A Storm in the Stars by Don Zancanella

Author:Don Zancanella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Delphinium Books
Published: 2022-07-11T18:57:21+00:00

PART THREE

Summer 1816

Dr. Polidori

Such a grand coach it is! Byron’s manservant, Fletcher, says it was modeled after Napoleon’s. Whenever they come upon a village, he is astonished to see crowds have assembled in anticipation of their arrival and line the streets to watch them pass. Some of them wave and cheer, but more often they simply stare. He wonders how much the ordinary Frenchman knows about Lord Byron. Enough, apparently, to lay down his tools and gape.

As they left London only a few weeks after he was hired, he worried about being trapped in a coach with his new employer. Could he sustain a conversation with such a wit? But to his relief, the coach is so large, it has two compartments, one for Lord Byron and one for himself and Fletcher, with a partition in between. Although he was hired as Byron’s physician, Polidori’s services have yet to be required. Surely the man will say something if he begins to feel ill.

The manner in which they departed was so peculiar, he couldn’t help but marvel. At nine o’clock in the evening on a Thursday, Fletcher, a slight, wiry fellow with an expressionless face, informed him that two days hence they’d be embarking on an extended journey and he should prepare accordingly. He tried to imagine where—Cyprus? St. Petersburg? The mysterious lands beyond the Black Sea?—but almost as an afterthought, Fletcher said, “Switzerland.” It was something of a letdown. Byron had spoken to him about his travels to Greece with such fondness that Switzerland seemed tame. Nonetheless, he packed his belongings and was waiting by the door the morning they were to leave, a full hour before the specified time.

As he stood and watched, trunk after trunk was loaded onto the coach, with additional items, including the animals he keeps, into a freight wagon to follow. The traveling party was to consist of only the three of them plus the coachmen, but a bystander might well have thought they were packing for fifteen. At last Fletcher directed him to get inside, but before he did so, he overheard the following exchange between Fletcher and Lord Byron:

fletcher: Sir, it’s not too late. I could still arrange for an agent to sell the contents of the house and forward the proceeds when the transaction is complete.

lord byron: That’s not necessary. Leave everything as it is. Don’t bother locking up.

fletcher: The scavengers will descend like locusts. There will be no order to it.

lord byron: Let them strip it clean.

As the driver cracked his whip and the horses surged into motion, Polidori looked back and saw a clutch of ragged men already approaching the door.

Fletcher, anticipating the question, said, “Everywhere he goes, he sets up house fresh. When we depart for somewhere new, he takes only what’s necessary and leaves the rest behind.”

He wondered briefly what constitutes the necessary and what constitutes the rest—and how wealthy one must be to have so much of both.

“How do they know when to come,” Polidori asked. “The scavengers, I mean?”

Fletcher looked at him meaningfully.

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