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.Somewhat amusing, which is also good.Honest, which is refreshing, and wildlycomplimentary to me, which, of course, is excellent.A little late, but on thewhole worth waiting for.' She looked Jezal in the eye.'The afternoon mightnot be a total loss.'Jezal wasn't sure he liked that last comment, and he wasn't sure he liked theway she looked at him, but he was enjoying looking at her, so he was preparedto forgive a lot.The women of his acquaintance rarely said anything clever,especially the fine-looking ones.He supposed they were trained to smile andnod and listen while the men did the talking.On the whole he agreed with thatway of doing things, but the cleverness sat well on West's sister, and she hadmore than caught his curiosity.Fat and peevish were off the menu, of thatthere could be no doubt.As for coarse, well, handsome people are nevercoarse, are they? Just& unconventional.He was beginning to think that theafternoon, as she had said, might not be a total loss.West made for the door.'It seems I must leave you two to make fools of oneanother.Lord Marshal Burr is expecting me.Don't do anything I wouldn't, eh?'The comment seemed to be aimed at Jezal, but West was looking at his sister.'That would seem to allow virtually everything,' she said, catching Jezal'seye.He was amazed to feel himself blushing like a little girl, and he coughedPage 34 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmland looked down at his shoes.West rolled his eyes.'Mercy,' he said, as the door clicked shut.'Would you care for a drink?' Ardee asked, already pouring wine into a glass.Alone with a beautiful young woman.Hardly a new experience, Jezal toldhimself, and yet he seemed to be lacking his usual confidence.'Yes, thank you, most kind.' Yes, a drink, a drink, just the thing to steadythe nerves.She held the glass out to him and poured another for herself.Hewondered if a young lady should be drinking at this time of day, but it seemedpointless to say anything.She wasn't his sister, after all.'Tell me, Captain, how do you know my brother?''Well, he's my commanding officer, and we fence together.' His brain wasbeginning to function again.'But then& you know that already.'She grinned at him.'Of course, but my governess always maintained that youngmen should be allowed their share of the conversation.'Jezal gave an ungainly cough as he was swallowing and spilled some wine downhis jacket.'Oh dear,' he said.'Here, take this a moment.' She gave him her glass and he took it withoutthinking, but then found himself without a free hand.When she started dabbingat his chest with a white handkerchief he could hardly object, though it didseem rather forward.Being honest, he might have objected if she wasn't sodamn fine-looking.He wondered if she realised what an excellent view she wasgiving him down the front of her dress, but of course not, how could she? Shewas simply new here, unused to courtly manners, the artless ways of a countrygirl and so forth& nice view though, there was no denying that.'There, that's better,' she said, though the dabbing had made no apparentdifference.Not to his uniform anyway.She took the glasses from him, drainedher own quickly with a practised flick of her head and shoved them on thetable.'Shall we go?''Yes& of course.Oh,' and he offered her his arm.She led him out into the corridor and down the stairs, chatting freely.It wasa flurry of conversational blows and, as Marshal Varuz had pointed outearlier, his defence was weak.He parried desperately as they made their wayacross the wide Square of Marshals, but he could barely get a word in.Itseemed as though it was Ardee who had been living there for years and Jezalwho was the bumpkin from the provinces.'The Halls Martial are behind there?' She nodded over at the looming wall thatseparated the headquarters of the Union's armies from the rest of the Agriont.'Indeed they are.That is where the Lord Marshals have their offices, and soforth.And there are barracks there, and armouries, and, er& ' He trailed off.He could not think of much else to say, but Ardee came to his rescue.'So my brother must be somewhere in there.He's quite the famous soldier, Isuppose.First through the breach at Ulrioch, and so on.''Well, yes, Major West is very well respected here& ''He can be such a bore, though, can't he? He does so love to be mysterious andtroubled.' She put on a faint, faraway smile and rubbed her chin thoughtfully,just as her brother might have done.She had captured the man perfectly, andJezal had to laugh, but he was starting to wonder if she should be walkingquite so close beside him, holding his arm in quite so intimate a way.Notthat he objected of course.Quite the reverse, but people were looking.'Ardee ' he said.'So this must be the Kingsway.''Er, yes, Ardee 'She was gazing up at the magnificent statue of Harod the Great, his stern eyesfixed on the middle distance.'Harod the Great?' she asked.'Er, yes.In the dark ages, before there was a Union, he fought to bring theThree Kingdoms together.He was the first High King.' You idiot, thoughtJezal, she knows that already, everyone does.'Ardee, I think your brotherwould not ''And this is Bayaz, the First of the Magi?''Yes, he was Harod's most trusted adviser.Ardee 'Page 35 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html'Is it true they still keep a vacant seat for him in the Closed Council?'Jezal was taken aback [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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