After a final tot of the hyperglossom, the two gallants set off to Falu, where to their astonishment they found that Rhialto had totally forgotten the occasion.
Ildefonse and Byzant were impatient, and would allow Rhialto no time to make preparations, so Rhialto merely pulled a tasseled cap over his black hair and declared himself ready to depart.
Byzant stood back in surprise. “But you have made no preparations! You are not arrayed in splendid garments! You have neither laved your feet nor scented your hair!”
“No matter,” said Rhialto. “I will seclude myself in the shadows and envy you your successes. At least I shall enjoy the music and the spectacle.”
Byzant chuckled complacently. “No matter, Rhialto; it is time that you had some wind taken from your sails. Tonight Ildefonse and I are primed and ready; you will be entitled to watch our superb talents used to absolutely compelling effect!”
“Byzant speaks with exact accuracy,” declared Ildefonse. “You have had your share of triumphs; tonight you are fated to stand aside and watch while a pair of experts do what is needful to bring the loveliest of the lovely to their knees!”
“If it must be, so it must be,” said Rhialto. “My concern now is for the heart-sick victims of your craft. Have you no pity?”
“None whatever!” declared Ildefonse. “We wage our amorous campaigns with full force; we give no quarter and accept no paroles!”
Rhialto gave his head a rueful shake. “A tragedy that I was not reminded of the ball in time!”
“Come now, Rhialto!” chuckled Byzant. “You must take the bad with the good; whimpering avails nothing.”
Ildefonse cried out. “Meanwhile, time advances! Shall we depart?”
Arriving at Quanorq the three paid their respects to Duke Tambasco and congratulated him upon the magnificence of his arrangements: compliments which the duke acknowledged with a formal bow, and the three magicians made way for others.
For a period the three wandered here and there, and indeed on this occasion Duke Tambasco had outdone himself. Grandees and their charming ladies crowded the halls and galleries, and at four buffets choice viands and fine liquors were deployed in profusion.
The three magicians at last repaired to the foyer of the great ballroom where, stationing themselves to the side, they took note of the beautiful ladies as they passed and discussed the merits and distinguishing characteristics of each. In due course they decided that, while many comely maidens were in evidence, none could match the agonizingly exquisite beauty of the Lady Shaunica of Lake Island.
Ildefonse presently puffed out his fine blond mustaches and went his way. Byzant also took his leave of Rhialto, who went to sit in a shadowed alcove to the side.
Ildefonse found the first opportunity to exert his expertise. Advancing upon the Lady Shaunica he performed a sweeping salute and offered to escort her through the measures of a pavane. “I am profoundly skillful in the execution of this particular dance,” he assured her. “I with my bold flourishes and you with your gracious beauty make a notable pair; we shall be the focus of all eyes! Then, after the dance, I will escort you to the buffet. We will take a goblet or two of wine and you will discover that I am a person of remarkable parts! More than this, I now declare that I am prepared to offer you my fullest esteem!”
“That is most gracious of you,” said the Lady Shaunica. “I am profoundly moved. However, at this juncture, I have no taste for dancing, and I dare drink no more wine for fear of becoming coarse, which would certainly arouse your disapproval.”
Ildefonse performed a punctilious bow and prepared to assert his charm even more explicitly, but when he looked up, Lady Shaunica already had made her departure.
Ildefonse gave a grunt of annoyance, pulled at his mustaches, and strode off to seek a maiden of more malleable tendency.
By chance, the Lady Shaunica almost immediately encountered Byzant. To attract her attention and possibly win her admiration, Byzant addressed her with a quatrain in an archaic language known as Old Naotic, but the Lady Shaunica was only startled and bewildered.
Byzant smilingly translated the lyric and explained certain irregularities of the Naotic philology. “But after all,” said Byzant, “these concepts need not intrude into the rapport between us. I sense that you feel its warm languor as strongly as I!”
“Perhaps not quite so strongly,” said the Lady Shaunica. “But then I am insensitive to such influences, and in fact I feel no rapport whatever.”
“It will come, it will come!” Byzant assured her. “I own a rare perception in that I can see souls in all their shimmering color. Yours and mine waver in the same noble radiances! Come, let us stroll out on the terrace! I will impart to you a secret.” He reached to take her hand.
