Wallflowers by Eliza Robertson

Author:Eliza Robertson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2014-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

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After the Dane sent the bouquet, she visited him at the Universität. His office was small, loose-leaf papered. The wood desk occupied most of the floor space.

He said, “Ursula! My day is brighter.”

“I received your amaryllises.”

“Oh—did you like them?”

“Yes,” she said.

“I found a brooch yesterday. A pearl dove, with blue stones set in the eyes. It made me think of you. I wanted to buy it.”

“My eyes are brown,” she said, and smiled.

On his desk, a brass picture frame was angled between him and her so that she could see the face—a soft-cheeked woman with a limp bow tied around her neck. He followed her gaze and adjusted the frame nearer to his microscope, where he was examining a feather beneath a glass slide.

“I can’t meet you this evening,” he said. “But perhaps Saturday. After your show?”

She nodded, then paused.

“I need a hundred RM for my daughter,” she said.

His smile faded. His eyes drifted to the lens of his microscope.

“I’m free Saturday,” she continued. “We can take wine in my flat.”

He nodded. She looked down. She hadn’t had time that morning to press her skirt. She flattened a pleat with her thumb, then looked up again and rested her palm on the picture frame.

“She’s pretty,” she said, though she found the woman rather plain.

He smiled in a way that pinched his cheeks. Neither of them spoke. Finally he leaned over his lens and said, “A feather is one of the most elegant structures in nature. Want to see?”

She nodded and walked to his side of the desk. He withdrew from the lens so she could lean down. The feather looked like a disintegrated fern. The main vein was translucent and sprouting oily barbs, with tiny specks in the fibres like white dirt or dandruff.

“This one’s from a Eurasian griffon,” he said. “Beautiful plumage. You see?”

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