Читать книгу Five Quarters of the Orange / Пять четвертинок апельсина онлайн

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“Think what it might mean to the family, Mamie.”

“No!”

I began to push the door closed, but Laure put her high heel into the crack.

“You can’t hide away forever-”

Then Paul stepped forward into the doorway. He spoke in a calm and slightly drawling voice, the voice of a man who is either deeply at peace or a little slow in the head.

“Maybe you didn’t hear Framboise.” His smile was almost sleepy but for the wink he gave me, and in that moment I loved him completely and with a suddenness which startled away my rage. “If I’ve understood this right, then she doesn’t want to do business. Isn’t that so?”

“Who’s this?” said Laure. “What’s he doing here?”

Paul gave her his sweet and sleepy smile.

“A friend,” he told her simply. “From way back.”

“Framboise,” called Laure from behind Paul’s shoulder. “Think about what we said. Think about what it means. We wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important. Think about it-”

“I’m sure she will,”

said Paul kindly, and closed the door. Laure began to knock persistently upon it, and Paul drew the latch and put on the safety chain. I could hear her voice, muffled by the thickness of the wood, now with a high buzzing note in it.