"Alastair Reynolds - The Sledge-maker's Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Alastair)

'''I have no one else to visit. I can start home now.''' Kathrin offered her one remaining bag, as Widow
Grayling turned from the fire, brushing her hands on her apron.

'''Put it on the table, will you?'''

Kathrin put the bag down. '''One pig'''s head, and twenty candles, just as you wanted,''' she said brightly.

Widow Grayling hobbled over to the table, supporting herself with a stick, eyeing Kathrin as she opened
the bag and took out the solitary head. She weighed it in her hand then set it down on the table, the head
facing Kathrin in such a way that its beady black eyes and smiling snout suggested amused complicity.

'''It'''s a good head,''' the widow said. '''But there were meant to be two of them.'''

'''Can you manage with just the one, until I visit again? I'''ll have three for you next time.'''

'''I'''ll manage if I must. Was there a problem with the butcher in the Shield?'''

Kathrin had considered feigning ignorance, saying that she did not recall how only one head had come to
be in her bags. But she knew Widow Grayling too well for that.

'''Do you mind if I sit down?'''

'''Of course.''' The widow hobbled around the table to one of the rickety stools and dragged it out. '''Are
you all right, girl?'''

Kathrin lowered herself onto the stool.
'''The other bag was taken from me,''' she answered quietly.

'''By who?'''

'''Someone on the bridge.'''

'''Children?'''

'''A man.'''

Widow Grayling nodded slowly, as if Kathrin'''s answer had only confirmed some deep-seated suspicion
she had harboured for many years. '''Thomas Kinnear'''s boy, was it?'''

'''How could you know?'''

'''Because I'''ve lived long enough to form ready opinions of people. Garret Kinnear is filth. But there'''s
no one that'''ll touch him, because they'''re scared of his father. Even the sheriff tugs his forelock to
Thomas Kinnear. Did he rape you?'''

'''No. But he wanted me to do something nearly as bad.'''

'''And did he make you?'''