I didn’t mean to emphasize the word ‘briefly’ but she caught it anyway.
“Hmmm,” she said, fixing me with a suspicious stare. “Maybe we should take a break for a few minutes,” she said. “I think we could all do with a good stretch of the legs.”
“If you say so, my dear,” the General said, rising obediently to his feet.
I admired his stamina . . . and his patience. I was sure that this was as tedious for him as it was for me, but you’d never tell it to look at him.
I started to rise as well, then sank back quickly into my seat as a wave of dizziness hit me.
“Hey Skeeve! Are you all right?”
Massha was suddenly more concerned than she had been a moment before.
“I’m fine,” I said, trying to focus my eyes.
“Would you like some wine?”
“No!! I mean, I’m all right. Really. I just didn’t get much sleep last night is all.”
“Uh-huh. Out tom-catting again, were you, Hot Stuff?”
Normally, I kind of enjoyed Massha’s banter. Today, though, I was just too tired to play.
“Actually, I went to bed fairly early,” I said, stuffily- “I just had a lot of trouble getting to sleep. I guess there was just too much on my mind to relax.”
That was a bit of an understatement. Actually, I had tossed and turned most of the night . . . just as I had for the two previous nights. I had hoped that once I had dealt with the money problems I had been wrestling with, I could concentrate on making up my mind about whether or not to marry Queen Hemlock. Instead, all the factors and ramifications kept dancing in my head, jostling in my head, jostling each other for importance, until I couldn’t focus on any of them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t put them aside, either.