The Lightstep by John Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page B

face.
    'They will like to see you, Franz,' she said, coaxing.
    He frowned, and curled his lower lip. 'Can I go now?'
    'So long as the stable-boy is there with you. You know that,
don't you?'
    'Yes,' said Franz. 'Yes. And can I have Dominus? Alba won't
want him any more, will he?'
    'Oh Franz . . .'
    Dominus,Wéry realized, would be Albrecht's horse.
    'I'm – I'm sure you can, Franz. We'll speak to Mother when
she is feeling better, shall we? Now do go and see they are all
right.'
    'Yes, yes.'
    The heir of Adelsheim left at last. His feet clattered across the
hall, suddenly eager at the thought of a new horse. He had never
even looked at Wéry, standing beside him in the room.
    There was silence as Wéry lowered himself into his seat.
    'Lady Maria,' he said formally. 'I must beg your pardon. I have
spoken very badly today. I – I do not know what is the matter
with me.'
    (Dear God! What kind of man behaved as he had done when
bringing news of a death to a house? He could scarcely have been
more offensive – or more ridiculous – if he had started to sing
the Marseillaise!)
    She sighed. 'You have hurt your hand,' she said.
    He looked down. He was still holding the handkerchief
around it, pinning it into place with his thumb. A trickle of blood
had escaped the inefficient bandage and run down one finger.
    'It is nothing,' he said, embarrassed.
    'You must show me.'
    He almost put his hand behind his back again. But after what
had passed between them, he could not refuse. He held it out, and
allowed her to remove the handkerchief. His skin throbbed
and felt hot, and the touch of her fingers was cool as she turned
his wrist gently to see what he had done.
    The bite-marks were plain. There was no disguising what they
were.
    'Why did you do this?' she murmured.
    'I – was upset. As you said.'
    'With Mother?'
    'No. Well, yes. But also with myself, you see. I . . .'
    Someone was crossing the hall. She looked up.
    'Hans!' she called.
    The rat-faced servant, caught as he hurried from somewhere
to somewhere else about the house, looked in through the door.
    'The gentleman has hurt himself,' she said. 'Please bring water
and a clean bandage.'
    The man Hans hurried away to juggle this with whatever
other errand he had been sent on.
    She released his hand. He grimaced. 'I am not normally this
stupid,' he said.
    But she would have seen the other marks, the old white scars.
She would know that it was not the first time.
    'What makes you so angry?'
    He gave a helpless gesture with his good hand. 'Many things.'
He smiled, ruefully 'Your mother was right about that. It is a
weakness I have.'
    He added, 'I was a revolutionary once,' as if that might explain
something.
    'I have been told so. You are Captain Michel Wéry are you
not? That was the name you gave at the door.'
    'Yes.'
    It was the first sign that any of them knew who he was.
    'My brother wrote so much about you. Yours is an exceptional
story.'
    He nodded. Suddenly, he felt relieved – relieved that someone
in this house had at last acknowledged his link with Albrecht, and
therefore his right to have come to them. And triggered by his
relief, he felt also an urge to explain himself. He wanted her to
understand why he, a sane, thinking and compassionate man,
could have been moved to behave as he had done in her home.
If he could do that, he might also be relieved of his shame at the
things he had said here.
    But she had not come to listen to him speak of himself.
    'What seems to me to have been most exceptional, Lady
Maria,' he said, 'was the generosity of an Erzberg officer who
made an enemy into a friend.'
    When she did not answer, he added, 'I may say that your
brother saw fit to call me "Michel".'
    She nodded, slowly. But she did not answer, because at that
moment the servant Hans reappeared with a bowl and rags. Wéry
held out his hand to be cleaned and dressed. As he watched the
little man fussing over his marks he was aware of the woman
beside him.
    He was very strongly aware