Lord of the Hollow Dark by Kirk Russell

Author:Kirk, Russell [Kirk, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction.Horror
ISBN: 0312498446
Publisher: St Martins Press
Published: 1979-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

A big man sat watchful at a table, regarding her. Between his fingers he balanced a short black-hafted knife, what the Scots called a sgean-dhu, the forefinger of one hand pressing against the haft, the forefinger of the other against the shining point, delicately. The hands were hairy. “He must have a very tough skin,” Marina thought, with wild irrelevance.

Making out who she was, the big man deftly slid the black knife into his stocking top, and rose. “What a welcome intrusion!” he said. “I’d wondered these past two days what lay behind that bolted old door, and what might emerge.” He smiled pleasantly.

It was Coriolan, that genteel tramp or whatever he might be. Any outsider, even a tramp, was safer company than the folk above stairs. “Oh, I’m glad to see you, Captain Bain,” Marina exclaimed, and then blushed all over. She was in her dressing gown, barefoot, covered all over with cobwebs, her hair a rat’s nest, and the baby squalling. Also, in that instant, she remembered that Bain, or Coriolan, was Sweeney’s partner in the subterranean work. Would Sweeney soon be down to snap her up?

She was about to faint. Coriolan saw it, for with one stride he was beside her, taking the baby gently, easing Marina into a battered chair. “Come,” he said, “am I so dreadful looking as all that? I know: strong tea’s what you need, and I’d already put it on against Sweeney’s return. We’ve a little paraffin stove down here for such comforts-found it in a rubbish room.”

Michael’s outcries having subsided, Coriolan bestowed him on a nearby cot, covered him with a blanket, and brought Marina tea in a tin cup. The man was so cheerful and helpful that, even in her present plight, Marina tried to think of something civil to say to him. “Your wife is a lucky woman, Captain Bain.”

At once she knew this for a faux pas: tramps don’t have wives. But this man, or gentleman, was not vexed at all. “I never married: too footloose, you know, and too spendthrift. I say, you’ve drunk that tea already; you did need it. I’ll pour more.”

After that, he sat down opposite her at the table, taking no tea himself. “I’ve come up from below, you see: we’ve made good headway there, and the rest of our crew went upstairs hours ago. Where can Mr. Sweeney have got to? He’ll miss his tea.”

Certainly he took her abrupt appearance imperturbably. If she could confide in anyone in this house, it must be this man. “He was trying to force his way into my room,” Marina said. “He did force his way in, so I slipped out and ran up and down that stair.”

Coriolan-Bain looked politely sympathetic, but did not seem much surprised; Marina was chagrined to find her misadventure taken so calmly, but perhaps this man never was excited.

“Really! Alec Balgrummo had his shortcomings, Heaven knows, but he’d have allowed no such troubling of guests in his day. Perhaps Sweeney found drink or something worse; he’s been under grave strain, poor chap, not liking things down below.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.