Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
I
had
known
Dacre
in
England
,
for
my
researches
in
the
Assyrian
Room
of
the
British
Museum
had
been
conducted
at
the
time
when
he
was
endeavouring
to
establish
a
mystic
and
esoteric
meaning
in
the
Babylonian
tablets
,
and
this
community
of
interests
had
brought
us
together
.
Chance
remarks
had
led
to
daily
conversation
,
and
that
to
something
verging
upon
friendship
.
I
had
promised
him
that
on
my
next
visit
to
Paris
I
would
call
upon
him
.
At
the
time
when
I
was
able
to
fulfil
my
compact
I
was
living
in
a
cottage
at
Fontainebleau
,
and
as
the
evening
trains
were
inconvenient
,
he
asked
me
to
spend
the
night
in
his
house
.
"
I
have
only
that
one
spare
couch
,
"
said
he
,
pointing
to
a
broad
sofa
in
his
large
salon
;
"
I
hope
that
you
will
manage
to
be
comfortable
there
.
"
It
was
a
singular
bedroom
,
with
its
high
walls
of
brown
volumes
,
but
there
could
be
no
more
agreeable
furniture
to
a
bookworm
like
myself
,
and
there
is
no
scent
so
pleasant
to
my
nostrils
as
that
faint
,
subtle
reek
which
comes
from
an
ancient
book
.
I
assured
him
that
I
could
desire
no
more
charming
chamber
,
and
no
more
congenial
surroundings
.
"
If
the
fittings
are
neither
convenient
nor
conventional
,
they
are
at
least
costly
,
"
said
he
,
looking
round
at
his
shelves
.
"
I
have
expended
nearly
a
quarter
of
a
million
of
money
upon
these
objects
which
surround
you
.
Books
,
weapons
,
gems
,
carvings
,
tapestries
,
images
—
there
is
hardly
a
thing
here
which
has
not
its
history
,
and
it
is
generally
one
worth
telling
.
"
He
was
seated
as
he
spoke
at
one
side
of
the
open
fire
-
place
,
and
I
at
the
other
.
His
reading
-
table
was
on
his
right
,
and
the
strong
lamp
above
it
ringed
it
with
a
very
vivid
circle
of
golden
light
.
A
half
-
rolled
palimpsest
lay
in
the
centre
,
and
around
it
were
many
quaint
articles
of
bric
-
a
-
brac
.
One
of
these
was
a
large
funnel
,
such
as
is
used
for
filling
wine
casks
.
It
appeared
to
be
made
of
black
wood
,
and
to
be
rimmed
with
discoloured
brass
.
"
That
is
a
curious
thing
,
"
I
remarked
.
"
What
is
the
history
of
that
?
"
"
Ah
!
"
said
he
,
"
it
is
the
very
question
which
I
have
had
occasion
to
ask
myself
.
I
would
give
a
good
deal
to
know
.
Take
it
in
your
hands
and
examine
it
.
"
I
did
so
,
and
found
that
what
I
had
imagined
to
be
wood
was
in
reality
leather
,
though
age
had
dried
it
into
an
extreme
hardness
.
It
was
a
large
funnel
,
and
might
hold
a
quart
when
full
.
The
brass
rim
encircled
the
wide
end
,
but
the
narrow
was
also
tipped
with
metal
.
