Ashes (Ch2)

Uploaded to see how it looks in a different format.

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Chapter 2 — Rapprochement

His Lordship the Earl of Carnforth —or rather, the Countess his spouse— had spared no expense to lay on an entertainment on a truly grand scale. Lady Blaymere’s social evenings, by comparison, had been little more than a supper party with cultural pretensions. Following young Roland de Céligny through room after room ablaze with light and costly hangings, where the quivering flame of hundreds of candles was cast back by mirrors and by crystal lustres overhead, and servants in livery moved deftly amidst the throng, Artus de Brencourt could almost have imagined himself transported to some princely court, or back in a dream of the France of his youth.

Only those days had vanished as thoroughly as the youth that had fled —barren and wasted, all of it— or the laughter of the little Queen at Versailles. Quite how empty that dream had become he knew better now than anyone here.( Read more... )

Purse gone

I discovered at lunch-time (while looking for my shopping list) that my cash purse wasn't where it ought to have been( Read more... )

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Edit: I found it. Dropped into the inside pocket of my bike bag rather than the main bag that was also inside the bike bag -- I was obviously in a hurry and 'missed'!
I think the universe is trying to tell me that I really should be getting on with that detailed breakdown of my expenditure (currently only up to September 2024....)

Edit 2: Cash in hand: £16.04. More than I had realised -- I must have only just withdrawn a couple of weeks' worth!