Alred puts it off again

Alred supposed he should have been grateful that he had managed to kiss Lady Lili’s hand before Dunstan got it into his. Otherwise he suspected he would not have had a chance to wish her a good night at all.

His fifteen-​​year-​​old son had spontaneously developed an affection for Lili that would have pleased Alred if it had been for any other girl – it was satisfying to see him suddenly so talkative and even almost flirtatious. On the other hand, it was not any other girl: it was Lili, and Alred was beginning to fear that she possessed some sort of sinister attraction for men of his family.

Furthermore, Dunstan had so monopolized Lili all evening that Alred had been obliged to converse with Hetty, and that was like an admittedly agreeable form of torture to him, now that he knew what she believed.

It was heart-​​breaking to see how she smiled at him – and yet he could not help trying to make her smile! It would have been too cruel to have been cold to her now.

“There go two exceedingly charming young ladies,” Alred said to his son after the door had closed behind the girls.

“Mmmhmm,” Dunstan nodded without turning his eyes away from the door.

“You did notice there were two of them, didn’t you?” Alred asked dryly.

“Mmmhmm.”

“I am pleased to see that you have inherited some portion of your father’s propensity for flirtation,” Alred said as he walked past his son towards the court, “but I hope you are not getting any ideas.”

Dunstan followed. “Ideas?”

“I mean I hope you know where to draw the line between flirtation and ideas.”

“If you think you must give me the warning, it must mean you have occasionally overstepped the line.”

Alred snorted. “You are but a few days over fifteen. I only fear you don’t know yet where the line is drawn.”

“The line passes through a point precisely equidistant from me and Egelric, and at a right angle to the line between us.”

“That’s more like my son,” Alred laughed. “I try to give him a lesson about love, and he turns it into a lesson about geometry. And where does Lili lie on the plane?”

“Behind Egelric!”

“Very well. You seem to have your line drawn. Now I only want you to stay behind it.”

“I shall.”

“And you might try stationing yourself at a point precisely equidistant from Hetty and Lili so that I might get a word in to the latter on occasion.”

“You may find your own point, my lord!” Dunstan laughed. “I hope I am not rude to Hetty – that’s why I have you – but you must admit that, given a choice between Lili and Hetty… there’s no choice.”

“Come now! Whatever is the matter with Hetty?”

“Nothing at all. I’m certain she’s quite charming, even if she’s terribly quiet. But Lili is simply… brilliant,” he sighed.

“I should have thought you would have preferred a quiet girl.”

“You’re the one who is always telling me a talkative girl like Brit is what I need!”

“Men do not often prefer what they need – in terms of ladies or of anything else.”

“Then we shall consider it my good fortune that I do, apparently.”

“Granted. But I believe you were a little rude to Hetty tonight, my presence notwithstanding.”

“I shall apologize to her in the morning if you think it is so. I didn’t realize. I must confess I scarcely noticed her at all.”

“Dunstan, that sounds more like a man in love.”

“I am not in love with Lili! I simply didn’t notice Hetty. It is not my eyes that are blind, but Lili who is blinding.”

“Oh? Please develop this rather poetic thought.”

“It isn’t poetic. It is simply that… you might say that Lili is like the sun, and Hetty is like the moon. If they rise together, the moon is scarcely more than a wisp of light in the sky, or simply quite invisible.”

“An interesting metaphor, Dunstan, but I should have thought it unworthy of a poet. The moon is far more enchanting than the sun, at least to men such as we.”

“If the sun isn’t around to prevent one from seeing it.”

“That is true. I shall grant you your metaphor and call it poetic.”

“It isn’t poetic. It is simply stating the obvious.”

“Dunstan!” Alred groaned. “Shall I exhaust myself to an early grave explaining this to you? The entire point of poetry is stating the obvious. You seem to have this idea that poetry is some sort of secret code that one uses to lock one’s meaning away from one’s audience. The poet’s entire purpose is to say what everyone knows and no one knows how to say. Now, I admit that comparing ladies to celestial bodies is somewhat lacking in originality, but it is the most poetic thing you’ve said in some time, because it is so obviously true.”

Dunstan shrugged.

“What shall I ever do with you?” Alred sighed and kissed him.

“Keep trying.”

“With pleasure. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Alred went chuckling away, wondering at this son of his who could bisect and form right angles with the metaphorical lines separating flirtation from folly. There was a certain anti-​​poetry in this that was quite poetic in itself.

He checked briefly on his younger children, who all slept at this hour, and then he headed down the long corridor that ran over the gatehouse towards his own bedchamber.

But when he came out into the tower, he found Lili awaiting him. She stood beneath a torch, and the light behind her head made her face seem like a sun eclipsed.

“Good evening, Lili,” he bowed. “Is there anything I can do for you? Has Egelric not yet returned?”

“He hasn’t, but I wished to speak to you,” she said.

“What is it?” Alred went deliberately to stand so close to her that she would be obliged to step back into the light. Lili in the dark had seemed a rather frightening little creature after all.

“Christmas has passed,” she said pointedly.

“Oh, that,” he sighed.

“I wish to tell her tonight.”

“Now, Christmas hasn’t truly passed. Christmas Day has, but we still have nine days left till Twelfth Night. And I want us all to be merry.”

“How can I?” she gasped. “How can you?”

“For the sake of the others. For Hetty’s sake most of all.”

“I think it very cruel of you,” she frowned.

“I am acting precisely to make the cruelty as little as possible. Let her have her holiday,” he pleaded.

“The happier she is now, the harder it will be for her later.”

“I don’t know. Perhaps. But there are so few happy days in anyone’s life. Let her be happy now. Let her be happy as long as she can.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but Alred interrupted her to say, “I know whereof I speak.”

Lili seemed to wonder what he meant, and then she seemed to understand. “After Twelfth Night,” she muttered, and she walked past him to the door through which he had entered.