Plight Thee My Troth Chapter 15 by Gingerandgreen
PicTeasers: Plight Thee My Troth Chapter 15 by Gingerandgreen
Chapter 15
Black’s residence is not far from the club, so I opt to walk.
The day is dull and cool, reflecting my sombre mood as well as my dark grey coat. I blend into the crowd easily in my mourning clothes, chosen for appearance’s sake, but I appreciate their other value now. For I have spied the hypocrite walking purposefully ahead of me, and I intend to follow him.
He heads towards Covent Garden, where we met him a few days ago – in happier times. I recall the ecstasy in Bella’s eyes as she listened to the opera that night, and almost lose my footing. A rat-chaser dodges around my legs, and I know I need to focus on the present if I hope to amend the effects of the past.
The vicar appears to be deep in thought, watching his feet upon the road, avoiding the foot traffic around him by instinct.
He stops to buy a small posy of marigolds from a flower-seller. As soon as he has moved on, I approach her.
“A posy for your mistress, Sir?” she asks, raising a smudged eyebrow.
I eye the woman coldly and she drops her teasing gaze.
“That gentleman who just paid you – have you met him before?”
“What’s it to you, Sir?”
I place a coin in her small outstretched palm, dirt engrained in the lines and scrapes it is covered with.
“Yes, I know him. He buys a posy every day he’s here. He’s a man of the cloth. Prays all the time, is how I know. What he wants the flowers for, you’ll have to ask him. He don’t talk to the likes of me.”
I nod my thanks, and hurry after Black again. He turns a corner, and I fear I will lose him; but when I reach it, he stands a short distance away in front of a narrow alley, waiting for a barrow to exit.
His body holds the tension of a fiend waiting to pass through the gates of hell. Or perhaps that is just my fancy. His movements are furtive and impatient, and he rubs the back of his neck as though he feels my judgement boring into him.
If I could strike him dead with my ire alone, I would do it.
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