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"Hoas your day?" Vale asked her carelessly

Really, he could be aman at times "I took luncheon with your estured to the footman for more wine

"Mmm-hmm She served stuffed artichokes and cold sliced ham"

He shuddered "Artichokes I never kno to eat theainst your teeth Quite easy"

"And leaves Who thinks to eat leaves?" he asked, apparently rhetorically "I wouldn’t Probably some woman discovered artichokes"

"The Romans ate them"

"A Roman woman, then She probably served up a plate of leaves to her husband and said, ‘Here you are, dear, eat hearty’"

Melisande found herself s at Vale’s depiction of the fictional Roman wife and her unfortunate husband "In any case, the artichokes your runted skeptically "I expect she told you all about my misspent youth"

Melisande ate a pea "You expect correctly"

He winced "Anything particularly egregious?"

"Apparently you spat up a lot as a baby"

"At least I’m over that," he muttered

"And you had a flirtatio cad oven with a otten that," Vale exclaines, or was it Alice? Perhaps Arabella--"

"I doubt Arabella," Melisande nored her "She had lovely peaches-and-creahed

"Feet?" Melisande asked sweetly

"Aleamed wickedly at her

"Humph," Melisande said, but she had to repress a smile "And what about your day?"

"Ah Well" Jasper stuck a large piece of beef in his"I went ’round to Matthew Horn’s house Rearden party?"

"Yes"

"You won’t believe it, but he has a map of the world that doesn’t have Italy on it"

"Perhaps you weren’t looking in the right spot," she said kindly

"No No" He shook his head and drank some wine "It’s this side of Russia and above Africa I’m pretty sure I’d’ve noticed it"

"Perhaps the map was made by someone who disliked Rome"

"Do you think?" He seeht "Just decided to do aith Italy altogether?"

She shrugged

"What an idea! I wouldn’t have had to study Latin all those years if Italy had disappeared"

"But now you already have, and I’m sure you’re a better man for it"

"Huh" Jasper sounded unsure

Melisande ate soood Cook had added so sweet--honey, perhaps She’d have to remember to co more with Mr Horn besides his defective map?"

"Yes, we talked about a felloe know in Scotland"

"Oh?" Vale was drinking more wine, and it was hard to read his expression Melisande’s interest sharpened "What is his name?"

"Sir Alistair Munroe He was attached to iment, but he wasn’t a soldier He was sent by the crown to record animals and plants in Aabout ferns for hours at a time"

Melisande sipped her wine "I quite like ferns"

Vale frowned harder "In any case, I’ a trip up to jolly old Scotland to see him"

There was a silence as Melisande con c Meto te fro he was nearby Even if he ay for large parts of the day or stayed out until all hours of the night, she knew he’d co in the same house as he soothed her soul Now she wouldn’t have even that

Vale cleared his throat "Thing is, he lives north of Edinburgh It’s a ways away, a trip of a week or e There’ll be drafty inns and bad food and the possibility of highwayether"

He had transferred his scowl to his plate He jabbed at his beef with the tines of his fork

Melisande was silent, no longer eating because her throat see to see a man, whom, by his own admission, he didn’t particularly like or knoell Why?

"But, despite all that, I wonder if you’d like to accompany me, my lady wife"

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that for a minute his words didn’ther intently, his eyes bright blue-green A blessed relief began spreading through her chest

"When will you leave?" she asked

"Tomorrow"