Descent Into Dust Read Online Free PDF

together and proceeded along the corridor. “You do not enjoy reading?”
    “Please.” He shuddered like a woman. “Reading requires one to be quiet, not to mention sitting for long periods of time. I had enough of that at school. And what do you get for your sacrifice? Some snob telling you what to think, or some convoluted prose that tangles the brain. Just hearing Milton’s name puts me into a coma.”
    “Most think Milton very wise.” We had entered the library and I strolled along the shelves. I began to run my finger along the spines.
    “Wisdom,” he said, his voice losing some of its playfulness. “Is it not like beauty, found in the eye of the beholder? Thekind of intelligence that will really do you good in the world one gets from observing. Human nature, now there is a study worth doing.”
    I slid a book out of its spot. Gulliver’s Travels . “As you are observing me?”
    “I observe everyone, so do not take it hard. I do not, however, always approve. In your case, I do, most heartily.”
    I placed Swift’s tome back in place and continued to peruse.
    “Are you looking for anything particular?”
    “Mr. Hess has whetted my curiosity about the place.” I turned to face him. “You must have run about the countryside as a child, having grown up here.”
    He made a face. “On horseback only. Too much mud to go about on foot. Imagine the disaster my boots should be if I abused them so.”
    He pointed his toe to show me his footwear, and I made an appreciative nod.
    “There is fascinating history here,” I commented with studied casualness. “Particularly The Sanctuary and that strange tree.”
    “I suppose.” He sounded bored, and his casualness was unstudied.
    I paused. “Do you know who Marius is?”
    He flopped into a large leather armchair. “Who? Oh, Marius—did Henri tell you about him? He’s her new imaginary friend. I think Victoria is jealous.” He laughed. “See, I know all the gossip, even if it only concerns the manifestations of a little girl’s mind. But our Henrietta makes it very dramatic—and I cannot resist drama of any kind.”
    “What is this Marius like?”
    He laughed. “How the devil would I know? I don’t see him!”
    I flushed and he held out his hand in a gesture of apology.“Oh, you mustn’t worry. When I was young, I played for hours with imaginary friends. Let me see, there was Lady Hatterly. She was an old battle-ax. And the mischievous Miss Penn. She knew how to dress, did Miss Penn. And, of course, Raoul, who was dashing, with a mustache to die for. When my brothers would brutalize me with taunts and pinches he would always swear to avenge me. I had to beg him to let them live. Did you have a cast of invisibles as a child?”
    “No, I am afraid not.”
    As the words left me, something stirred in the back of my mind, as if memories were shifting somewhere…The veil parting again, and with it, the sharp pain jutting down from my temple through my skull. I had an impression, a shadow moving in a mist, blurred and indistinct.
    I paused, waiting for a revelation that did not come.
    Sebastian noticed my hesitation. “What?” he asked.
    I smiled abruptly. “Nothing at all.”
    He allowed his head to fall back as his eyes swept the room. “My God, it is dark in here. I remember my father at that desk, hands folded carefully on the blotter to keep himself from throttling me.” He laughed. “Oh, he detested me. Care for a drink?” He gripped the arms of the chair and popped himself to his feet as if shot out by electric current.
    “My, you do not sit still for long, do you?”
    Waving a hand, he taunted, “It will relax you for dinner. Makes it easier to sit through the squire bragging about the stags he’s hunted, and that dratted curate will speak softly but with this quiet little menace that will make you feel guilty for no reason.” He splashed brown liquid from a decanter to a tumbler, then threw it back. He held out the decanter. “Are you