waters their own and had had hiding places
here-abouts.
But what had happened to Uncle Augustin?
Now that there was more light, Persis saw a wrap-per lying across a chair by the bureau. As she
snatched that up, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the wall. It was a very ornate mirror,
perhaps bet-ter suited for a formal parlor, deeply framed in gilt which was a little dimmed. But the dimming
had not extended to the glass.
What a miserable sight she was!
No neat braided knot to top off her coiffure, no care-fully disciplined bunches of side curls, just a
mass of tangled brown hair sticky and matted, as she discov-ered when she poked and pulled at it. She
looked like one of those noisome hags illustrating one of Mrs. Radcliffe's weird stories. Persis was no
beauty, but she had never allowed herself to be untidy. Now her reflec-tion appalled her. She was startled
by a tap at the door and whirled about to call:
"Come!" Then she added, "Molly!" with deep relief, running to throw her arms about the woman
who en-tered, a liberty Molly would never have allowed nor-mally. For she was as set in her idea of the
perfect lady's maid as Persis was schooled to be the lady in charge of Uncle Augustin's household.
"Miss Persis, you'll catch your death!" Molly freed herself and shook out a light cloak from the bundle
she carried, putting it around the girl's shoulders. "It's a mercy we ain't all at the bottom of that there sea, so
it is!"
"Where's Uncle Augustin?"
"Now you have no call to fret, Miss Persis. He's as snug set as a baby in a hearth cradle. Shubal
has took him some soup and he swallowed near all of it. That the good Lord brought us safe to land is a
mighty mercy—"
"But where are we?"
"This is Lost Lady Key, leastways that is what they call it. And you've been sleeping right in
Captain Lev-erett's own bed. This is his house."
"Who is Captain Leverett?" Persis' head ached. If Uncle Augustin had his faithful Shubal in
attendance, she need not worry about him for the moment. Molly's calm had its effect, for she was acting
as if it were the most natural thing in the world for Persis Rooke, a most respectable lady, to wake up in the
bed of an un-known captain in a house she did not even remember entering.
"Why he's the one who rescued us. It was he as got you into the boat so his men could bring us
ashore. Don't you remember that, Miss Persis?"
The pirate—oh, she remembered all right! Persis set her teeth. It was not likely she'd ever forget
being thrown about. Molly could talk of being saved, but surely one did not have to be treated like that!