Shown the Door
The Black Void - Episode 3551
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I have evidently spent the night agonising unnecessarily. Ironically, if
the Marquess hadn't tried to buy me off, I would have been more likely to
have agreed to leave. The argument that it would be for the best for the
children couldn't easily be dismissed, and I could see how awkward my
presence would be for Don and Sara. But the fact that the Marquess thought
that I would put money ahead of my children angered me, and made me decide
to defy him. (Useful though the money would have been. I would never have
needed to work again, and about the only skills I have that are useful in
this world are as a barmaid and as a whore, neither of which are careers
that I want to pursue any further.)
As the armed guards enter, the Marquess picks up a heavy bag and hands it to me. "I'm a man of my word," he says (something that I no longer accept). "Here's your money." "Keep it," I say. Perverse of me perhaps, but I'm really angry at what I see as a betrayal. Besides, it did occur to me last night to wonder just how long it would be before the money would be stolen from me, if I was travelling away from here with only Baras to protect me. Ten minutes later, I - and Baras and our two horses - find ourselves outside the outer gate, which is being locked behind us. All I've got out of our visit is a much more respectable outfit, which a seamstress completed for me yesterday afternoon. It seems strange after so long to have so much of my body covered up. The only snag is that the long skirt isn't suitable for riding astride, and the horse's saddle isn't suitable for riding side-saddle, even if I could manage that for any distance. I am going to have to ask to borrow Baras's knife and do some customising of the skirt. "So I guess that's that," Baras says, interrupting my thoughts. "Not at all. The Marquess doesn't know me very well if he thinks that I can be put off so easily. Now we ride to Castle Freydair and find out what Don and Sara have to say. The Marquess can't prevent that."
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JH
5/1/2007 1:24:09 PM
Extending Enabled
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