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"But you already are," Grandmother told her "You’re a woman All women have a whore’s life, child"

Catherine froze, afraid tochanging into a sort of slow, rhyth on her head

"All worande itself is a transaction, in which a wo At least we, in our time-honored profession, are honest about it" Her tone turned reflective "Men are foul, brutish creatures But they own the world and alill And to get the ood at it, Catherine I’ve seen the instinct in you You like being told what to do You’ll like it even more when you’re paid for it" Her hand lifted froain You may ask Althea all the questions you like Mind you, when she began on her career, she was no happier about it than you But she quickly saw the advantages of her situation And we all have to earn our keep, don’t we? Even you, dear Being hter affords you no entitlement And fifteen minutes on your back will earn you assub stunned, as if she had just fallen frorande to bolt for the front door But without a place to go to, without irl would last only a matter of hours in London The trapped sobs in her chest had dissolved into shivers

She went upstairs to her roo into dark vagaries of ihtmare The stairs seemed to multiply, and the climb became difficult and she went upward into deeper and deeper shadows Alone and shivering with cold, she reached her rooht

There was athe fra placed firently outside She knew him from the shape of his head, from the powerful lines of his silhouette And from the dark, a velvety voice that lifted the hairs on the back of her neck

"There you are Come here, Marks"

Catherine was suffused with relief and yearning "My lord, what are you doing here?" she cried, running to hi for you" His arms went around her "I’ll take you far away from here--would you like that?"

"Oh, yes, yes … but how?"

"We’ll go right out thisI have a ladder"

"But is it safe? Are you certain--"

He put his hand gently to herher "Trust me" His hand pressed harder "I won’t let you fall"

She tried to tell hi he said, but he was covering her rip beca on her jaw She couldn’t breathe

Catherine’s eyes opened The nightled beneath a crushing weight, and tried to cry out against the callused hand that covered her mouth

"Your aunt wants to see you," came a voice in the darkness "I ’as to do this, miss I ’as no choice"

In the space of just a few ht cloth that bit into her ue After binding her hands and feet, he went to light a lamp Even without the aid of her spectacles, Catherine perceived that he wore the dark blue coat of a Rutledge Hotel eet a feords out, plead or bargain with him, but the knotted lump of cloth made coherent sound impossible Her saliva spiked unpleasantly at the intensely acrid flavor of the gag There was so on it, she realized, and at that sa into pieces, scattered like an unfinished puzzle Her heart turned sluggish, pu li sensation in her head as if her brain had suddenly becoe for her skull

Williaan to pull it over her, starting at her feet He didn’t look at her face, only kept his gaze on his task She watched passively, seeing that he took care to keep the heown primly down at her ankles Some distant part of her brain wondered at the s her er streaked out with a furious chatter With quicksilver speed he attacked Willia bites Catherine had never seen the little anirunted in surprise and flung out his arainst the wall and falling li, her eyes burning with acid tears

Breathing heavily, Willia hand, found a cloth at the washstand to wrap around it, and returned to Catherine The laundry bag was pulled higher and higher until it went over her head

She understood that Althea didn’t really want to see her Althea wanted to destroy her Perhaps Williaht it was kinder to lie It didn’t h tears leaked steadily from the outward corners of her eyes What a terrible fate to leave the world feeling nothing at all She was nothing le of li, all sensation falling away

A few thoughts needled through the blanket of nothingness, pinpricks of light in the dark

Leo would never know that she had loved hiht of his eyes, all those colors of blue Her h suhtest star rieve If only she could spare hiether, such a sie She had to admit now that she had never been happier than in the moments with him

Her heart beat faintly beneath her ribs It was heavy, aching with contained feeling, a hard knot within the nuht so hard to stay standing at the edge of e to walk into yours

Chapter Twenty-nine

Late in theLeo returned from a visit with his old mentor, Rowland Tee, had recently been awarded the Royal Gold Medal for his work in advancing the academic study of architecture Leo had been amused but hardly surprised to discover that Temple was as imperious and irascible as ever The old e to keep him financially solvent, but he had conteinative sense of style

"You’re not one of those parasitical dunderheads," Teathered had been a compliment And later, "My influence on you cannot be eradicated, can it?" And of course Leo had assured hi he had learned froreater influence of the elderly professor in Provence

"Architecture is hoe reconcile to the difficulties of life," Joseph had once told Leo at his atelier The old professor had been repotting so wooden table, while Leo tried to help "Non, don’t touch these, htly, they need more air than you allow them" He took a pot away from Leo and resumed the lecture "To be an architect, you have to accept the environment around you, no matter what its conditions Then, in full awareness, you take your ideals and form them into structure"

"Can I do it without ideals?" Leo had asked, only half joking "I’ve learned I can’t live up to them"