"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Madelaine 2 - In the Face of Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yarbro Chelsea Quinn)

kitchen and pantry beyond. "And the servants' quarters? Where are they? Upstairs?"
"They are in the rear of the house," said Sherman, the roughness in his voice not entirely
due to a recent attack of asthma. "A detached cottage with three apartments."
Madelaine paused in the door to the kitchen, thinking that having the servants' quarters
out of the house could be a real advantage. "Are they adequate? Do they have sufficient heat? If
the summers are as chilly as you say they are, Mr. Sherman, it will be necessary to provide
heating for them, even in July."
"There are stoves in each of the apartments," Sherman said stiffly. "That will be sufficient
to their needs."
"And they will dine in the kitchen?" she said, looking into that room.
"Naturally," said Sherman, and veiled a cough.
"What of the location? Is it… acceptable?" she asked.
"Well enough," answered Sherman, and added, as if against his will, "I have only recently
moved from Green Street to a fashionable house on Rincon Hill. To please my wife."
"Who is visiting her family," Madelaine finished for him.
"Yes." He waited until the silence was too laden with unspoken things; he then chose the
most trivial of them to break it. "There are so few areas where reputable women may live safely
alone in this city, though this comes as close to being that as any neighborhood might do. The
location is not the most fashionable, but it is not inappropriate for a single woman keeping her
own house, conserving her money, and assuring her good character in society."
"All of which is important." Madelaine turned to him. "I will need to find a good draper. I
will need heavy curtains and draperies for the windows in the front parlor and the withdrawing
room, as well as for the front bedrooms."
 "Which face west," he said, looking impressed by her resolution. "You have not yet seen
the third house, Madame de Montalia."
"Why should I waste your time and my own when this suits my needs so well?"
Madelame asked, coming toward him.
Again he masked a cough, a sign of discomfort in him. "You haven't seen the bedrooms
upstairs. They might not suit your purposes, or you could decide that the withdrawing room will
not serve you well as your study," he pointed out. "I do not want you to contract for this house
and then complain to me later that it is not what you wanted."
Madelaine smiled at him, annoyed that he would not admit she knew her own mind, and
decided to enjoy herself at his expense. "Dear me, Mr. Sherman, are you always so hesitant
yourself?" She could see that he was uneasy with this challenge, and she pressed her advantage,
feeling his uncertainty about her as if there were a third person in the house with them, a silent
judge who evaluated all that passed between them. "From what General Hitchcock told me the
other afternoon, I thought you were of a decisive nature. Captain Buell says the same thing about
you."
Stung, Sherman regarded her through narrowed eyes. "What do you mean, Madame?"
"I mean that you doubt my capacity to choose that which suits me," she answered, coming
closer still to him. "This house will do well. The cellar is large enough and secure enough for my
purposes, the rooms are pleasant, the location is satisfactory, and it requires very little attention
from me, once I select the carpets and draperies. You tell me the rent is not too high for the
house. Since it has so much to recommend it, I am willing to take it on a lease through… shall we
say September?"
"You will have your book written in that time?" He flung this back at her, his face nearly
expressionless.
"The greater part of it, certainly," she answered, unflus-tered; she enjoyed the
awkwardness he felt in response to her emerging confidence.
He shrugged, making it plain that he washed his hands of the whole affair. "Be it on your