[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

maidenly graces Suldrun was given into the charge of the Lady Desdea, widow of
Queen Sollace's brother, who resided permanently at Haidion and performed
genteel duties at the languid behest of Queen Sollace.
Forty years old, without prooerty, large-boned, tall, with overly large
features and bad breath, Lady Desdea had no prospects whatever; still she
beguiled herself with impossible fantasies.
She primped, powdered, and perfumed herself; she dressed her chestnut hair in
high style, with a complicated bun at the back
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%2...s%200%20-%20Suldrun's%20Garden%20
1983.html (56 of 513) [12/29/2004 12:02:33 AM]
- - - - Vance uses many footnotes in this volume and twin sponsons of crisp
curls confined in nets over her ears.
Suldrun's fresh young beauty and easy absentminded habits rasped the most
sensitive fibers of Lady Desdea's disposition. Suldrun's visits to the old
garden had now become generally known. Lady
Desdea automatically disapproved. For a highborn maiden or any other kind of
maiden the desire for privacy was not only eccentric; it was absolutely
suspicious. Suldrun was somewhat too young to have taken to herself a lover.
And yet... The idea was absurd. Her breasts were but nubbins. Still, might she
have been beguiled by a faun, who were known to be partial to the tart-sweet
charms of young maidens?
So went Lady Desdea's thinking. One day she blandly suggested that
Suldrun escort her through the garden. Suldrun tried to evade the issue. "You
wouldn't like the place. The path goes over rocks, and there is nothing much
to see."
"Still, I think I would like to visit this place."
Suldrun studiously said nothing, but Lady Desdea persisted. "The weather is
fine. Suppose we take our little walk now."
Page 40
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"You must excuse me, my lady," said Suldrun politely. "This is a place where I
go only when I am alone."
Lady Desdea raised high her thin chestnut eyebrows. "'Alone'? It is not seemly
that young ladies of your place should wander alone through remote areas."
Suldrun spoke in a placid and offhand manner, as if enunciating a known truth.
"There is no harm enjoying one's private garden.
Lady Desdea could find nothing to say. Later she reported
Suldrun's obstinacy to Queen Sollace, who at the moment was testing a new
pomade formulated from the wax of lilies. "I've heard something of this," said
Queen Sollace, rubbing a gobbet of white cream along her wrist. "She is a
strange creature. At her age I had eyes for several gallant lads, but as for
Suldrun such
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%2...s%200%20-%20Suldrun's%20Garden%20
1983.html (57 of 513) [12/29/2004 12:02:33 AM]
- - - - Vance uses many footnotes in this volume ideas never enter her odd
little head... Ha! This offers a rich scent! Feel the unction!"
On the next day the sun shone fair among small high cloud-tufts.
Reluctantly to her lessons with Julias Sagamundus went Suldrun wearing a prim
little lavender and white striped gown gathered high up under her breasts and
trimmed with lace at hem and collar.
Perched on a stool, Suldrun dutifully wrote the ornate Lyonesse script with a
gray goose-quill, so fine and long that the tip twitched a foot above her
head. Suldrun found herself gazing out the window ever more frequently, and
the characters began to straggle.
Julias Sagamundus, seeing how the wind blew, sighed once or twice, but without
emphasis. He took the quill from Suldrun's fingers, packed his exercise books,
quills, inks and parchments, and went off about his own affairs. Suldrun
climbed down from the stool and stood rapt by the window, as if listening to
far music. She turned and left the library.
Lady Desdea emerged into the gallery from the Green Parlor, where
King Casmir had instructed her in careful detail. She was only just in time to
notice the lavender and white flutter of Suldrun's dress as she disappeared
into the Octagon.
Lady Desdea hurried after, heavy with King Casmir's instructions.
She went into the Octagon, looked right and left, then went outside, to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • supermarket.pev.pl

    •