MIchael Moorcock by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-08-13T00:37:53+00:00

12

The Awful Dilemma of Mrs. Amelia Underwood

" Now look wot you've gorn an' done!" said the little maid accusingly. "Ain't you ashamed of yerself?"

"How could I have made her swoon?"

"You frightened 'er somefink crool -- jest like you frightened me! All that dirty talk!"

Jherek kneeled beside Mrs. Amelia Underwood, patting ineffectually at her limp hands.

"You promise you won't do nuffink nasty an' I'll go an' get some water an' sal volatile," said the girl, looking at him warily.

"Nasty? I?"

"Oo, yore a cool one!" The girl's tone was half-chiding, half-admiring as she left the hall through a door under the staircase, but she no longer seemed to regard him as a complete menace. She returned very quickly, holding a glass of water in one hand and a small green bottle in the other. "Stand back," she said firmly. She joined Jherek on the floor, lifted Mrs. Underwood's head under one arm and put the bottle to her nose. Mrs. Underwood moaned.

"Yore very lucky indeed," the maid said, "that Mr. Underwood's at 'is meeting. But 'e'll be back soon enough. Then you'll be in trouble!"

Mrs. Underwood opened her eyes. When she saw Jherek, she closed them again. And again she moaned, but this time it seemed that she moaned with despair.

"Have no fear," whispered Jherek. "I will have you away from all this as soon as you have recovered."

Her voice, when she managed to speak, was quite controlled. "Where have you been, Mr.

Carnelian, if you were not hanged?"

"Been? In my own age, of course. The age you love. Where we were happy."

"I am happy here, Mr. Carnelian, with my husband, Mr. Underwood."

"Of course. But you are not as happy as you would be with me."

She took a sip from the glass of water, brushed the smelling salts aside, and began to get to her feet.

Jherek and the maid helped her. She walked slowly into the sitting room, a rather understated version of the one Jherek had created for her. The harmonium, he noticed, did not have nearly so many stops as the one he had made, and the aspidistra was not as vibrant; neither was the quality of the antimacassars all it could have been. But the smell was better. It was fuller, staler.

Carefully she seated herself in one of the large armchairs near the fireplace. Jherek remained standing. She said to the girl:

"You may go, Maude Emily."

"Go, miss?"

"Yes, dear. Mr. Carnelian, though a stranger to our customs, is not dangerous. He is from abroad."

"Aeow!" said Maude Emily, considerably relieved and illumined, satisfied now that she had an explanation which covered everything. "Well, I'm sorry about the mistake then, sir." She made something of a curtsey and left.

"She's a good-hearted girl, but not very well trained," said Mrs. Underwood apologetically. "You know the difficulties one has getting -- but, of course, you would not know. She has only been with us a fortnight and has broken almost every scrap of china in the house, but she means well. We got her from a Home, you know.

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