Undermajordomo Minor Read Online Free PDF Page A

please?” he said.
    â€œMy ticket?” said Lucy.
    â€œPlease.”
    â€œWhy do you want to see my ticket?”
    The conductor held out his hand. Miserably, Lucy passed it over. The man studied the stub and shook his head. “Whatever is that gentleman talking about?” Looking out the window, he addressed Tor and Marina, rapt in their waiting. “It’s third class!” He waved the stub back and forth. “A third-class ticket!” Tor held a hand to his ear, pretending not to be able to hear. Marina slapped him on the arm, as though he were being too cruel; and yet, she didn’t truly want him to stop—she was enjoying the sport they made of Lucy. The conductor waded through the compartment to the window and slid it open. “The young man has a third-class ticket,” he said.
    Tor, perplexed: “The stick-like fellow? The red-faced chap just there? The famished one? You’re certain he’s not in first class?”
    â€œWould you like to see the ticket for yourself?”
    Tor performed a slight bow. “I would never deign to tell you your own business, sir,” he said, and he rested his mitts on his hips and pursed his mouth, an approximation of confounded frustration.“Oh, but I was certain he was to be in first class. The young man possesses a noble bearing, wouldn’t you say?”
    The conductor, along with the others in the compartment, regarded Lucy dubiously. “Well,” said the conductor, “the lad is where he is meant to be. And I don’t know what else to tell you about it.”
    â€œYes,” Tor agreed. “What else is there to say, after all?”
    â€œGood day,” said the conductor, closing the window.
    â€œGood day to you , sir,” Tor answered, his volume halved by the pane of glass. He offered a parting wave to Lucy, and to the compartment in general; Lucy did not respond, but others around him did. Now Tor and Marina turned and walked into the village, arm in arm, and by the looks of them they were deeply in love. Everyone watched them go; once they were out of sight the collective attention returned to Lucy. His face was no longer red, but pale, his gaze darkened, impermeable.
    â€œFriends of yours?” asked the man beside Lucy.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThey’re a handsome couple.”
    Lucy closed his eyes, not to sleep, but to be alone in the well-appointed room he housed deep within his mind.

7
    T he train headed east, crossing the great green valley and ascending into the mountains, winding ever higher as they followed the broad, back-and-forth swoops of the track. As the stars assembled it looked to Lucy that the train was hurrying the night along by plunging into the stomach of the sky. He slept sitting up, propped by a body on either side of him.
    In the night there occurred an untoward happening. Lucy awoke or partially awoke to find two men, one tall and one small, creeping into the compartment. Their movements were stealthy beyond the call of good manners, and this, combined with the fact of their faces being obscured behind the upturned collars of their coats, brought about a wary interest in Lucy, and he watched them with half-shut eyes.
    The compartment was quiet, the dozing occupants’ faces cast in silvery moonlight, and the men moved to stand before a bony older woman clutching a tartan satchel to her chest. Her mouth hung slackly and a rill of spittle drew down the side of her face; the larger of the men regarded her with a cocked head, then set to work removing her fingers from her bag. This was accomplished in delicate stages, one finger at a time, and Lucy was expectant that at any moment the woman would come to and let fly a bloodcurdling shriek. But the man was so adept, as though he were precisely aware to what extent he might molest the woman’s person without interfering with her slumber, that she gave no indication of disturbance.Soon her grip was unfurled,