“Yes.”
“Of course I will. I have to know, too.”
“When should I come by?”
“Just after dark.”
I wandered for a little while after that, organizing my thoughts. My peregrinations took me past the church; a large albino raven regarding me, pink-eyed, from its peak. Circling the place once, for the sake of completeness, I saw the rotund coachman feeding his horses out back. Linda Enderby was paying a visit to the vicar.
October 20
I stopped by Graymalk’s place last night, per her invitation, and the mistress actually set down a plate of victuals for me on the back step. I realized then that Jill was far younger than I’d thought, now she wasn’t wearing her Crazy clothes and had her hair down loose rather than tied back and hidden under a bandana. And she _was_ a good cook. I can’t remember when I’d eaten so well.
Afterwards, Graymalk and I headed for the manse. It was an exceptionally clear night, and there were stars all over the sky.
“It just occurred to me that you’re a bird-watcher,” I said.
“Of course.”
“Have you seen an albino raven anywhere about?”
“As a matter of fact, I have, here and there, for several weeks now. Why?”
“It’s occurred to me that it might be the vicar’s companion. Just a matter of proximity and a guess, really.”
“I’ll watch for it now, of course.”
Someone with a crossbow passed us at a distance, moving in the other direction. We stood still, let him go by.
“Was that him?” she asked.
“Just a member of the midnight congregation,” I said. “Not the man himself. Scent’s wrong. I’ll remember this one, though.”
Streaks of high cirrus fluoresced above us from the stars they framed, and a gust of wind stirred my fur.
“I hunted rats and ate out of dustbins and saw my kittens killed and was hung by my tail and abused by wicked urchins,” Graymalk said suddenly, “before the mistress found me. She was an orphan who’d lived on the streets. Her life had been even worse.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve seen some bad times myself.”
“If the way is opened, things should change.”
“For the better?”
“Maybe. On the other paw, if it isn’t opened, things may change, too.”
“For the better?”
“Damned if I know, Snuff. Does anybody really care about a hungry cat, except for a few friends?”
“Maybe that’s all anybody ever has, no matter how the big show is run.”
“Still. . . .”
“Yes?”
“Hard times do really bring out the revolutionary in a person, don’t they?”
“I’ll give you that. Also, sometimes, the cynicism.”
“Like you?”
“I suppose. The more things change. . . .”
“So that’s the manse,” she said suddenly, pausing to regard the big structure which had just come into view, a few lights visible within. “I’ve never been over this way before.”
“No really unusual external features,” I said, “and no, uh, dogs about. Let’s go down and look around.”
We did, making a circuit of the place, peering in windows, placing the Great Detective, one must give him credit for dedication to a role, as he was still in skirts, in the front parlor, reading, below a portrait of the Queen. His only lapse, if one might call it that, involved an occasional puff on a great calabash pipe which he rested between times in a rack on a table to his right. His companion lingered about the kitchen, preparing some small repast. There were many darkened rooms about the place. Off of the kitchen, we noted the head of a stairway leading downward.
“That’s where I should be coming up,” she said. “When I reach the top I’ll pass through the kitchen, if he’s gone by then, and explore the farther side of the house first. If he isn’t, I’ll go down the long hall on the near side and investigate all of its darkened chambers.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I said.
We let ourselves down to ground level and rounded the corner to the basement window.
“‘Luck,” I told her as she entered.
I went back to the window and watched the kitchen. The man was in no hurry to leave, nibbling as he apparently waited for water to boil, taking out a willow-pattern plate and bowl from a cupboard, nibbling some more, hunting out utensils from a drawer, turning up from another cupboard one of those white cups with the gold rim and gold flower inside that everybody has, taking another nibble. . . . Finally, I saw Graymalk at the head of the stair. How long she had been there, unmoving, watching, I was uncertain. When his back was turned she slipped into the near hall. As I had no vantage on that area, I made a few circuits of the house to pass the time.