The River of Night's Dreaming Read Online Free PDF Page B

shouldn't have to remind you of the dangers the city holds for unattached young women. You were extremely fortunate in your escape from those white slavers who had abducted you. Without family or friends to question your disappearance—well, I shan't suggest what horrible fate awaited you."
    Cassilda shivered at the memory of her escape—a memory as formless and uncertain, beyond her need to escape, as that of her life prior to her abduction. She had made only vague replies to Mrs Castaigne's gentle questioning, nor was she at all certain which fragments of her story were half-truths or lies.
    Of one thing she was certain beyond all doubt: the danger from which she had fled awaited her beyond the shelter of this house.
    "It has been so lonely here since Constance went away," Mrs Castaigne was saying. "Camilla is a great comfort to me, but nonetheless she has her household duties to occupy her, and I have often considered engaging a companion. I should be only too happy if you would consent to remain with us in this position—at least for the present time."
    "You're much too kind! Of course I'll stay."
    "I promise you that your duties shall be no more onerous than to provide amusements for a rather old-fashioned lady of retiring disposition. I hope it won't prove too dull for you, my dear."
    "It suits my own temperament perfectly," Cassilda assured her. "I am thoroughly content to follow quiet pursuits within doors."
    "Wonderful!" Mrs Castaigne took her hands. "Then it's settled. I know Camilla will be delighted to have another young spirit about the place. And you may relieve her of some of her tasks."
    "What shall I do?" Cassilda begged her, overjoyed at her good fortune.
    "Would you read to me, please, my dear? I find it so relaxing to the body and so stimulating to the mind. I've taken up far too much of Camilla's time from her chores, having her read to me for hours on end."
    "Of course." Cassilda returned Camilla's smile as she entered the sitting room to collect the tea things. From her delight, it was evident that the maid had been listening from the hallway. "What would you like for me to read to you?"
    "That book over there beneath the lamp." Mrs Castaigne indicated a volume bound in yellow cloth. "It is a recent drama—and a most curious work, as you shall quickly see. Camilla was reading it to me on the night you came to us."
    Taking up the book, Cassilda again experienced a strange sense of unaccountable deja vu, and she wondered where she might previously have read The King in Yellow, if indeed she ever had.
    "I believe we are ready to begin the second act," Mrs Castaigne told her.
    *****
    Cassilda was reading in bed when Camilla knocked tentatively at her door. She set aside her book with an almost furtive movement. "Entrez vous."
    "I was afraid you might already be asleep," the maid explained, "but then I saw light beneath your door. I'd forgotten to bring you your tonic before retiring."
    Camilla, en deshabille, carried in the medicine glass on a silver tray. Her fluttering lace and pastels seemed a pretty contrast to the black maid's uniform she ordinarily wore.
    "I wasn't able to go to sleep just yet," Cassilda confessed, sitting up in bed. "I was reading."
    Camilla handed her the tonic. "Let me see. Ah, yes. What a thoroughly wicked book to be reading in bed!"
    "Have you read The King in Yellow?"
    "I have read it through aloud to madame, and more than once. It is a favorite of hers."
    "It is sinful and more than sinful to imbue such decadence with so compelling a fascination. I cannot imagine that anyone could have allowed it to be published. The author must have been mad to pen such thoughts."
    "And yet, you read it."
    Cassilda made a place for her on the edge of the bed. "Its fascination is too great a temptation to resist. I wanted to read further after Mrs Castaigne bade me good night."
    "It was Constance's book." Camilla huddled close beside her against the pillows. "Perhaps that is why madame