Page 175 (1/2)

" 'Yes,' I said 'I did ¡¯

" 'I see And so you are like my old Master with his poetry But you ine it, Quinn, what I have seen And there are ss ¡¯

" 'You think so?' I asked

" 'I know so,' he said 'But co for you ¡¯

"I laughed a short ironic little laugh 'That's co,' I said

"As we stood to leave the caf¨¦ I stopped and looked at h even to my enhanced vision And no one in the caf¨¦ had so much as stared at us, except for an occasional pair of pretty girls who had coh Yes I was pleased with it I was nificently pleased with it "

Chapter42

42

"WHEN WE RETURNED to the palazzo, which we did by ordinary irl, as now frightened out of her wits, that Petronia was in her dressing room and wanted to see me there

"I found the roo The entire as covered in ranite, on a bench that appeared made of the sa Adonis finished her hair

"She was clad as a man in a buff-colored velvet coat and pants, with a ruffled white shirt that would have looked good in the eighteenth century, I well iular ca surrounded by diamonds

"Her hair was pulled straight back fro it for her She had two threads of dia over her head, which as I've mentioned was beautifully shaped for this kind of severity, and the two threads of dia plaited into her hair

"The room was open to the sea like all the rooot to mention it with the bath

"The sky appeared violet to ain the stars see into the room

"My breath was quite literally taken away from me, not merely by the stars and their various patterns but by the sheer beauty of Petronia in her sharp ain revealed by the austerity of her pulled-back hair