“A what?”
“Oh, you know,” the eyes said, narrowing and rolling in mock exasperation, “a gopher. An errand girl. He tells you to go for something, and you go get it; that sort of thing.”
“Yeah, something like that.” Skate did not feel the need to go into detail about the nature of the things she was sent for.
“That makes sense. He wouldn’t want to be going here and there for what little materials and supplies he needs when he could be reading instead. Though, that does raise the question: If you’re his errand girl, where’s he gone?” The eyes were quizzical now, one arched high while the other dipped in low toward the unseen nose.
“Gone?”
“You said his guest was waiting for him.”
Skate realized she had said exactly that. This person was a good listener, and a quick thinker besides. Such a person was dangerous to someone like her, who was trying to maintain a secret. “He didn’t say what he was going for. He just said he was going and would be back soon.”
“I see, I see.” The man in the glass ball seemed to use the phrase as the verbal equivalent of a nod. “That’s not like him, you know. He almost never leaves. He spends almost all of his time reading in here. I’ve noticed the past few days, though, he hasn’t been in this room. Do you have anything to do with that?”
“Some of it, sure.” She affected a more relaxed posture, worried that she may have put the man in the glass on his guard by her body language. “He’s spent some time showing me around the house and stuff.”
“Yes, I saw you when he showed you his wonderful little library,” the man said, darting his eyes about the room as he talked.
“What are you?”
“A friend.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s true! Or at least, it might be. But listen, since Belamy clearly hasn’t directly introduced you to me, it might be better not to mention finding me, hmm? At least until I’ve had a chance to talk to him?” The man looked rather worried at the prospect that she would not agree, so much so that Skate found herself agreeing before she had time to consider. “Good, good. Now, before you put me down, what were you planning to do when you came in here, anyway?”
“I was looking at…the books.”
“You can read?” He looked skeptical at the suggestion.
“No, not yet. But Mr. Belamy has agreed to teach me.”
“That’s wonderful!” The eyes went wide, and though they were quick to hide it, Skate detected not excitement but genuine shock at the pronouncement. “It’s good to know how to read, especially if you’re working for such a ravenous reader as Belamy.” The man within the glass seemed to consider something, and then spoke again. “Listen, there’s something I feel you should know. Barrison Belamy is…well, he’s different, er, health-wise.”
“I know he’s really old,” Skate said, though she guessed that this conversation was heading in a darker direction.
“Yes, he is that. But I mean he’s—well, I suppose if he hasn’t told you, I shouldn’t be the one to explain it. No, no, I shouldn’t.” He suddenly looked worried again. “Forget I said anything, that’s a good girl. In fact, go ahead and put me down, nice and gently, back by the window.”
Skate walked him over to where she had found him and settled him into his wire frame.
“There we are,” he said, his eyes falling backward into the fog. “And remember: let me talk to Belamy about our talk, eh? That’s the ticket.” His voice fell away as Skate moved her hand away from the glass.
Skate stepped back, wondering who this strange person was and why he was in the glass ball in the old man’s library. She felt that he had been about to confirm Haman’s and the Boss’s suspicions that Belamy was not alive in the technical sense, but had shied away from the revelation out of…fear? It had certainly seemed like he was afraid of the consequences of their conversation. She decided, for now, that it was best to stand by her promise not to reveal the conversation to Belamy when she saw him.
Skate left the library, no book or trinket in hand, glad not to have been caught stealing anything. She had not, after all, known she was being watched when she had entered.
Skate heard the heavy front door open and close, and heard Belamy’s surprised exclamation at seeing his friend sitting in front of his cheerily crackling fire. She hid out of sight at the top of the stairs to listen to their conversation, which had only just begun.
Belamy spoke first. “…pleasant surprise!”
“Yes, I thought I’d check up on you with this dismal weather, especially since I know how loath you are to light your hearth, even in the bitter cold. But I see that I needn’t have worried.”
“Oh, no, I’m fine, just fine. Rattle, go fetch Laribel something warm to drink—tea, yes?”
“Lovely. Thank you, Rattle, dear.”
Skate heard the clink of her dish as Rattle carried it into the kitchen, where, presumably, it would shortly have a kettle roaring to make some twenty-year-old tea. There was another scrape as Belamy scooted a chair, probably near where Ossertine was resting. When she spoke, a heavy note of disapproval weighed down her words. “I met your other guest, earlier.”
“Oh yes, young Skate.”
Ossertine gave a noncommittal grunt. “She’s a rude child.”
“Well, she’s not used to dealing with another’s houseguests, I’m sure. Whatever rudeness she showed to you, simply charge it to me; she’s my guest and my responsibility. I hope it was nothing that cannot be mended.”
“No, on the whole, I suppose it was minor. Think not of it.” There was a creak as the kitchen door opened and closed, then opened and closed again. “I take it by her…attire, that this is some urchin you’ve taken in off the streets?”
“She’s without a home, yes.”
“Oh, Barrison, you mustn’t begin taking in strays. Soon you’ll have every manner of hanger-on and beggar at your door, believing they’ve a right to a warm bed and a hot meal.”
“She’s not a stray, Laribel. She’s working for me. Helping me get things I need around town, that sort of thing. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly a young man, ready to go out and take on the world. She’s been quite helpful these past few days.”
“But you were just out there!” Ossertine protested, and Skate heard the beginnings of a whistling kettle from the kitchen. “You have your new employee made dinner by Rattle while you go out into the snow for writing supplies.”
“She worked very hard yesterday,” he replied sheepishly, “and she’s still very young. She seemed to need her rest.”
“And you don’t?”
“I’m fine, Laribel.”
The resulting silence told Skate that Ossertine was skeptical of that claim but did not wish to press the issue. “I also came to warn you: my home was burgled recently. There’s a book thief out and about, and he may try to target you next.”
“Yes, I knew there had been break-ins in the area. That’s why I began to take precautions.”