Дэймон Найт - Orbit 12

I burst out laughing. “Come, Lasinio! Did my manner so easily deceive you? Every day I am in love anew. Every hour some fresh beauty takes my heart by storm. Why, only last afternoon —no, only my ability as an actor conceals the perfect turmoil in which I live!”

“My turmoil is very far from perfect. You see, the love of my life is already married—and to such a mean and lecherous old curmudgeon that her every hour is a misery. Come, let’s walk—it will help me conceal my agitation! Yes, she breaks her heart for my sake but dare not leave this antique satyr of hers.”

“It’s a sad tale, my friend, but your course is clear—you must either love elsewhere or winkle her away from the antique satyr.”

We had begun to walk in the general direction of Lemperer’s, but almost at once Lasinio stopped again and grasped me by the arm.

“This is desperate, for tomorrow I must leave Malacia and go with my regiment to fight against the forces of Suliman the Magnificent, which even now besiege the gates of Tuscady. So by tonight I must have definite pledges from my love, and bear her hence. You can help—you must help!”

“You need a wily attorney!”

“I need you, Bryan de Chirolo, for you know the lady of my affections. She visited your apartments last afternoon; I followed her. She is the beautiful, the divine, the ever-adorable La Singla!”

The hussy! A captain of mercenaries! It was now my turn to start walking. My present companion was the rogue Lemperer was making all the fuss about; he had delivered himself into my hands, just as had La Singla! What a sheepish black sheep! As I wondered how the situation could be turned to my advantage, the fellow began to resolve that question too.

“I know that her senile old goat of a husband trusts you, Bryan. You will soon be again in her presence. Take her a message from me. You see, I fear him, in case he sets his followers on me. I’ll stay here. You go to her, tell her how desperate in love of her I am—will you do this!”

“Say on.”

“Tell her I have my pistol primed and stand with its muzzle ever and anon at my temple, so acute are my fits of despair. Will you do this?”

“Say on.”

“Tell her—out of the venerable old twit’s hearing, naturally— that I will have a Paris waiting at the Stary Most at midnight tonight, that I shall be in it, waiting to bear her away—”

“To Tuscady?”

“To Tuscady, for there goes our regiment.”

“Am I to inform this divine, this adorable, this ever-lovely creature that her tryst is with you or with Suliman the Magnificent?”

An unsoldierly pout, which the moustache was totally unable to conceal, stole over his features.

“What I need is help, not mockery! Suppose you were to give your life in a foreign field on the morrow? Would you feel so jovial as now you do?”

We had paused again, the better to maul each other conversationally, and I saw, glancing over my shoulder, that we were being watched from behind an ancient obelisk bearing only the letters S.E.X.T.U.S. Why should the lame magician follow us? I felt uneasy and knew it was time to make a deal with my soldier friend.

“I sorrow for you, Captain Lasinio—though I trust that if you sincerely believed you were to fall under a swinging scimitar tomorrow, you would be on your knees in San Marco’s now, rather than ordering indiscreet Parises.”

“Just recall that you are playing the soldier now, not the priest! Will you take my message persuasively to the irresistible possessor of my heart?”

“I will, truthfully and exactly, omitting no detail of your masterly plan—on one condition. You must lend me your hat—no, I know you can hardly fight and bleed without it, but she shall return it to you at midnight tonight. By then, it should have worked my purpose with Lemperer or not, as the case may be. Lend it to me today!”

“If your purpose distracts him from his darling wife, then yes, a thousand times.”

“Once suffices, if it carries your tricorne with it!”

So I put his hat upon my head, where it fitted well and certainly felt as nobly as on his. We shook hands and parted, and he stepped away immediately into the deep shadow of a side lane, and was lost

For a moment I stood there; but the notion that a beady sorcerer’s eye was upon me made me move. There was much I wished to ponder upon concerning the most favourable disposition of my knowledge. Since the hour was still early, I decided I would muster my thoughts over a glass of hot chocolate.

Choosing a table as well hidden from common view as possible, I sat myself at one of the cafes by the canal side. It was agreeable to be addressed as “Captain,” and to receive more spirited service than usual. I stroked my upper lip. For the part of Phalante, if Lemperer accepted my idea, I would grow as brave a moustache as any member of the Lasinio family ever sported. If I played the cards in my hand right, not only would Lemperer be forced to accept my idea, but his wife should be mine at midnight, and let who would oppose the affairs of the Turkish sultan!

As I threw down a denario on the table and left, two thugs ran out from a nearby doorway and pinned my arms before I could draw my sword. As may be imagined, I fought with audacity, yelling for help at the same time—yet was powerless to resist every kick behind and clout over the shoulders that the two vagabonds chose to give me.

They made no attempt to snatch my purse. Instead they dragged me toward the canal. Inch by inch I battled against them —uselessly! My offers to pay them rather than ruin my uniform fell on their senseless ears with no effect. Splash! Oh, swans, oh, geese!—How sorry was I to disturb your territory in that rude way!

Rising like a demonstration of the hydraulic art, I came to the surface in time to see my two assailants running off. Almost within my reach stood a monumental block of stone from which the lions head jutted above the water line; the lion carried an iron ring in its mouth. I grasped the ring and pulled myself up with the aid of patrons of the cafe who came to my assistance now that danger was past. A nearby bargeman fished out Lasinio’s hat and set it on my head, where it continued to pour water down my face for some while. I was surrounded by a crowd which showed its sympathy by laughing so much that I was obliged to break through their ranks and run.

In the early moments of my ducking, I imagined that this was some scheme of Lasinio’s, obscurely furthering his purpose. Then the truth dawned on me: this was Lemperer’s work! Anxious to see that his wife remained faithful, by force if necessary, he had found out about Lasinio and set his traps for that soldier of fortune. And his thugs had mistaken me for Lasinio. Why not? Did I not look every inch the military man?

Very well. The maestro should be confronted with the evidence of what his men had done to an innocent man! I squelched in the direction of his house, intent on humiliating him.

How promptly, I thought to myself, the lame magician’s prophecy (which I now fully understood) had been carried out! There was something suspect in that promptness; perhaps the magician himself drew a modest retainer from Lemperer—such things were not unknown. Now I meant to pay him out.

My way lay past the ruinous triumphal arch under which sat the plump astrologer on his little platform. As I came up to it, I halted in surprise. There before the astrologer, just as yesterday —for the hour was about the same—stood the golden La Singla, on whose account I had just been ducked. I stepped behind one of the fallen capitals and watched her, spotlighted in the same ray of sunshine as the day before.

How pliant her movements, how expressive her gestures! Only a skilled actress could have been so affectingly natural. I saw the astrologer bend toward her as if fascinated. I saw them speak, although their low-spoken words did not reach me. But, so telling were her gestures, I understood everything going on between them.