Read Online Leximandra Reports, and other tales by Charlotte E. English - Free Book Online

practically demure.'
    Baynson tutted
some more. 'Don't want to make a spectacle of yourself, your
ladyship. A low neckline's the province of a woman who's not fit
for polite company.'
    Eva laughed. 'On
the contrary, making a spectacle of myself is precisely my
intention. I'm no debutante at her first season. On me, "demure"
would look unforgivably coy.'
    Baynson grunted.
'Reckon you could get away with it, praps,' he conceded, eyeing her
figure in a manner devoid of all but dry professional
interest.
    'I'm certain of
it. If there is an advantage to being barely shy of forty, it is
that I am a mature woman quite able to carry off a hint or two of
the provocative. And I'm quite determined to, while I still have
the figure for it.'
    'Forty, ma'am?
You don't look a day over thirty-two.'
    'That is my
official age, Mr Baynson, naturally, but I trust you not to give me
away.'
    Baynson flicked
his hands at her in a shooing gesture. 'Very well, get thee gone.
I've a deal of work to do. Come back in four days. It'll be
ready.'
    Eva smiled
warmly. 'Thank you, Mr Baynson. I can always rely on
you.'
     
    ***
     
    Later, Eva sat
dejectedly in the large wing-back chair in her office, her feet
tucked under her skirts and her hands thrust into her shawl. Was it completely impossible to keep warm in this cursed chill?
Interviewing was one of her least favourite duties: she had gone
through six applicants in the last three hours and none of them had
been suitable. She now awaited the seventh, wondering whether she
could get away with pulling her chair a little closer to the
heating pipes.
    A knock came at
the door before she could put this plan into action, and her
seventh interviewee appeared. This one was a woman she didn't
recognise, apparently a little older than Eva herself. She wore
plain, unaffected clothing and an air of cool capability that
seemed promising. The previous six had been mostly men, mostly
young, and mostly cocky. They had also mostly tried to flirt with
her. Eva looked on this with the stern eye of decided disapproval.
There was no place for flirtation when she was at work.
    'Oona Temble,'
the woman introduced herself. 'I'm from the Summoner Guild in
Orstwych.' She didn't curtsey, or even bow: instead she approached
the desk and offered Eva her hand. Eva shook it. It may have been a
departure from protocol, but she rather liked Oona's
straightforward manner.
    'Sit down, Ms.
Temble,' Eva said. 'Thank you for coming all this way to talk to
me. I'd like to be able to offer you some cayluch, but my last
interviewee seems to have been something of an addict.' She tapped
the cold cayluch pot sitting on her desk, which rang
emptily.
    'That's quite
all right, Lady Glostrum. I'm not thirsty.' Oona sat down in the
chair Eva indicated. Her hair was short, rather against the
prevailing fashions, and threaded with grey. The unpretentious
style suited her strong face.
    'You'll be aware
that the position is a new creation. When new summoners come out of
the Academy, they're still woefully ill-informed about the reality
of a summoner's work. We're in desperate need of someone to take
them in hand and give them a bit more practical education in animal
acquisition and training. I'm looking for somebody to head up this
proposed department.'
    Oona nodded.
'Your notion was it, Lady Glostrum?'
    'Yes, I believe
it was.'
    Oona raised her
brows sceptically. 'I see.'
    'Does that
surprise you, Ms. Temble?'
    'Somewhat,' said
Oona blandly. 'You don't strike a person as made for practical
measures, if you'll forgive my mentioning it.'
    'Excellent.
Plain-speaking is exactly what I need for this role.'
    Oona lifted her
brows again.
    'Ah, you
expected to find a pampered and temperamental noblewoman, good for
nothing but the ornamental and essentially incapable of useful
activity. Well, that's understandable if you read the papers. Let's
just agree that appearances can be deceiving and leave it at that,
hm?' She stood up, smiling down at Oona's eminently