Читать книгу Raiders of the Red Death - Emile C. Tepperman - Страница 4

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NERO fiddled while Rome burned. And nearly two thousand years later, in the City of Washington, D.C., distinguished guests at the brilliant reception given by Mrs. Glenna Hawkins, dances to soft music and chatted idly of trivial things. And even while they laughed and chatted, newspapers were being hawked in the streets; newspapers carrying strange, black, disturbing headlines:

AZTEC REVOLUTION OVERTURNS MEXICAN GOVERNMENT!

SELF-STYLED DESCENDENT OF MONTEZUMA MAKES SELF EMPEROR!

The voices crying extras did not penetrate to gay guests in the home of Mrs. Hawkins. Indeed, few except two of the guests concerned themselves much with what was happening in little Mexico. The two who were interested were none other than the American Secretaries of War and of State, whose limousines were conspicuous among those parked outside Mrs. Hawkins' home.

But those two gentlemen were not in evidence in the huge reception room, and the other guests naturally assumed that they were closeted somewhere, discussing weighty matters.

So the gay reception went on...