Weaveworld

VI

RAPTURE

1

f Finnegan hadn’t called she would never have gone down to London. But he had, and she did, as much at Gluck’s insistence than from any great enthusiasm for the trip.

As soon as she got out of the house, however, and started travelling, she began to feel the weight of recent weeks lift a little. Hadn’t she once said to Apolline that there was comfort in their at least being alive? It was true. They would have to make the best they could of that, and not sigh for things circumstance had denied them.

She found Finnegan less than his usual spritely self. His career at the bank had floundered of late, and he needed a shoulder to curse upon. She supplied it happily, more than content to hear his catalogue of woes if they distracted her from her own. He reminded her, when he’d finished complaining and gnashing his teeth, of something she’d once said about never marrying a banker. As it seemed he’d soon be out of a job would she think again?, he wondered. It was clear from his tone he didn’t expect yes for an answer, and he didn’t get it, but she told him she hoped they’d always be friends.

‘You’re a strange woman,’ he said as they parted, apropos of nothing in particular.

She took the remark as flattery.