Quillifer by Walter Jon Williams

Author:Walter Jon Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

* * *

he afternoon featured another excursion on the lake, with music and a barge on which cavorted a group of girl-children dressed as water nymphs. I did not want to think about water nymphs and did not go onto the water, but again I saw Berlauda and Broughton together in the swan-boat, and I remarked that Broughton’s wife and father-in-law were not in evidence. Perhaps, I thought, they had surrendered to the inevitable, and were making plans to extort as much from the Throne as possible in order to permit a divorce.

While I was contemplating these complexities of love, I saw Amalie walking past the hedges into one of the gardens, and I followed, pretending not to know she was there. The garden was formally laid out, in its center the worn statue of an old man or venerable god, so eroded that he seemed all gaping black eyes and hollowed-out beard. The flowers were brown and dead, and the avenues lined with fallen leaves that crackled beneath my boots. I affected to be surprised by the presence of a marchioness in this place, all in a gown of pure black with a tall collar that rose to her chin, and I took off my cap and “louted low,” as the saying is. A cool breeze floated past, and autumn leaves rained down from the trees and skittered along the gravel walks.

“Goodman Quillifer,” she said, “you are much discussed.”

“Pleasantly, I hope.” I straightened and put on my cap.

She frowned. “I thought the business of the pudding was overdone. That joke has grown stale.”

“I’ll forgo any more jokes about puddings.”

“Be advised that you should.” She stepped near, and I restrained my desire to put my arms around her. I saw that she wore the pearl pendant I had given her on the gold link girdle, as I wore its dark twin. She touched her chin with the tip of her closed fan.

“Yet it is said that you distinguished yourself in the hunt.”

“I did well enough.” I looked at her. “Yet I hope some other manner of hunting will prove more lucky for me.”

She looked at me from her long eyes. “What manner is that?”

“I hope to track you to your den, my lady.”

She flashed her little white teeth. “I would bite you if you did.” She let fall her fan. “But your hunt would fail. The guest rooms are crowded, and I share a room with my two maids. We would not be alone.”

I fell into step with her. “A few days ago, we speculated on the possibility of taking a ride out-of-doors,” I said. “It is a fine day, and perhaps we might find a mossy nook in the forest.”

“Too many eyes,” she said.

“Tonight, then, after the play?” I paused by the corroded old statue, and turned to face her. “We could meet here. I could bring blankets and a flask with a warming beverage.”

She smiled and touched my arm with her fan. “I will not say no, but I can make no promises.

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