The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long

Author:Julie Anne Long [Long, Julie Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePub Bud (www.epubbud.com)
Published: 2010-07-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

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r. Pallatine was a sort of amber-brown, a bit glossy, and suspended from a stand. His toes dangled nearly to the floor; his head nodded so that his chin nearly touched his rib cage. He was, in other words, the typical human skeleton, only much, much taller.

“He was my quest,” the doctor said, studying him the way one might the Mona Lisa.

The doctor looked up at the two of them, and ac tually seemed amused. “The two of you think I’m a ghoul.”

As this was patently true for Colin, at least until fur ther information was obtained, he said nothing.

The doctor sighed. “Let me explain. As a teaching physician, my job is to continually advance my profes sion, and to do so, we physicians need corpses to dissect, particularly corpses who died of interesting ailments.”

Doctors, Colin thought, inwardly shaking his head. Only doctors found ailments “interesting.”

“For example, I doubt there would be anything terribly interesting about your corpse, Mr. Eversea. You’re a fine looking man, but on the surface of things you appear quite ordinary and you seem healthy. You would have been useful in a very general way, but I doubt I would have added much to our body of scientifi c knowledge. Not offense meant.”

“No offense taken, Dr. August.” Colin was as tounded that his voice was steady.

“I would have been happy to have it, regardless.” A ghost of a smile floated over the doctor’s lips. Gallows humor, indeed, as the only bodies surgeons were legally allowed to dissect were those of executed prisoners un claimed by families.

And there were far, far more medical students than there were executed felons in London.

“I’m honored.” Colin gave him back the same smile. “I imagine my corpse could have fallen into worse hands.”

Still might, he thought but didn’t add.

“But Jonas Pallatine . . . we all wanted him,” the doctor said wistfully. “Every physician in the land wanted him.”

“Jonas Pallatine?” The name was strangely familiar. And then Colin had it. “Would he be Jonas the Giant? He traveled with circuses, did he not?”

“Oh, yes,” the doctor said. “He was well over seven feet tall, Mr. Pallatine, was, as you can see. He died last year. Quite a magnificent freak, and a very pleasant man, but a bit reluctant to do his bit for science.”

His bit for science, Colin assumed, meant donating his remains after death so doctors could poke about his insides and posterity could continue to gawk upon his magnifi cent skeleton.

“Did you ever see him when he was alive?” Dr. August sounded mildly curious.

“I did, as a matter of fact. He traveled with a circus to Pennyroyal Green when I was a boy. He greeted me quite pleasantly, and after that I dreamed for weeks that all of my brothers were giants and wanted to eat me. Funny, because I grew up to be the tallest.”

He had the pleasure of seeing Madeleine Greenway turn her head incredulously toward him. Colin wasn’t certain why he did it, the jesting in the midst of unbe lievably dark situations.

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