Читать книгу The Perfect World. A romance of strange people and strange places онлайн

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“Stand what?” asked Alan wearily.

“Why the whispers and sneers that are showered on us whenever we are near them. They all shrink away from us—treat us as if we were lepers; even Slater avoids us, and the ‘Curse’ is whispered from lip to lip as we pass.”

“You’ll do no good, Desmond.”

“We had nothing to do with the child’s going away, yet they treat us as if we had murdered him.”

“Leave it alone,” said Alan, “I don’t know what it is, but this place seems uncanny. I think I am almost beginning to believe in the ‘Curse’ myself.”

Desmond made no reply, but squaring his shoulders, began to walk toward the miners.

“Look here, you fellows,” he began. “What’s wrong with you all? Why are you treating my cousin and me as if we were murderers? We aren’t responsible for Murlock’s little child vanishing away.”

The miners moved restlessly and muttered together, each waiting for a spokesman to assert himself, who would teach them the line of action they should take. Desmond continued, “You talk about the ‘Curse’! We knew nothing about it when we came here, and to us it seems ridiculous to imagine there is anything supernatural about the whole affair. The river is only a quarter of a mile from their garden gate; I know it has been dragged, but after all it is full of whirlpools and weeds, and if the little chap did fall into it, ten to one his little body will never be found.”