（外文电子版资料）Patricia Briggs - The Price.pdf

The Price Patricia Briggs Year: 2000 Molly couldnt recall just when the first time shed seen him had been. Never before this summer certainly. She did know that it wasnt until the fourth market of the season that shed begun to watch for him. It was then the market steadied to a trickling flow of people rather than the flood that came initially. Sitting at her booth, she had time to observe things that on busier days escaped her notice. He would wait until she was occupied with a customer before coming to her small booth and touching the weaving on the tables. If she stopped to talk to him, he turned away and melted into the crowd as if he were uninterested. Her first thought was that he was a thief, but nothing was ever missing. The next explanation that occurred to her was that he was too abashed by her looks to approach. She knew that many men, even ones shed known in childhood, were intimidated by her looks. Being beautiful was better than being ugly, she supposed, but it caused quite as many problems as it solved. For instance, it cost her several weeks before the idea that he might be worried that she would find him frightening crossed her mind. It wasnt that he was ugly, but he didnt look like anyone shed ever seen either. Small and slight — he moved oddly, as if his joints didnt work quite the way hers did. He reminded her of the stories about the fauns with human torsos on goats feet that ran through the hills. Shed even stolen a quick glance at his feet once, when he thought she was haggling with a customer — but his soft leather boots flexed just as hers did. If shed been certain that he was frightened of her, she would have let him choose his own time to approach her. But she had watched him closely last market day, and he didnt seem the sort to be easily intimidated. So she brought her small loom with her, the one she used for linen napkins, though usually she preferred to work with wool since wool caught her dyes better. The lo