Midwinter Nightingale Read Online Free PDF

ADMISSION TO HIS MAJESTIE'S VIVARIUM OF WILDE BEASTES 6D . Another, opposite, said HEARKENING CHAMBER. WEREWOLF HOWLING 9d. Two large sacks, presumably containing 6d and 3d pieces, reposed outside these doors. They were corded up and sealed with red wax, ready to be taken to the Bank of England.
    The guards nodded as Dr. Blisland passed by; they knew him too well to require a sight of his pass.
    “How is the baron tonight? At all wrought up? Feverish in any way? Expectant?”
    The armed guard who stood with his harquebus at the foot of the winding stair shook his head. “Not that one, sir. Cool as a carrot. You'd think he'd be just as glad to stay in as to be let loose. You'd reckon he'd been here fifteen days, not fifteen years.”
    Dr. Blisland shivered again as he climbed the worn stone steps. Fifteen years in this place! he thought. Enough, you'd guess, to finish off someone with the healthiest constitution, let alone one with such a strange, terrible complaint….
    “No tantrums? No high strikes?” the doctor softly asked the second guard, who stood whistling a carefree tune at the top of the stair outside the massive iron-barred door. He shook his head.
    “Not a chirp or a squeak. Mild as a mudpat. Calm as a cowslip. Didn't even want to look at the evening paper.”
    The guard nodded to a sheet that lay beside him on the step. The headline, in huge black capitals, read: “WILD BEAST marquis out at last. 15-yr term completed.
    Queen Adelaide's ex-husband to be released tomorrow. Baron who swore revenge now walks free.”
    The guard chuckled as he turned the huge key and shot back several bolts.
    “In fact the gentleman said he'd sadly miss your evening parley-vouz—the port wine and the pill.”
    “Let us devoutly hope that he continues taking the pill,” the doctor said, a trifle uneasily "Does he plan to return to his London mansion — Armorica House? I could continue to pay a daily visit there.”
    “No, I fancy he plans to spend but one night in town and then go on to Fogrum Hall. His son is there, you know, Master Lot.”
    “Yes, I do know.” The doctor frowned, then shrugged. “Nothing we can do if the man chooses to associate with that worthless boy”
    As the guard slid back a fourth bolt, the two men heard a low-voiced call from withm.
    “Excuse me one moment, pray! I am at my devotions.”
    “Take as long as you like, my dear sir,” the doctor returned heartily
    Respecting the silence that ensued, the two men retired a step or two down the winding stair and continued their whispered conversation.
    “Mighty strange to think that man was once married to Queen Adelaide.”
    The guard shook his head in agreement. “But she was only a young lass in her teens at that time, Princess ofThurima, remember — came from one o' they Euro-lin gian families where the gals get no say as to who they marries. Good ol' King Jim, he unfastened the knot quick enough as soon as he knew what she had to put up with.”
    “Assisted by His Grace the archbishop.”
    “Ay, to be sure. His Holy Nibs undid the buckle in double-quick time.”
    “I wonder, though,” said the doctor thoughtfully, “where that leaves the
son
of that marriage…. Does he inherit his father's title?”
    “No loss if he don't, I reckon. By all accounts he's a proper young blayguard. Was that a true tale about the peacocks he —”
    “Hush! I hear Baron Magnus calling!”
    A faint voice could now be heard inside the door.
    “Are you there, my dear sir? Now I am qu.de at your service and shall be most happy to 'welcome you to my poor abode.”
    “And I am ready for
you
, my dear Baron!” the doctor exclaimed, springing up the stairway. The guard fol-lowed him, whistling cheerfully, undid the last bolt and pushed open the heavy door, which opened inward. As the doctor stepped in, a skinny hand shot out from behind the door and seized his wrist in a grip of steel. He let out a startled cry.
    “Aha!
My dear sir! I fooled you