A Summer in Olympia Ch. 01

When she was finished, she gave me a sunburst smile and kissed my manhood tenderly before retrieving her cap and turning to the mirror to rearrange her countenance, using finger to guide the last stray trickles between her lips. "Outside this room, I am Mrs. Edwards and you are Mr. MacLeod," she said calmly. "What time do you wish to have your tea?"

I shook my head, amazed at her sudden transition. "Ah, five thirty should be all right with me."

"Very good, sir." After a sultry glance over her shoulder, she departed.

I lay there for several moments, exposed and stupefied, until the downstairs clock chimed the half hour. Bathing my exhausted privates, I reflected on what happened so far and wondered what would happen next. Restoring my appearance, I looked out the window at the river down below. It was a stunning vista, reaching out for several miles on the other side, a fair sized town in the distance to the southwest, and a boat struggling upstream. The sheet with my new melody had dried, and I let its echoes fill my head once again, captured from my dream.

Ruminating on my encounter with Maurice, I wondered why my reactions were so strong. I'd known men who loved men at Oxford and Leipzig: we called them Grecians and shared dark rumors of what happened on the isle of Capri where they went on holiday. The men I knew who were reputedly homosexual had no attraction for me. Yet his eyes were so compelling: they wove a dark elemental magic.

Connie brought up a tray for me promptly at 5:30. "You have many jobs around here, don't you Connie?"

"Yes, sir. I try to be helpful" His countenance as somber.

"Are you all right? You seem a bit different than earlier today."

"Mrs. Edwards told me I have to be more respectful of our guests, sir. I apologize for any bother I caused you on the way here, and Ruby apologizes, too. We should'a known better."

I looked at him for a moment, seeking to shake him out of his demeanor, but he was impervious. "Very well, Connie. Apology accepted, from you and from Ruby."

"Thank you, sir. Good evening, sir."

The meal was delicious: roast beef and potatoes, asparagus, peas, fresh bread, and a lovely apple dumping for dessert. I savored the taste and lit a cigar from the sideboard to smoke at the window afterward. It was a fine evening, and I felt much repaired in body and spirit.

At 7:00 Maurice knocked on my door: "Sir Charles will see you in his study now. Follow me, please." We traveled the hall in silence; his demeanor was rather grim. A knock on the door was answered immediately, and upon entering he said: "Sir Charles permit me to introduce to you Mr. Frank MacLeod. Mr. MacLeod, Sir Charles."

Sir Charles Montgomery Brougham stood next to his billiard table: a man of medium height with greying hair, a huge, curled mustache above a clean shaven chin and cheeks, and slightly plump. His eyes were bright blue, and glowed with an inner fire that seemed inexhaustible and slightly out of control. He wore a light brown suit, and his shirt was slightly damp from the heat of the day. Bounding across the room, he grasped my hand eagerly: "Welcome, Mr. MacLeod, most welcome. I am so glad you have finally arrived. Ghastly traveling by train in this weather, is it not? I am certain you are exhausted by your journey. Sorry the wife and daughter aren't able to greet you as well; had a long day in the city listening to the opera, well if you could call Nicolai a serious composer which I do not, yet the dinner at the Society reception was quite good and I have great expectations of the new Choral-Symphony Society's conductor, splendid seeming young man from Germany. You studied in Germany, did you not? Anyway, I'm looking forward to working with you and can hardly wait until Monday."

His breathless style of speaking left me winded, and I had to work to extricate myself from his effusive grasp. "Thank you, Sir Charles. I'm glad to be here at last."

"Good, good, good. Bruncheon is at 8:00 tomorrow morning, you'll join us on the veranda, it seems like a nice day tomorrow, and Alice is always glad to have her meals al fresco, as it were. Afterward we will travel into Saint Charles for Morning Song at Trinity, and return here for an afternoon's leisure. Do you play billiards, Mr. MacLeod?"

"A little, not very well."

"Well, we shall endeavor to educate you in the noble art that Mozart once practiced so well. Also, we'll have a little musicale, Penny will play her viola, perhaps we can get my daughter Pearl to favor us with her lovely soprano voice, and occasionally the mysterious Maurice will produce his natural flute for some of his native Irish airs, eh what?" He said, turning to his butler.

Maurice smiled slightly. "As you wish, sir."

"Very good. Well, I must leave you to your evening, Mr. MacLeod, and bid you cast aside all your cares in the blissful environs of Olympia. I hope you have a restful night, and look forward to seeing you refreshed in the morning. Good evening." With that, he went over to a bookcase and took down a book. Maurice showed me the door, and led me back to my rooms.

When we got there, he said: "I hope you have a good evening, sir, and nothing troubles your rest. We are here to serve you in any way we can, so if you have a special need please don't hesitate to ask." His left eyebrow went up slightly for a moment, then returned: "I must return to supervise Sir Charles' preparations for bed. Good evening." Turning on his heel, he left quickly.

I was reading a German novel I'd taken during my house tour when Mrs. Edwards knocked on my door around 8:00. She carried a candle and had an eager look on her face. "Mr. MacLeod, there is another part of the house I wish to show you."

"Oh really? I thought there would be something here you would wish to show me."

Blushing, she turned away for a moment. "In time, in time. This way."

"Very well," I said, rising. Her earnest attitude intrigued me. "I will follow you."

Mrs. Edwards guided me a short distance down the hallway to a thin door concealed next to a supporting beam of the house. "This is the entrance to the passages that lead through the house where the servants can come and go unseen. We use them as shortcuts, and for occasions when the presence of guests would make our public appearance inappropriate. I want to show you something tonight, however, that will surprise you."