Continued from §.13.
Serlo Wealdmaer exited the cabaret to behold an angwissous man in a corvine coat, running full-tilt across the cobblestones of the main thorough. The sprinter shouted for aid as he sped, arms flailing like a beached and barmy cephalopod. Something about the manic figure seemed familiar to Serlo. He narrowed his gaze and gave a cry, realizing that the man wore the same coat Cerelia had bought for Oeric Adair.
As the eloper made to pass, Serlo lunged forward and caught the runner about the arm.
“What anoy, man?”
“Let me go!”
“A moment. Thy coat is familiar to my eyes. How did thee come by it?”
“He’ll kill us both!”
“Who, man? Speak.”
The disheveled tramp fearfully pointed down the street. Serlo followed the gesture but saw only empty tiled road and a few street-sweepers in the distance.
“He was right behind me! He was. I swear it!”
“Calm thyself, there is no one. Safe thou art. Now, tell me, how came thee by this feathery glaze?”
“Selt it wert, by a man, but a few minutes past.”
“That bastard,” Serlo exclaimed to himself, face flushing cherry-red.
“Bastard, sir?”
“Nothing, nothing. How much did thee give for it?”
“It?”
“The coat.”
“3 twyer, sir.”
“I shalt give thee six.”
“Aye, sir, aye!”
Eyes wide with amazement, the tramp swiftly slipped out of the curious garb and passed it to Serlo who handed off six, small, shimmering coins Shortly, the tramp departed as a chill wind blew in, carrying, in its wake, a palling fog which swallowed up the entire street, wholly obscuring the form of a thin man with a crooked smile who watched from the top of the nearest rooftop.
*
continued in chapter 15 (forthcoming)
/////Logos Literature 
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