reciting meanwhile:
«So oft as I with state of present time
The image of our. uh. happiness compare,
So oft I find how less we are than prime,
How less our joy than that we once did share:
Thus do I ask those things that once we had
To make an evening run its wonted course,
And banish from this company the sad
Thoughts that in utter abstinence have their source:
Change then! For, being water, you cannot be worse!»
As he spoke, he withdrew a few of the lumps, arranging them thus:
H H
H C O O H
H H
«By the splendour of Heaven!» cried a knight with a short beard, who had risen and was peering into the cask. «The palmer’s done it!»
Chalmers reached over and pulled the straw from the top of the cask, dipped some of the liquid into his goblet and sipped. «God bless my soul!» he murmured.
«What is it, Doc?» asked Shea.
«Try it,» said Chalmers, passing him the goblet. Shea tried it and for the second time that evening almost upset the table.
The liquid was the best Scotch whisky he had ever tasted.
The thirsty Sir Erivan spoke up: «Is aught amiss with your spell-wrought wine?»
«Nothing,» said Chalmers, «except that it’s rather. uh. potent.»
«May one sample it, Sir Palmer?»
«Go easy on it.» said Shea, passing down the goblet. Sir Erivan went easy, but nevertheless exploded into a series of coughs. «
Shea diluted the next slug of whisky with water before giving it to the serving man to pass down the table. The knight with the short beard made a face at the flavour. «This tastes like no wine I wot of,» said he.
«Most true,» said Erivan, «but ’tis proper nectar, and makes one feel wonnnnnnderful! More, I pray you!»
«May I have some, please?» asked Amoret, timidly. Chalmers looked unhappy. Britomart intervened: «Before you sample strange waters I myself will try.» She picked up the goblet she was sharing with Shea, took a long, quick drink.
Her eyes goggled and watered, but she held it well. «Too strong for my little charge,» said she when she got her breath hack
«But, Lady Britomart —»
«Nay. It would not — Nay, I say.»
* * *
The servitors were busy handing out the Scotch which left a trail of louder talk and funnier jokes in its wake. Down the table some of the people were dancing; the kind of dance wherein you spend your time holding up your partner’s hand and bowing. Shea had just enough whisky in him to uncork his natural recklessness. He bowed half-mockingly to Britomart. «Would my lady care to dance?»
«No,» she said solemnly. «I do it not. So many responsibilities have I had that I’ve never learned. Another drink, please.»
«Oh, come on! I don’t, either, the way they do here. But we can try.»
«No,» she said. «Poor Britomart never indulges in the lighter pleasures. Always busy, righting wrongs and setting a good example of chastity. Not that anyone heeds it.»
Shea saw Chalmers slip Amoret a shot of whisky. The perfect beauty coughed it down. Then she began talking very fast about the sacrifices she had made to keep herself pure for her husband. Chalmers began looking around for help. Serves the Doc right, thought Shea. Britomart was pulling his sleeve.
«It’s a shame,» she sighed. «They all say Britomart needs no man’s sympathy. She’s the girl who can take care of herself.»
«Is it as bad as all that?»
«Mush worst. I mean much worse. They all say Britomart has no sense of humour. That’s because I do my duty. Conscientious. That’s the trouble. You think I have a sense of humour, don’t you, Master Harold de Shea?» She looked at him accusingly.
Shea privately thought that «they all» were right. But he answered: «Of course I do.»
«That’s splendid. It gladdens my heart to find someone who understands. I Like you, Master Harold. You’re tall, not like these little pigs of men around here. Tell me, you don’t think I’m too tall, do you? You wouldn’t say I was just a big blond horse?»
«Perish the thought!»
«Would you even say I was good-looking?»
«And how!» Shea wondered how this was going to end.
«Really, truly good-looking, even if I am tall?»
«Sure, you bet, honest.» Shea saw that Briromart was on the verge of tears. Chalmers was busy trying to staunch Amoret’s verbal haemorrhage, and couldn’t help.
«Thass glorious. I’m so glad to find somebody who likes me as a woman. They all admire me, but nobody cares for me as a woman. Have to set a good example. Tell you a secret.» She leaned towards him in such a marked manner that Shea glanced around to see whether they were attracting attention.
They were not. Sir Erivan, with a Harpo Marx expression, was chasing a plump, squeaking lady from pillar to pillar. The dancers were doing a snake dance. From one corner came a roar where knights were betting their shirts at knuckle-bones.
«Tell you shecret,» she went on, raising her voice. «I get tired of being a good example. Like to be really human. Just once. Like this.» She grabbed Shea out of his seat as if he had been a puppy dog, slammed him down on her lap, and kissed him with all the gentleness of an affectionate tornado.
Then she heaved him out of her lap with the same amazing strength and pushed him back into his place. «No,» she said gloomily. «No. My responsibilities. Must think on them.» A big tear rolled down her cheek. «Come, Amoret. We must to bed.»
* * *
The early sun had not yet reached the floor of the courtyards when Shea came back, grinning. He told Chalmers: «Say, Doc, silver has all kinds of value here! The horse and ass together only cost $4.60.»
«Capital! I feared some other metal would pass current, or that they might have no money at all. Is the. uh. donkey domesticated?»
«Tamest I ever saw. Hello, there, girls!» This was to Britomart and Amoret, who had just come out. Britomart had her armour on, and a stern, martial face glowered at Shea out of the helmet.
«How are you this morning?» asked that young man, unabashed.
«My head beats with the cruel beat of an anvil, as you must know.» She turned her back. «Come, Amoret, there is no salve like air, and if we start now we shall be at Satyrane’s castle as early as those who ride late and fast with more pain.»
«We’re going that way, too,» said Shea. «Hadn’t we better ride along with you?»
«For protection’s sake, mean you? Hah! Little enough use that overgrown bodkin you bear would be if we came to real combat. Or is it that you wish to ride under the guard of my arm?» She shook it with a clang of metal.
Shea grinned. «After all, you
Amoret spoke up: «Ah, Britomart, but do me the favour of letting them ride with us! The old magician is so sympathetic.»
