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Robert A. Heinlein - A Comedy Of Justice
Atec Февраль 27 2008 02:52:13
Книга только для ознакомления
. But do you honestly think that anyone not born amidst the tall corn could possibly have my accent?'
He gave a most Latin. shrug. 'I'm not an expert in midwest accents. To my ear you could have been born to one of the harsher British accents, then have gone on the stage - and everybody knows that a competent actor can acquire the accent for any role. The People's Republic of England goes to any length these days to plant their sleepers in the States; you might be from Lincoln, England, rather than from somewhere near Lincoln, Nebraska.'
'Do you really believe that?'
'What I believe is not the question. The fact is that I will not sign a piece of paper saying that you are an
American citizen when I don't know that you are. I'm sorry. Is there anything more that I can do for you?'
(How can you do 'more' for me when you haven't done anything yet?) 'Possibly you can advise us.'
'Possibly. I am not a lawyer.'
I offered him our copy of the billing against us, explained it. 'Is this in order and are these charges appropriate?'
He looked it over. 'These charges are certainly legal both by their laws and ours. Appropriate? Didn't you tell me that they saved your lives?'
'No question about it. Oh, there's an outside chance that a fishing boat might have picked us up if the Coast Guard had not found us. But the Coast Guard did find us and did save us.'
'Is your life - your two lives - worth less than eight thousand pesos? Mine is worth considerably more, I assure you
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