The Lady Shaunica, somewhat puzzled by Byzant’s effusiveness, drew back. “Truly, I do not care to hear secrets upon such short acquaintance.”
“It is not so much a secret as an impartment! And what, after all, is duration? I have known you no more than half an hour, but already I have composed two lyrics and an ode to your beauty! Come! Out on the terrace! Away and beyond! Into the star-light, under the trees; we shall discard our garments and stride with the wild innocence of sylvan divinities!”
Lady Shaunica drew back still another step. “Thank you, but I am somewhat self-conscious. Suppose we ran so briskly that we could not find our way back to the palace, and in the morning the peasants found us running naked along the road? What could we tell them? Your proposal lacks appeal.”
Byzant threw high his arms and, rolling back his eyes, clutched at his red curls, hoping that the Lady Shaunica would recognize his agony of spirit and take pity, but she had already slipped away. Byzant went angrily to the buffet, where he drank several goblets of strong wine.
A few moments later the Lady Shaunica, passing through the foyer, chanced upon one of her acquaintances, the Lady Dualtimetta. During their conversation the Lady Shaunica chanced to glance into a nearby alcove, where Rhialto sat alone on a couch of maroon brocade. She whispered to the Lady Dualtimetta: “Look yonder into the alcove: who is that who sits so quietly alone?”
The Lady Dualtimetta turned her head to look. “I have heard his name; it is Rhialto, and sometimes ‘Rhialto the Marvellous’. Do you think him elegant? I myself find him austere and even daunting!”
“Truly? Surely not daunting; is he not a man?”
“Naturally! But why does he sit apart as if he disdained everyone at Quanorq?”
“Everyone?” mused the Lady Shaunica as if to herself.
The Lady Dualtimetta moved away. “My dear, excuse me; now I must hurry; I have an important part in the pageant.” She went her way.
The Lady Shaunica hesitated, then, smiling as if at some private amusement, went slowly to the alcove. “Sir, may I join you here in the shadows?”
Rhialto rose to his feet. “Lady Shaunica, you are well aware that you may join me wherever you wish.”
“Thank you.” She seated herself on the couch and Rhialto resumed his own place. Still smiling her secret half-smile she asked: “Do you wonder why I come to sit with you?”
“The question had not occurred to me.” Rhialto considered a moment. “I might guess that you intend to meet a friend in the foyer, and here is a convenient place to wait.”
“That is a genteel reply,” said the Lady Shaunica. “In sheer truth, I wonder why a person such as yourself sits aloof in the shadows. Have you been dazed by tragic news? Are you disdainful of all others at Quanorq, and their pitiful attempts to put forward an appealing image?”
Rhialto smiled his own wry half-smile. “I have suffered no tragic shocks. As for the appealing image of the Lady Shaunica, it is enhanced by a luminous intelligence of equal charm.”
“Then you have arranged a rendezvous of your own?”
“None whatever.”
“Still, you sit alone and speak to no one.”
“My motives are complex. What of yours? You sit here in the shadows as well.”
The Lady Shaunica laughed. “I ride like a feather on wafts of caprice. Perhaps I am piqued by your restraint, or distance, or indifference, or whatever it may be. Every other gallant has dropped upon me like a vulture on a corpse.” She turned him a sidelong glance. “Your conduct therefore becomes provocative, and now you have the truth.”
Rhialto was silent a moment, then said: “There are many exchanges to be made between us — if our acquaintance is to persist.”
The Lady Shaunica made a flippant gesture. “I have no strong objections.”
Rhialto looked across the foyer. “I might then suggest that we discover a place where we can converse with greater privacy. We sit here like birds on a fence.”
“A solution is at hand,” said the Lady Shaunica. “The duke has allowed me a suite of apartments for the duration of my visit. I will order in a collation and a bottle or two of Maynesse, and we will continue our talk in dignity and seclusion.”
“The proposal is flawless,” said Rhialto. He rose and, taking the Lady Shaunica’s hands, drew her to her feet. “Do I still seem as if dazed by tragic news?”
“No, but let me ask you this: why are you known as ‘Rhialto the Marvellous’?”
