'Then I have your word as an officer?'
Oosik nodded, and Silk took the Prolocutor's letter from under
his quilt and handed it to him. He unbuttoned a shirt pocket and got
out a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, shifting his position slightly so
that the light fell upon the letter.
In the silence that followed, Silk reviewed everything Oosik had
said. Had he made the right decision? Oosik was ambitious--had
probably volunteered to take charge of the reserve brigade as well
as his own in the hope of gaining the rank and pay to which his
position entitled him. He might be, in fact he almost certainly was,
underestimating the fighting capabilities of soldiers like Sand and
Hammerstone; but he was sure to know a great deal about those of
the Civil Guard, in which he had spent his adult life; and he was
considering the possibility that the Ayuntamiento would lose. The
Prolocutor's letter, with its implications of increased support for
Maytera Mint, might tilt the balance.
Or so Silk hoped.
Oosik looked up. 'This says Lemur's dead.'
Silk nodded.
'There have been rumors all day. What if your Prolocutor is
simply repeating them?'
'He's dead.' Silk made the statement as forceful as he could,
fortified by the knowledge that for once there was no need to hedge
the truth. 'You've got a glass, Colonel. You must. Ask it to find
Lemur for you.'
'You saw him die?'
Silk shook his head, saying, 'I saw his body, however,' and Oosik
returned to the letter.
Too much boldness could ruin everything; it would be worse than
useless to try to make Oosik say or do anything that could be
brought up against him later.
Oosik put down the letter. 'The Chapter is behind you, Calde. I
suspected as much, and this makes it very plain.'
'It is now, apparently.' Here was a chance for Oosik to declare
himself. 'If you suspected it before you read that letter, Colonel, it
was doubly kind of you to let Patera Shell in to see me.'
'I didn't, Calde. Captain Gecko did.'
'I see. But you'll keep your promise?'
'I am a man of honor, Calde.' Oosik refolded the letter and put it
in his pocket with his glasses. 'I will also keep this. Neither of us
would want anyone else to read it. One of my officers, particularly.'
Silk nodded. 'You're welcome to.'
'You want your clothes back. No doubt you would like to have
the contents of your pockets as well. Your beads are in there, I
think. I imagine you would like to tell them as you lie here.'
'I would, yes. Very much.'
'There are needlers, too. One is like the one with which you were
shot. There is also a smaller one that seems to have belonged to a
woman named Hyacinth.'
'Yes,' Silk said again.
'I see I know her, if she is the Hyacinth I'm thinking of. An
amiable girl, as well as a very beautiful one. I lay with her on
Phaesday.'
Silk shut his eyes.
'I did not set out to give you pain, Calde. Look at me. I'm old
enough to be your father, or hers. Do you imagine she sends me
love letters?'
'Is that...?'
'What one of the letters in your pocket is?' Oosik nodded
solemnly 'Captain Gecko told me the seals had not been broken
when he found them. Quite frankly, I doubted him. I see that I
should not have. You have not read them.'
'No,' Silk said.
'Captain Gecko has, and I. No one else. Gecko can be discreet
if I order it, and a man of honor must be a man of discretion, also.
Otherwise he is worse than useless. You did not recognize her seal?'
Silk shook his head. 'I've never gotten a letter from her before.'
'Calde, I have never gotten one at all.' Oosik tugged his
mustache. 'You would be well advised to keep that before you. Many
letters from women over the years, but never one from her. I say
again, I envy you.'
'Thank you,' Silk said.
'You love her.' Oosik leaned back in his chair. 'That is not a
question. You may not know it, but you do.' His voice softened. 'I
was your age once, Calde. Do you realize that in a month it may be
over?'
'In a day it may be over,' Silk admitted. 'Sometimes I hope it will be.'
'You fear it, too. You need not say so. I understand. I told you I
knew her and it gave you pain, but I do not want you to think, later,
that I have been less than honest. I am being equally honest now.
Brutally honest with myself. My pride. I am nothing to her.'
'Thank you again,' Silk said.
'You are welcome. I do not say that she is nothing to me. I am not
a man of stone. But there are others, several who are much more.
To explain would be offensive.'
'Certainly you don't have to go into details unless you want me to
shrive you. May I see her letter?'
'In a moment, Calde. Soon I will give it to you to keep. I think so,
at least. There is one further matter to be dealt with. You chanced
to mention a woman called Chenille. I know a woman of that name,
too. She lives in a yellow house.'
Silk smiled and shook his head.
'That does not pain you at all. She is not the Chenille you took to
the lake?'
'I was amused at myself--at my stupidity. She told me she had
entertained colonels; but until you said you knew her, it had never
entered my mind that you were almost certain to be one of them.
There can't be a great many.'
'Seven besides myself.' Oosik rummaged in the bundle of clothing
