misapplication.
“I thank you for your efforts,” she continued speaking to the men. “I’ve waited so long for this machine, you have made me very happy. Enjoy your stay, but be warned you will not spend it in idleness. You will be trapped here with me until the tide recedes, late Martday morning. I may call on you tomorrow, for my equipment is complicated, and heavy. It may require a man’s touch,” she said, with outrageous innuendo.
“Yes, yes!” said Mansanio letting his annoyance show. “Please, goodmen, to your quarters where all is waiting.”
“Good night, my lady,” said the remaining two men. They all looked the same to Mansanio in their draymen’s work clothes, all equally dirty, all so terribly common. He supposed these two to be the underforemen. Gorwyn was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t like the way one of them was looking at the countess. “And thank you for the additional funds. Most appreciated.”
They bowed and doffed their caps all the way to the door. Additional funds? How much extra she had given them? He glared at them as if he would push them out of the donjon hall with his stare.
“If you had but waited two days, then we would not be suffering this minor inconvenience, my lady,” Mansanio said when they had gone.
She looked at him in disbelief. “Wait for this? When I have waited for six months already?”
“Two extra nights does not seem excessive when you put it in those terms, my lady.”
She went back to her crates. “A minor inconvenience. Minor,” she said. “They’re glad of the extra pay. Why put them in the barracks? They’re not very comfortable. When was the last time anyone stayed there. Probably before Iapetus’s time.”
“You know that is not true, my lady. Guests are often quartered there. There are many of the draymen. We would not wish them to ruin the linens of the hall. There is an issue of status here, and your finances, my lady, are not infinite...”
“Unlike your patience, I suppose, eh, Mansanio? My finances are robust enough to withstand a little extra beer and ten silver thalers! Mansanio, I had to have it! Don’t look like that! If you’re worried about the money, get Holless to set up a shankey game. He’ll fleece them blind.”
“We will not have the money still,” he pointed out.
“No, but Holless will, and he spends most of it when he goes ashore in the Mogawn-by-Land’s taverns.”
“Which are mainly owned by you. Of course, my lady.”
“Oh, don’t be so... so... unctuous about it! You bloody Ellosantins think you are so full of charm and understanding. And attractive too, no doubt, with your dusky skin and big brown eyes. Well it won’t wash here in Karsa, do you hear? Oily, the lot of you. That’s what I think. Put them in the hall!”
“As you have mentioned, my lady.” Mansanio bore her prejudices without complaint. No matter that her father was his countryman, and had brought Mansanio to the isles with him.
“And you’re going grey, and you’re getting wrinkles. You’re losing some of your filthy foreign allure.”
Mansanio’s even expression got a little stonier.
“Oh do stop standing around like an extra poker by the fire. Come and give me some help, damn you. And don’t you pull a face at me! I’ll make sure you don’t get your precious hands too dirty.” She gave him a fierce smile. She loved to bate him. He, for the love of her, allowed her to do so. Only her.
“And,” she said, as he reluctantly rolled his sleeves up, “I do wish you’d stop referring to Ardwynion and his sons as the ‘guard’. He’s half blind and the boys, sweet as they are, are only slightly more fearsome than you. And another thing. You never responded to my telling you to put them in the hall. I know you well, you old devil. If you don’t acknowledge my orders, you think it doesn’t count.”
“My ears are not so young, my lady.”
“Put them in the bloody hall!”
“The barracks are the appropriate
“I thank you for your efforts,” she continued speaking to the men. “I’ve waited so long for this machine, you have made me very happy. Enjoy your stay, but be warned you will not spend it in idleness. You will be trapped here with me until the tide recedes, late Martday morning. I may call on you tomorrow, for my equipment is complicated, and heavy. It may require a man’s touch,” she said, with outrageous innuendo.
“Yes, yes!” said Mansanio letting his annoyance show. “Please, goodmen, to your quarters where all is waiting.”
“Good night, my lady,” said the remaining two men. They all looked the same to Mansanio in their draymen’s work clothes, all equally dirty, all so terribly common. He supposed these two to be the underforemen. Gorwyn was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t like the way one of them was looking at the countess. “And thank you for the additional funds. Most appreciated.”
They bowed and doffed their caps all the way to the door. Additional funds? How much extra she had given them? He glared at them as if he would push them out of the donjon hall with his stare.
“If you had but waited two days, then we would not be suffering this minor inconvenience, my lady,” Mansanio said when they had gone.
She looked at him in disbelief. “Wait for this? When I have waited for six months already?”
“Two extra nights does not seem excessive when you put it in those terms, my lady.”
She went back to her crates. “A minor inconvenience. Minor,” she said. “They’re glad of the extra pay. Why put them in the barracks? They’re not very comfortable. When was the last time anyone stayed there. Probably before Iapetus’s time.”
“You know that is not true, my lady. Guests are often quartered there. There are many of the draymen. We would not wish them to ruin the linens of the hall. There is an issue of status here, and your finances, my lady, are not infinite...”
“Unlike your patience, I suppose, eh, Mansanio? My finances are robust enough to withstand a little extra beer and ten silver thalers! Mansanio, I had to have it! Don’t look like that! If you’re worried about the money, get Holless to set up a shankey game. He’ll fleece them blind.”
“We will not have the money still,” he pointed out.
“No, but Holless will, and he spends most of it when he goes ashore in the Mogawn-by-Land’s taverns.”
“Which are mainly owned by you. Of course, my lady.”
“Oh, don’t be so... so... unctuous about it! You bloody Ellosantins think you are so full of charm and understanding. And attractive too, no doubt, with your dusky skin and big brown eyes. Well it won’t wash here in Karsa, do you hear? Oily, the lot of you. That’s what I think. Put them in the hall!”
“As you have mentioned, my lady.” Mansanio bore her prejudices without complaint. No matter that her father was his countryman, and had brought Mansanio to the isles with him.
“And you’re going grey, and you’re getting wrinkles. You’re losing some of your filthy foreign allure.”
Mansanio’s even expression got a little stonier.
“Oh do stop standing around like an extra poker by the fire. Come and give me some help, damn you. And don’t you pull a face at me! I’ll make sure you don’t get your precious hands too dirty.” She gave him a fierce smile. She loved to bate him. He, for the love of her, allowed her to do so. Only her.
“And,” she said, as he reluctantly rolled his sleeves up, “I do wish you’d stop referring to Ardwynion and his sons as the ‘guard’. He’s half blind and the boys, sweet as they are, are only slightly more fearsome than you. And another thing. You never responded to my telling you to put them in the hall. I know you well, you old devil. If you don’t acknowledge my orders, you think it doesn’t count.”
“My ears are not so young, my lady.”
“Put them in the bloody hall!”
“The barracks are the appropriate
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