the Blind Contessa's New Machine (2010) by Wallace Carey

Author:Wallace, Carey [Carey, Wallace,]
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-14T19:20:20.718000+00:00

Before she and Pietro even emerged from the pines, Carolina could hear that all the servants had spilled out into the front yard. Children laughed and shrieked in the throes of some game. Women murmured to one another. Men barked orders and others refused them with equal force.

When the two of them stepped out of the forest, a great cry rose up and the crowd rushed close. Little hands pulled at her torn robe. Grown ones reached for her arms and waist and elbow. Like a stubborn horse, Carolina drew to a halt and turned her face against Pietro’s chest.

Pietro laughed. “All right,” he said. “Stand back. Nothing is wrong. We’ve just come from a walk.”

The babble of voices around them rose with questions and protests, but the hands fell away, leaving only Pietro’s. He had half carried her all the way from the lake, since her punished feet couldn’t support her weight without pain. Now he led her across the lawn, up the stone walk, and into the house. The door shut out the sounds of the servants and the birds, leaving them in sudden silence.

Pietro took her hand and set it on the banister.

“You know where you are?” he asked.

She nodded.

Pietro lifted her hand again, this time to kiss it. “If you can walk through the woods,” he said reasonably, “you will come down to dinner from now on.”

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