Life was a bed of roses, and I might as well enjoy it before the
blossoms withered. Watching Angelady at work was a distinct pleasure,
and if you stood my back to the wall and made me swear, I would be
forced to admit that I learned a thing or two from her. Singlehandedly
she was organizing a revolution on a peaceful planet--and it stood
every chance of succeeding. In my small way I helped. The few times she
mentioned a problem to me I had a ready answer and in all the cases
she went along with my suggestions. Of course I had never toppled
governments before, but there are basic laws in crime as in everything
else, and it is just a matter of application. This didn't happen often.
Most of the time during those first few weeks I was a plain bodyguard,
keeping a wary eye out for assassins. This position had a certain
ironical angle that appealed to me greatly.
However there was a serpent in our little Eden of Insurrection, and his
name was Rdenrundt. I never heard much, but from a word caught here
and there I began to see that the Count wasn't really cut out to be a
revolutionary. The closer we came to the day the more pallid he became.
His little physical vices began to add up, and one day the whole thing
came to a head.
Angelegant and the Count were in a business session and I sat in the
anteroom outside. I shamelessly eavesdropped whenever I could, and
this time I had managed to leave the door open a crack after I had
checked her into the room. Careful manipulation with my toe opened it
a bit more until I could hear the murmur of their voices. An argument
was progressing nicely--there were a lot of them at this time--and I
could catch a word here and there. The Count was shouting and it was
obvious that he wouldn't give in on some simple and necessary piece of
blackmail to advance the cause. Then his tone changed and his voice
dropped so I couldn't hear his words, strain as I might. There was a
saccharine wheedle and whine in his voice, and Angelina's answer was
clear enough. A loud and positive _no_. His bellow brought me to
my feet.
"Why not? It's always _no_ now and I've had enough of it!"
There was the sound of tearing cloth and something fell to the floor
and broke. I was through the door in a single bound. For a brief
instant I had a glimpse of a struggling tableau as he pulled at her.
Angelina's clothing was torn from one shoulder and his fingers were
sunk into her arms like claws. Clubbing my pistol I ran forward.
Angelina was a bit faster. She pulled a bottle from the table and
banged it into the side of his head with neat efficiency. The Count
dropped as if he had been shot. She was pulling up her torn blouse when
I came roaring to a halt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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