Marianne, the Magus & the Manticore by Sheri S. Tepper Read Free Book Online

the other one, he said to hang it in the living room. The other things were to be put on my desk or bookshelves. Of course, since he hadn't been here, he didn't really know what it's like...."
    "It's a very pleasant apartment," he commented, looking about him as he packed the things back into the Box. "You've done most of it yourself, haven't you?"
    "How did you know? Does it look that amateurish?"
    "Not in that sense. Amateur in the sense of one who loves something, yes. I was a student in this country for a while, and I know what the usual kind of apartments available to students are like. They are not like this."
    She flushed. "I guess I do love it. I hadn't had any place of my own since Clou—since Mother died. It was important to me."
    "You started to call her something else."
    "Just—a kind of fairy tale name." Ordinarily, Marianne did not confide in people, certainly not on short acquaintance, but the focused, intent quality in his interest wiped away her reticence. "I always called her Cloud-haired mama, and she called me Mist Princess. It was only a kind of story telling, role playing, I guess. We were alone a lot of the time. Papa was away. Harvey was at school, mostly. Lately I have remembered that she was only four or five years older than I am now, and yet I still feel like such a child most of the time. So—she wasn't too old for fairy tales, even then."
    "Ah. But despite your enjoyment of fairy tales, you do not like the pictures and these little carvings."
    "I don't. They make me feel—oh, slimy. Does that make sense to you? I felt it, but didn't understand it."
    "Oh, yes." Flat voice. "It makes sense. Of a kind. Would you mind terribly if I took these away with me? I'll return them, or something like them. Something you'll be more comfortable with. Since your brother does not visit you, he is unlikely to care. The sense of his gifts will be maintained."
    He closed the Box firmly on its contents. "Now, what are we going to do about the weekend?"
    She smiled, made a little, helpless gesture. "I don't want to seem stubborn or childish, really, but I think it might be better if I didn't accept your invitation."
    "That makes me sad. It's obvious to me that I've made a miscalculation. Tahiti and I are old adversaries, and her I invited out of bravado. My own sister, Ellat, will be peeved with me. She often tells me my desire for bravura effect will get me in trouble, and she is often right. Whenever I am full of pride, I am brought low. What is your proverb—Pride goeth before a fall? Well, so I am fallen upon grievous times. Because I had invited her, I invited him, because I wanted you. I will now have a guest I did not much want in the place of one I had very much wanted, for I know you would enjoy it. Can I beg you? Importune you?"
    Curiosity and apprehension were strangely mingled, and yet her habitual caution could not be so easily overcome. The thought of spending a weekend in Harvey's company, among strangers. Strangers. She reminded herself firmly that the man sitting so intimately opposite her was a stranger. Charming, yes. So could Harvey be. Seemingly interested in her as a reality, not merely as an adjunct to himself—but then, how could one tell? "I—I'd like to think about it. Perhaps I could give you an answer later in the week?"
    He had the courtesy to look disappointed but not accusing and to convey by a tilted smile that he knew the difference.
    "Of course you may. And you must not feel any pressure of courtesy to agree if it will make you more uncomfortable than the pleasure the visit might afford you. Everything is a balance, isn't that so?" He stood up, shifted his shoulders as though readying them for some weighty burden, toed the box at his feet.
    "Now, there are things I must do. We do have a dinner date tomorrow, and I will return your belongings then. Someone told me of a place nearby where there is a native delicacy served. Something called a soft crab?"
    "Soft-shelled crabs," she