Fathers and sons -- Fiction; People with disabilities -- Fiction; Princes -- Fiction; Refugees -- Fiction
"Let's get into a quiet place," he said. "Those queer things you've been
telling me have got hold of me. How did I know? How could I know--unless
it's because I've been trying to work that second law? I've been saying
to myself that we should be told the right things to do--for the Game
and for your father--and so that I could be the right sort of
aide-de-camp. I've been working at it, and, when he came out, I knew he
was not the man in spite of his looks. And I couldn't be sure you knew,
and I thought, if I kept on talking and interrupting you with silly
questions, you could be prevented from speaking."
"There's a place not far away where we can get a look at the mountains.
Let's go there and sit down," said Marco. "I knew it was not the right
one, too. It's the Help over again."
"Yes, it's the Help--it's the Help--it must be," muttered The Rat,
walking fast and with a pale, set face. "It could not be anything else."
They got away from the streets and the people and reached the quiet
place where they could see the mountains. There they sat down by the
wayside. The Rat took off his cap and wiped his forehead, but it was not
only the quick walking which had made it damp.
"The queerness of it gave me a kind of fright," he said. "When he came
out and he was near enough for me to see him, a sudden strong feeling
came over me. It seemed as if I knew he wasn't the man. Then I said to
myself--'but he looks like him'--and I began to get nervous. And then I
was sure again--and then I wanted to try to stop you from giving him the
Sign. And then it all seemed foolishness--and the next second all the
things you had told me rushed back to me at once--and I remembered what
I had been thinking ever since--and I said--'Perhaps it's the Law
beginning to work,' and the palms of my hands got moist."
Marco was very quiet. He was looking at the farthest and highest peaks
and wondering about many things.
"It was the expression of his face that was different," he said. "And
his eyes. They are rather smaller than the right man's are. The light in
the shop was poor, and it was not until the last time he bent over me
that I found out what I had not seen before. His eyes are gray--the
other ones are brown."
"Did you see that!" The Rat exclaimed. "Then we're sure! We're safe!"
"We're not safe till we've found the right man," Marco said. "Where is
he? Where is he? Where is he?"
He said the words dreamily and quietly, as if he were lost in
thought--but also rather as if he expected an answer. And he still
looked at the far-off peaks. The Rat, after watching him a moment or so,
began to look at them also. They were like a loadstone to him too. There
was something stilling about them, and when your eyes had rested upon
them a few moments they did not want to move away.
"There must be a ledge up there somewhere," he said at last.
"Let's go up and look for it and sit there and think and think--about
finding the right man."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account