The Emperor of All Things - By Paul Witcover Page 0,140

forward to better distribute the weight of the ladder, as if she bore a load of kindling on her back. Though she said nothing, her concern for me was palpable.

True to his word, Adolpheus was gentleness itself. Not once did he bang my injured foot against the sides of the corridors, which, though spacious enough for two people to pass abreast, were yet not very much wider than my own length. Even so, the trip was a torturous one, and it took all my self-control to keep from crying out when, as was inevitable, some movement jostled my foot, or, as happened despite Adolpheus’s care, my boot brushed against a wall as he turned a corner.

‘Herr Doppler will not be pleased when he hears of this,’ Adolpheus remarked as we neared the inn.

This seemed so self-evident as not to require a reply. Besides, I feared that if I opened my mouth to speak, I might whimper like a beaten dog.

But Corinna spoke up from behind. ‘Oh, must you tell him, Adolpheus? The only harm done was to poor Herr Gray. Surely there is no reason for my father to know.’

‘I have never lied to your father,’ Adolpheus answered without slowing or looking back, ‘and I do not mean to start now. I am the watchman of this town, and it is my duty to report such transgressions. Herr Doppler has been indulgent where you are concerned, Fraülein – what father would not be? But I do not care to tempt his wrath by dissembling. I will tell him what I know. In any case, the story would soon come out. The injury, after all, speaks for itself.’

‘Then let it,’ she returned pertly.

‘I will tell what I know,’ he repeated.

‘But what do you know, after all? Only that his foot became caught in the train. You do not know how he came to be in that position.’

‘It seems clear enough. He sought entrance to the clock – which he promised your father not to do. Is that not the case, Herr Gray?’

Corinna replied before I could. ‘He climbed to the proscenium because I asked him to. What happened is my fault entirely!’

At this I protested, of course. ‘She’s lying,’ I ground out between clenched teeth.

‘I’m not,’ she insisted. ‘Herr Gray is only trying to protect me by taking the blame onto himself, as any gentleman would.’

‘Protect you from what?’ Adolpheus demanded. I confess I was curious to learn this as well; looking back at her over the dwarf’s shoulder, I saw her raise an admonitory finger to her lips. Clearly, she had something in mind, though I could not guess what it might be. But I held my tongue.

‘The truth is – you will think me wicked, Adolpheus – but the truth is that I teased him mercilessly, challenged him again and again to scale the tower. Every boy in Märchen has made the climb, I told him. Are you, a grown man, afraid to match them? I don’t know why I did it; I try to be good, but there is something in me that likes to stir things up, some devil that delights in mischief.’

‘I’m disappointed in you,’ Adolpheus said. ‘And in you as well, Herr Gray. To allow a young girl’s teasing to provoke you into breaking a solemn promise. You should be setting this one a sober example, not encouraging her waywardness.’

Again Corinna spoke up before I could. ‘He didn’t want to go,’ she said. ‘He wasn’t going to, no matter what. But then I promised that I would reward him most handsomely if he scaled the tower and returned to the ground before the automatons had completed their course. I was only teasing, I swear it, but up he went like a jackrabbit. You know the rest.’

‘What did you promise him?’ Adolpheus asked. ‘That is what I would know.’

At this, Corinna burst into tears, or seemed to, letting the stepladder fall behind her as she turned towards one wall and buried her face in her hands. ‘Oh, I cannot say. Do not ask it of me, Adolpheus! I am too ashamed.’

Needless to say, this had the effect of encouraging rather than deflecting Adolpheus’s curiosity. He stopped and half turned to look behind him at the weeping Corinna – in the process grazing my boot against the wall, so that I had to bite my lip to hold back a cry. ‘If you will not tell me,’ he said to her, ‘I will require it of Herr