Thorolf said: "Here are the garments she wore ere her transformation." He laid the bundle on Orlandus' desk before sitting down. "I see you are not using the fireplace, Doctor, albeit winter will be upon us erelong."
Orlandus smiled. "The fireplace is more ornamental than useful. The castle hath an amenity invented in the days of the old Neapolitan Empire but neglected since. It is clept central heating. A furnace in the basement sends warm air through ducts to the far reaches of the building."
Another good-looking woman of about Yvette's age, also swathed in gray, entered and began mopping the floor, although Thorolf could not discern a speck of dust. He said:
"You keep a neat hold, Doctor."
"Surely. I am a modern, scientific magus. All operations are conducted in accordance with the latest principles of natural philosophy. One cannot be efficient without order."
Thorolf exchanged glances with Bardi, whose sanctum was at a polar extreme from their present surroundings. The soldier jerked his head towards the woman mopping. "Do your folk clean even when there is no dirt?"
Orlandus chuckled. "She serves a light sentence of expiation for a breach of discipline by a member of our order, of the lowest or probationary grade. Only when the aspirant hath risen to the rank of diaphane is he or she immune to such discipline. Since the recent warm spell hath made it needless to stoke the central furnace, I have instead passed sentences of cleaning and polishing. A diaphane, however, knows the right thing to do on all occasions and does it.
"Let us return to the concomitants of my treatment of your Countess, since you expressed the desire that I do so. The price of the coronet would not nearly cover the cost of the Spell of Mimingus needed to restore Yvette to her winsome former self. You, Sergeant, have seven hundred-odd marks on deposit with Banker Virus, saved up for your tuition. And you, Doctor Bardi, have at least fifteen thousand in the hoard you secrete in your house."
"How knew you?" blurted Thorolf.
"Ah, what good were my arcane powers if I kept not abreast of my clients' affairs? Adding the sums from the coronet and your respective assets, that gives a total of about thirty thousand marks. Not nearly enough, I fear."
Thorolf bristled. "Meanst that you'd leave her in her polypose form if we cannot raise money beyond all we own?"
"My dear fellow! Take not so rigid a view. With a little adjustment, I am sure we can come to an amicable arrangement. I know somewhat of Yvette of Grintz, whose presence would much enhance my following. There is no rush about paying me all at once. I shall expect payment in installments of, let us say, one-tenth at a time, to allow you gentlemen time to arrange for loans.
"Meanwhile I shall keep Yvette here. Come back in a fortnight, with the first installment, and you shall find her restored. But she will not return to you until you have met the full cost of this difficult operation."
Thorolf thought privately that anyone who tried to hold Yvette against her will would find his work cut out for him. He said: "How would you stop her from leaving the castle?"
"Not by bars and shackles, I do assure you. She will understand that she owes it to me to remain here until the costs of the operation be met. The total reckoning will be—ah—thirty-five thousand marks."
"Ye'd beggar us!" grumbled Bardi.
"I am truly sorry, but this cannot be helped. Without resources I cannot carry on my great work for the benefit of mankind. Let it be agreed that one or the other shall return a fortnight hence with the first payment, thirty-five hundred marks, in good Rhaetian gold or silver." Orlandus rose. "Now let us part so that I can begin the arduous and costly preparations."
Taking each visitor by the elbow, Orlandus steered them to the gate, talking smoothly the while: "After this affair be wound up, my good Sergeant, I should welcome you as a subject for my mind-enhancing treatment. I do perceive you to be a man of great potential, combining the body of a mighty warrior with the mind of a scholar. This is a rare blend; we might even make a diaphane of you, could you stay the course."
"Gramercy for your compliments," said Thorolf. "But do your treatments require more money?"
"Certes! We cannot conduct this world-saving institution and maintain our headquarters and laboratories on air. But I am sure that arrangements can be effected, once you are enrolled amongst the followers of Sophonomy. We can rid you of all the fears and guilts accumulated in previous lives."
"For now," said Thorolf, "my obligation is to the Commonwealth and its Constitution. I'll do nought that conflicts with those."
"But of course, my dear fellow! Many of my people also give loyal service to the Commonwealth in various capacities." He spoke to a gate guard: "Where is the cart these gentlemen brought that tub in?"
"The carter returned and drave it off, Master," said the guard, placing a hand over his heart and bowing.
"Good! We are scrupulous in such affairs. We shall discuss these matters further. Sergeant. And now, my friends, farewell. Remember, a fortnight hence!"
Leading his horse. Thorolf arrived at the barracks just as the morning's drill was being dismissed and the men were returning their pikes to the huge rack at the side of the drill ground. Captain Bothvar came up with a scowl like a thunderstorm, saying:
"Where in the seven hells have ye been, Thorolf? Your leave went only till muster time this morn. 'Tis not like you to vanish without leave."
"A matter of honor, sir. A noble lady who besought my aid met with an accident, and there was none but I to obtain her the proper medical care."
"Hmm. If ye say so, I daresay 'tis so. I put Sergeant Regin in your stead; ye can trade leaves with him to make up the time."
After his midday meal, instead of retiring to his room for an afternoon of quiet study, Thorolf set out for the consular palace. He had to wait an hour before being admitted to see his father. While he waited, pictures of Yvette floated through his mind. If only old Bardi had not blundered; or if the spell could have been postponed for a single day ...
Thorolf had never felt apologetic about his virginal state, since the Paganist religion was fairly strict in its sexual standards. Because of his brawn, none of the soldiers beneath his orders dared to chaff him about it. after he had thrown one scoffer twenty feet into a manure pile. His fellow sergeant, Regin, who notoriously flouted these standards, sometimes remarked after a weekend of revelry:
"Well, Thorolf old boy, hast become a real man yet?"
But he said it in fun. He could do it with impunity because he was Thorolf's closest friend among the soldiers.
At last Thorolf was waved into the Consul's inner chamber. Clad in official scarlet, Consul Zigram overflowed the chair in which he sat behind an oversized desk. The side of this desk toward the Consul was curved to make room for Thorolf's father's bulk, which his luxuriant snow-white beard covered. His golden chain and medallion of office were hung round his neck atop the beard, which would otherwise have concealed them.
"Greetings, son!" puffed the Consul. "How wags thy world?"
"Well enough, Father. Hast heard of my involvement with the Countess of Grintz?"
"Only that ye brought this fair fugitive to Vasco's inn for the night. Where is she now? We lust not for a confrontation with the Duke of Landai."
"At Bardi's urging, I left her in charge of Doctor Orlandus, to treat her for an ill. Now I would fain ask some questions about this Orlandus and his Sophonomists."