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In the Capital it had been snowing and snow lay thickly on the ground. The Mandarin
clock, which Bluemud could see through his hotel window showed a quarter to nine. Fifty
four hours earlier he had deposited Elizabeth at Shining River. He had spent the
intervening hours searching for an apartment without success and was feeling alone,
friendless and more than a little tormented. Even without the War the Capital would have been an under populated place. The number of its residents who were obliged to work there dwindled with each year. They drifted away to their sterile lives in the Golden Lands, leaving the elite and a few civil servants still drawn like moths to the fading light of Government together with a fairly large residue of relatively underprivileged folk. Thus, there was an abundance of available dwellings in the Capital but nothing he had seen so far suited Bluemud's taste. He needed a place in a comfortable, well situated location where he and Elizabeth could be visible yet not too much so. His searching had reminded him of why he hated the Golden Lands so much. Having to wear a fancy coat! The owners of the last place he had visited looked at him as if here were a sort of wild man! As he lay on his bed in the hotel at the end of a very frustrating day he cursed frequently and tried to tell himself that he was doing this only for Elizabeth. But the truth was that he had other motives. He tried to tell himself that he needed help, the assistance of someone who knew the best places, who could lead him around so that he could find somewhere easily and without all this fuss and inconvenience. His torment was that there was one person who could help him and she was Vera. That lady, whom he had sworn to himself before coming up here he was going to avoid like the plague. She, sleek both in breast and bottom, of whose circle he had once been such an ardent member and whom he had forgotten entirely until that dinner at Shining River. Though it had crossed his mind, he had decided at that dinner that pursuing Vera was far too dangerous an undertaking and it still was: even more so now. Yet, lying on that bed, he began to think of all the reasons why he should ignore his reservations: Elizabeth was friendly with that girl - she had already been to the Passareil's house here - so in a way the damage on that front, if there was any, had been done already. And Vera had specifically offered to help him find a place to live. And what better way to achieve the cloak of respectability he sought than to enter the social circle of the ex-Secretary of State? Finally, and it was one of the major reasons he had come to this place though he was loath to admit it to himself, it had been a long time since he had had a woman! Outside the hotel window stretched the quiet, breathing city of no light, a place which seemed so alien after his house on the cliff. As the chimes of the clock proclaimed the hour of nine Bluemud picked up the phone and dialed the number that he had. Vera kept her word. She put Bluemud in touch with a friend who found him a pleasant apartment in the northern hills and she even came to inspect the place for herself after he had moved in. 'It is nice here, Eldridge, This was the first place I suggested. The sun always shines on this side of the hills but the beech trees give lots of shade. Such a lovely view down to the river, isn't it? We hardly live a mile away, you know, through the woods. Of course, it is impossible to go that way now, there is too much snow, and it is always very muddy in the winter but in the summer... ' 'We don't expect to be here much in the summer. I am planning to go abroad and we have a place down on the Gulf.' 'Is Elizabeth at the University?' Vera dressed as she had at the dinner. Her nipples and the curves of her cleavage showed through her dress but she maintained the gulf between them. 'Yes.' 'Angel hasn't seen much of her recently, I am afraid.' 'No, Elizabeth has been away. With me.' 'Abroad? Yes, still it is a pity. Angel does not make friends easily but she is very fond of Lizzie. Well, now that the boys are back from the War I suppose none of the girls will be very much interested in each other.' Vera wandered around the room inspecting his rented furniture and paintings. 'That is pretty.' She turned and smiled at him, melting his heart somewhat. 'The real reason I came here, Eldridge, was to invite you to our Christmas gathering. Now the New Year is in July it is a problem but nobody cares about the religious significance of Christmas anyway so we're holding it then. There will be many people there. You may find some of them to your taste.' Then she left. A week later a card was slipped into Bluemud's mailbox. All it said was: See you in the sun next year. He burned it at once. |
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