Devil May Care Read Free Page B

with a white carved mantel, and a wide bay window filled with plants. Some of them were withered. The outstanding quality of the chamber was the incredible litter that filled it. The furniture consisted mainly of chairs and tables; the flat surfaces of both types were covered with objects, many of them cats.
    Henry had never seen so many cats. Fat cats and lean cats. Short-haired cats and cats that looked like animated mops. Blue cats. White cats, tabby cats, gray cats. Siamese cats, Persian cats, and cats of indeterminate species. Kittens. Cats with long tails, cats with no tails at all.
    Kate had left the room, presumably in search of refreshments, so Henry was able to stare unobserved, which he did. The cats weren't the only kind of clutter. A long table in the center of the room was heaped with miscellaneous objects, ranging from fabric and tangles of bright-colored wool to tools such as pliers and hammers; scraps of wood, papers (newspapers, carbon paper, sketching paper), pendevil-MAY-CARE 15
    cils, scissors, an orange rind, and four coffee cups, all of them dirty. The chairs and the floor contributed musical instruments (guitar, zither, lute, and a set of trap drums), sporting equipment (a tennis racket, a baseball bat, and a jump rope), several pieces of unfinished embroidery, a quilting frame, with a quilt on it, and two plastic do-it-yourself models of monsters (Dracula and the Wolf Man). The parts of the floor that showed between cats were tiled in a creamy marble pattern. The walls were pale green, but very little of their surface was visible; pictures and posters covered them, as in an overcrowded and bizarre art gallery. The only painting that rated a clear space, above the mantel, was a Japanese water color of cherry trees in bloom. Henry's superficially educated eye recognized its quality, which made some of the other pictures even more appalling. Many framed photographs depicted cats and kittens, sickeningly maudlin in style. There were several photographs of statue heads, one of a man in a femininely draped hat, and another of a personage with a weird crown on his head and features so exaggeratedly ugly that they verged on caricature.
    The posters included a map of Middle Earth, an profanely belligerent piece of propaganda for women's liberation, and, occupying the center of the longest wall, a near life-sized representation of a large gentleman in the act of throwing a football.
    The face guard of his helmet obscured his features, but Henry did not need the number 9 stamped across the ample front of his jersey to identify him.
    Henry sighed involuntarily and turned to meet the unexpectedly sympathetic eye of the kilted person named Ted.
    "It is a bit overpowering," said Ted, with an engaging smile.
    Shaken out of his usual composure, Henry spoke without affectation.
    16 Elizabeth Peters
    "Is she for real?" he asked.
    "That's very perceptive of you," said Ted. "How much of Kate is for real? God knows. There's a germ of truth behind all her peculiarities, but ... I've often wondered myself."
    "A germ of truth," Henry repeated. "Including her claim to be a witch?"
    "Ah," said Ted. "Now that is the most interesting question of all."
    Before Henry could decide whether or not he wanted to pursue this subject, the door opened. Kate and Ellie entered, carrying trays. Henry leaped to take Kate's from her; but as he reached out for it he was paralyzed by an outburst of sound from far down the corridor. It sounded like a pack of wolves approaching.
    "Damn it," Kate said. "I forgot the dogs. Ted, get the door, quick--"
    Ted was too slow again. Before he could reach the door, a furry avalanche was upon them.
    The intensity of the sound was diabolical; the shouted orders of Ted and Kate mingled with the howls of angry cats and the baying of the dogs. Furry bodies flew in all directions. Henry stood frozen as an animated, fragmentary rug swirled around his feet and battered his ankles. When a huge, liver colored mastiff