The Queen's Necklace Read Online Free PDF

blur again. She heard rather than saw the coachman open the door and let down the steps. Slipping the wand between the cushions for safekeeping, she followed Allora out the door, clutching gratefully at the hand of the driver as she stumbled from the narrow step to a patch of frosty ground.
    When her vision cleared again, Lili found herself in a filthy alley at the foot of a crooked staircase leading up the side of a tall building. Craning her neck and gazing upward, Lilliana could just make out a ramshackle landing thirty or forty feet above, and a faded sign bearing the indistinct outline of some deep-sea monster and the even less distinct legend: The Leviathan .
    â€œCan this possibly be the right place?”
    Allora shook out the satin skirts of her biscuit-colored gown, anchored more firmly her flat straw hat. “It is for you to tell me. I was purposely kept ignorant of the scroll’s whereabouts, for fear I might influence you.”
    Lili sighed. Though the place seemed unlikely, the pull of the ancient hierophantic papyrus was unmistakable. And she knew that if she passed this test, if she proved worthy of the arcane educationwhich Aunt Allora and her mysterious friends had already invested in her, she might someday be asked to go into places equally daunting all on her own.
    â€œI am certain the scroll is somewhere inside.” Raising the hem of her brown velvet cloak, she began the long climb up the crooked staircase.
    She knew that the sudden appearance of two unescorted gentlewomen would cause a commotion inside the tavern; the only way to carry it off was to proceed with as much dignity and authority as she could possibly muster. Arriving breathless, and more than a little apprehensive, at the top of the stairs, she hesitated on the threshold until her pulses stopped hammering and her eyes adjusted to the gloomy interior.
    A pair of smokey green lanterns hung from the beamed ceiling; there was an inglenook and a blue gas-fire at the far end of the room. As she had expected, the taproom was crowded and noisy; the air was thick with the odors of pipeweed, raw spirits, and unwashed bodies. Even so, she found it easy to single out one solitary old gentleman—very much in the style of her grandfather’s day, with his waist-length white hair, soft black hat, and long full-skirted grey coat—sitting quietly by the fire.
    He is the one , thought Lili. Heedless of the catcalls and obscenities that greeted her entrance, she stepped boldly into the room. Every man in the place turned to watch her progress across the floor, though Lilliana knew there was not much about her to catch and hold the masculine eye. Only a slender figure, more angular than willowy, a head of chestnut curls, and a pale face with a broad forehead, a straight nose, and a pair of quizzical grey eyes.
    â€œI believe, sir, that you have something for me.”
    The old gentleman gave her a severe glance. “That hardly seems likely. Indeed, it appears you are in the wrong place entirely. If I were you, madam, I would leave at once and find some more suitable location for—whatever assignation brings you here.”
    Lili felt herself blushing hotly. “Yet I am convinced I am not mistaken. If you will produce the—object—my friends have entrusted to you, I’ll not trouble you further.”
    At this, the old gentleman sat up a little straighter on the bench. “Well, perhaps we do have some business. But I can hardly give you the—object—in question here before so many people. It is, as you may well apprehend, of some little value. Will you come up to my room?”
    Lili shot Allora a questioning glance, but her great-aunt gave no response. “Naturally, sir, my companion and I will do whatever you think best. Though I think—
    â€œYou mistake my meaning. You must accompany me upstairs, leaving your companion behind. What I have with me is for you and you alone.”
    Lili