"Philip Jose' Farmer. The Green Odyssey (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

nothing if not moral.

Amra's return kiss was passionate, part of which was the vigor of asperity.
"You're not fooling me," she said. "You meant to ride right by. Kiss the
children! What's the matter, are you getting tired of me? You told me you
only accepted the Duchess's offer because it meant advancement, and you
were afraid that if you turned her down she'd find an excuse to kill you.
Well, I believed you-half-believed you, anyway. But I won't if you try
sneaking by without seeing me. What's the matter? Are you a man or not?
Are you afraid to face a woman? Don't shake your head. You're a liar!
Don't forget to kiss Grizquetr; you know he's an affectionate boy and
worships you, and it's absurd to say that in your country grown men don't
kiss boys that old. You're not in your country-what a strange, frigid,
loveless race must live there-and even if you were you might overlook
their customs to show some tenderness to the boy. Come on back to our
house and I'll bring up some of that wonderful Chalousma wine that came in
the other day out of the cellar--"

"What was a ship doing in your cellar?" he said, and he whooped with
laughter, "By all the gods, Amra, I know it's been two days since I've
seen you, but don't try to crowd forty-eight hours' conversation into ten
minutes, especially your kind of conversation. And quit scolding me in
front of the children. You know it's bad for them. They might pick up your
attitude of contempt for the head of the house."

"I? Contempt? Why, I worship the ground you walk on! I tell them
continually what a fine man you are, though it's rather hard to convince
them when you do show up and they see the truth. Still..."

There was only one way to handle her; that was to outtalk, outshout,
outact her. It was hard going, especially when he felt so tired, and when
she would not cooperate with him but would fight for precedence. The
trouble was, she didn't feel any respect for the man she could shut up, so
it was absolutely necessary to dominate her.

This he accomplished by giving her a big squeeze, causing the baby to cry
because she was pushed in too tightly between the two of them. Then while
Amra was trying to soothe the baby he began telling her what had happened
at the palace.

She was silent, except for a sharply pointed question interjected now and
then, and she insisted upon hearing the details of everything that had
taken place-everything. He told her things that he would not have
mentioned before children-two years ago. But the extremely frank and
uninhibited society of the slaves had freed him of any such restraints.

They went inside Amra's house, through her offices, where six of her
clerks and secretaries worked, through the living rooms proper, and on
into the kitchen.