The Mirrors (part thirty-eight)

      The Mirrors (part thirty-eight)     She sat, though itching to tidy, equally to call after Carmine, making the garden door her own vigil…both entries covered. “Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe somehow it’s over. But this word comes from Polly.” As she told him, hushed, she felt the island’s hum—with them, in […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-nine)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-nine)         “I suppose, if you like to use the room, it might not be, could we say…on Wednesday nights, or Sundays after lunch…” He’d tried that much. His unscheduled retreats to the balcony had taught […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-eight)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-eight)         “They are on the stage, so I discount whatever name Monsieur gives…but it is for today, Allen. She is Madame.” “Christ Jiminy!” Allen barked. “Get on, mister, or don’t! Beau! Take up!” Gilbert offered […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-seven)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-seven)         Assisted by the lapel, Gilbert stumbled from his seat, sounding syllables. He shook his head, confident enough. The cabby smacked a palm. The costly Lecomte was discovered in conversation with a woman…her head the […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-six)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-six)         Gilbert had counted out twenty dollars in coin, surely a mad sum, but his hope for Lecomte (in truth, for Honoré’s sake), was that he make his way north, the treasured protégé of someone… […]

The Enemy (part three)

      The Enemy (part three)     Weapon of choice, was Palma’s thought. What is small and quick? A plummet, on the other hand, had virtues, quickness among them. The engineering of a plummet might be small…a distraction, a taped switch forcing an alarm to sound, a slippery floor. She saw the court […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-five)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-five)         But there was a Mme Montrose—a widow, certainly it was said—who traded to the hatmakers in feathers. Recalling where she kept her shop would be nothing, once the son was got into the room, […]

The Mirrors (part thirty-seven)

      The Mirrors (part thirty-seven)     Charmante thought the Breedloves would live off a side street, and here were only businesses. Conspicuous as she was dressed, she expected a small wave of news to precede her. She must get the address from whatever of these places showed life. Not this, number 818, […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-four)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-four)         With a pert acquiring of the thought, Miss Brent hopped aboard, asking as she hoisted a skirt cut above the ankle, and climbed without the cabman’s aid, if it were not better she carried […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part twenty-three)

          All Bedlam Courses Past   Chapter Two Avarice Creeping On (part twenty-three)         Recently they had had other correspondence. From her in-between line readings, Madame got a wary sense that a slackening of the reins would permit Honoré’s cousin to take command. She had no picture of […]