The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker Page B

levers. One end of the carrier dipped, then the other; the whole affair leveled itself, like a new-launched ship, and settled gently down until it bobbed no more than an inch above its former resting place on the trestles. The flat box was so well screened by drooping ferns and flowers as to be quite invisible.
    Pilkins sagged onto a stool and drew a flask from his pocket.
    "Are you quite all right, Mr. Pilkins?" said Mrs. Corvey.
    "Well enough," said Pilkins, taking a drink and tucking the flask away.
    "I only wondered because I heard you lord mayoring there, in a temper."
    "None of your concern if I was."
    "I reckon his lordship must be a trial to work for, sometimes," said Mrs. Corvey, in the meekest possible voice. Pilkins glared at her sidelong.
    "An old family, the Rawdons. If they've got strange ways about them, it's not my place to talk about 'em with folk from outside."
    "Well, I'm sure I meant no harm—" began Mrs. Corvey, as Mrs. Duncan threw the pantry door open with a crash.
    "I'll see you get your notice, Ralph, you mark my words!" she cried. "I ain't staying in there with him another minute. He's a fornicating disgrace!"
    "Indeed, I think he does a very creditable job." Maude's voice drifted from the depths of the pantry. Ralph emerged from the pantry smirking, followed by the ladies. Upon seeing the floating Dessert, Ralph pointed and exclaimed:
    "Hi! That's what it does, is it? I been going mad wondering—"
    Mrs. Duncan, noticing the Dessert's new state, gave a little scream and backed away. "Marry! He's done it again, hasn't he? That unnatural—"
    "Hold your noise!" Pilkins told her.
    "Whatever's the matter?" said Mrs. Corvey.
    "The Dessert appears to be levitating," Lady Beatrice said.
    "Oh, stuff and nonsense! I'm sure it's just a conjuror's trick," said Mrs. Corvey. Pilkins gave her a shrewd look.
    "That's it, to be sure; nothing but a stage trick, as his lordship likes to impress people."
    "So the Dessert isn't really floating in midair?" Jane poked one of the Cupids with a fingertip, causing it to writhe. "Just as you say; I'm only grateful we shan't kill ourselves carrying it in."
    A bell rang then. Pilkins jumped to his feet. "That's his lordship signaling for the next course! Get those finger cymbals on, you lot! Where's the bloody swan?"
    The swan was heaved out in its mold and upended over the cake, and a screw turned to let air into its vacuum; the swan unmolded and plopped into its place on the cake with an audible thud, sending the Cupids into quivering agonies.
    "Right! Pick the damned thing up! He wants you smiling and, and exercising your wiles when you go out there!" cried Pilkins.
    "We strive to please, sir," said Lady Beatrice, taking her place on one of the carrier poles. The Devere sisters took their places as well. They found that the Dessert lifted quite easily, for it now seemed to weigh scarcely more than a few ounces. Lady Beatrice struck up a rhythm on the finger cymbals, the Devere sisters cut a few experimental capers, and Pilkins ran before them up the stairs and so to the vast banqueting table of Basmond Hall.
    "I could do with a dram of gin, after all that," said Mrs. Duncan, collapsing into her chair. "I could too," said Ralph.
    "Well, you can just take yourself off to the stables!" "Perhaps you'd be so kind as to guide me to my room?" asked Mrs. Corvey. "I'm rather tired."

     

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    TEN:
    In which a Proposition is Advanced
    L ORD BASMOND HAD spared no expense in the pursuit of his chosen motif ; an oilcloth had been laid down over the flagstones and painted with a design resembling tiled mosaic on a villa floor. Hothouse palms had been carried about and placed in decorative profusion, as had an abundance of aspidistra. Five chaise-lounges had been set around the great central table on which Lady Beatrice spied the remains of the grand dishes that had preceded the Dessert from the kitchen: A roast suckling pig, a roast peacock with decorative tail, a dish of