Alistair Grim's Odditorium Read Online Free PDF Page B

“And while he’s very fond of children, you’ll do well to at least pretend you have some breeding
in you. So let’s start with that spine of yours and leave off slouching!”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I said, and stood up straight as a pencil.
    “Very well, then.” Mrs. Pinch made to leave, but then stopped short of the door. “It just occurred to me. To whom shall I say the master is being introduced?”
    “Grubb, ma’am.”
    “Grubb?”
    “Yes, ma’am. No first or last name, just Grubb. Spelled like the worm but with a double
b
. In case the master would like to write it down.”
    “I see,” said Mrs. Pinch, her wrinkles softening. “And judging from the tale you told me upstairs, I assume it was Mr. Smears who bestowed this title upon you?”
    “Yes, ma’am. Or so his wife told me, ma’am.”
    “And how old are you, lad?”
    “I don’t rightly know, ma’am.”
    “Humph,” said Mrs. Pinch, looking me up and down. “To the untrained eye, your small stature and malnourished frame would suggest a boy of nine or ten. However, judging from
your tale, I would guess your age to be twelve or thereabouts. So twelve or thereabouts is what I’ll tell the master.”
    And with that Mrs. Pinch disappeared through a pair of pocket doors at the far end of the parlor. Gazing around, other than the coal-black walls and eerie blue light, to my eyes the parlor
appeared no different than others I’d seen on jobs with Mr. Smears. However, stepping out from the hearth, above the mantel I spied a life-size portrait of a lady that, unlike the portraits
upstairs, had not been defaced.
    The lady’s hair was black and done up beneath a wide-brimmed hat, and she was dressed in a flowing black gown. She sat at a dressing table with a silver-handled mirror in her hand, as if
she were admiring the large, blue-stoned necklace that hung about her neck. But her black eyes seemed to stare past the mirror with an expression of deep sadness. I thought this odd at the time,
but I also thought the woman to be the most beautiful I’d ever seen.
    Presently I heard muffled voices coming from the next room, and I stepped back onto the hearth and stood up straight. I tried hard to hear what the voices were saying, but when I could make
nothing out, I began to go over Mrs. Pinch’s instructions again in my head. I so badly wanted to make a good impression.
    But little did I know that nothing could have prepared me for what was waiting beyond the door.



T he master will see you now,” said Mrs. Pinch, standing in the doorway. But as I made to pass her, she held me back by the shoulder and
whispered, “Not so fast, lad. Remember what I told you.”
    We stood at the entrance to an enormous library. Books filled the walls from floor to ceiling—ceilings so high that rolling ladders had to be used to reach the upper shelves. More books
lay tossed about on the furniture, while others were stacked on the floor as high as my head.
    As in the upstairs chamber, there were statues and vases and curtains of purple and red velvet, but also clocks and swords and other weapons that I couldn’t name. To my right I spied a
large hearth with a pair of plush armchairs; above the mantel, a fierce-looking lion’s head with glowing red eyes. The remainder of this wall was taken up by more bookshelves, some containing
mechanical objects the likes of which I’d never seen.



“Master Grubb,” Mrs. Pinch announced, pushing me forward with her broomstick. “Twelve years old or thereabouts and very dirty, sir.”
    As I stepped into the middle of the room, I noticed for the first time a large desk behind the stacks of books on the floor. On top of the desk were more books and mechanical objects, as well as
a large lamp burning with the same eerie blue light.
    “You may leave us now,” said Mr. G, unseen behind the books on his desk.
    “Very well, sir,” said Mrs. Pinch.
    And with that I heard the pocket doors close behind me.
    “Now then,”