Discipline of the Private House Read Online Free PDF

allowances for the situations we find ourselves in.'
    'Do they?' she asked. She smelt of soap and perfumed oil. 'So this isn't sinful?'
    'Of course not,' Barat assured her. 'After all, I'm your guardian here. The elders appointed me to look after you. You can trust me.'
    He heard her sigh. 'That's all right, then,' she said.
    They sat in silence for a while, and then both started talking at once. Olena giggled.
    'What is it?' Barat said.
    'That's what I was going to ask you,' she said, laughing and displaying little white teeth. 'What is it you asked me here for?'
    'Oh, all the usual things,' Barat said, taking the opportunity to lay a hand casually on her knee. Two pats, and remove the hand: mustn't make her anxious. 'How are you finding the work at college, are you managing to sleep in that tiny room. That sort of thing.'
    He didn't wait for a reply. He knew that she found the college course straightforward, and that she didn't like her room. 'Don't you find the omnibuses oppressive? And do you think that people stare at you in the streets?'
    'Perhaps,' Olena replied. 'Yes, I think they look at me. I don't like it.'
    'I think it's because of our robes,' Barat said sadly. 'And, in your case, the headdress, of course. That must look very strange to the city people.'
    Unlike Olena, Barat had spent some considerable time walking through the streets of the city, particularly in the seamier quarters, and he was aware that in this cosmopolitan environment even the most outlandish costume would pass unremarked. But he guessed that Olena felt self-conscious.
    'You can take the headdress off,' Barat announced, and added, to allay her fears before she could state them: 'We're alone. I'm your guardian, I'm here in place of your mother and father. You would let your mother see you with your hair loose. It's all right.'
    Olena was already reaching for the pins and the ties that held the ornate structure in place on her head. The thing must be intolerably uncomfortable, Barat thought; I'll have no difficulty persuading her that she need not wear it very often. Perhaps not at all, while we're in the city.
    And she had such lustrous hair. Barat found himself reaching to touch it, and as Olena gazed at him he managed to turn the gesture into a wave of approval. Her locks, dark and wavy as the night-time ocean, fell to her shoulders and halfway down her back. She shook her head, and her tresses shimmered.
    That's better,' Barat said. 'If you would prefer it, you can go without the headdress. Perhaps not when out in public, but certainly in your own room and when you're with me.'
    Thank you, Barat,' she said.
    He noticed that this time she had addressed him by name alone, without his formal title. Her cheeks were flushed and, although her head was lowered, she was continually looking up at him.
    He smiled at her. She had to rely on him; she knew no one else in the entire city. She would do whatever he instructed her to do, as long as he could convince her that the community's rules could be interpreted sufficiently widely. And he sensed that she wanted to be convinced.
    'Let me put my arm around you,' he said, 'to symbolise my protection of you.'
    Olena didn't protest. He held her. He could feel her heart beating. Silently he cursed the layers of cloth between their bodies.
    'Tomorrow,' he said, 'after your morning lecture, would you like to visit some shops? You know that I have been entrusted with a small sum with which to keep you clothed. I don't think the elders could object if we were to find you some clothing that made you a little less conspicuous in the street. And perhaps some more comfortable, simple clothes for you to wear when you're in your room and when you're with me. What do you think?'
    'I'd like that, Barat! If you're sure it's all right.'
    'Of course it is. Now, kneel in front of me. We'll say our prayers.'
    Olena kneeled and lowered her head over her hands, which were clasped together only a finger's length in front of