Pamarchon bowed.
‘Right. That’s you sorted. Now, Aliena. I am pleased to see that you are as pretty as I hoped, or would be if you didn’t look such a grouch. Stop hitting Rambert, girl. He has been good to you. He is proud of you and loves you. You are his greatest achievement and he knows you will far surpass him. He accepts that, and it is no small thing in a proud man. You owe him gratitude, and the best way to repay him is to sing with a beauty that no one has ever heard before. He will accept it, if you stop using your skill to hurt him. Ask Rosalind about Ella Fitzgerald. You should worship her, not me.
‘In your case, Jay, your speech showed your best and worst sides. Lovely delivery, dramatic and theatrical; you spoke with your heart and ignored convention. Well done. But a bit loose on the finishing. You built up the audience beautifully — then left them hanging there. No conclusion; no dramatic unmasking at the end. If you are going to give a speech like that, it must come to a suitable climax. Who did it? Eh? The evidence is there, you know, although now I come to think of it, it is possible you do not know. Still, master the facts in future, please, and only then join them to the rhetoric. You will find the combination serves you well. Details, my boy. Details. The grand themes must always be married to a body of fact.
‘On the subject of marriage, I intended you for a terribly pleasant young girl in Hooke; you would have met her on your next visit. But I think, on reflection, that she is not for you. You need someone to keep you on your toes a bit more. It occurs to me that you and Aliena are soul mates. You don’t see it, I imagine, and you may not even like each other too much yet. But there we are. My mind is made up. You will each encourage the other, and stop each other getting sloppy. You need each other and will love each other as well. Take your time, though. You are both young. No hurry.’
He beamed at the stunned pair standing in front of him. ‘I’m beginning to enjoy this. Gontal! Step forward.’
Gontal, poor man, had already endured a hideous day, seeing all his hopes slowly being prised from his chubby fingers. He had given the speech of his life, and the one person he had hoped to impress had looked as though he was about to fall asleep. He had heard the drivel Jay had delivered, and seen the spirit nodding in approval. Still, the air of command bathing the circle was so strong that he did not even hesitate. He stepped forward and bowed, ignoring the disapproving look of Rosalind, who was standing beside the altar.
‘To you, Gontal, I apologise,’ Lytten said. ‘I should have fleshed you out. Not in body, as you are fat enough for two, but in spirit and character. I made you pompous and self-satisfied, but failed to add much depth to you. That was lazy of me; I’m afraid I just never got around to it. But I put enough in there for you to work on. Henary likes you despite everything, and he is a man to be trusted. I made you funny and cantankerous and intelligent. These are good qualities. Concentrate on them and give up the ambition. It does not suit you, and it has eaten you away a little. You would be a poor ruler of Willdon. Do you understand?’
Gontal stared stonily at the ground.
‘Go back to Ossenfud and finish that damned book of yours instead. How long have you been working on it?’
‘Twenty years, my Lord, but...’
‘Believe me, I understand. But you must get it done, man. Oh — and you shouldn’t drink so much either. Those bottles in your room when no one else is there?’ He wagged a finger. ‘Very bad. Very bad.
‘Next!’ he said cheerfully. ‘Catherine of Willdon, come here. Henary as well. Go away, if you please, Gontal.’
There was a silence until Gontal was well out of earshot. ‘Coincidence,’ he said eventually. ‘An entry here, an exit there. Shakespeare knew all about it. So it is the case now. A ring on a doorbell, a chance meeting, and everything would have been different. I am beginning to think that such accidents are significant. I imagine, Scholar Henary, that you do not have the faintest idea what I am talking about.’
‘Indeed not, my Lord. Your wisdom surpasses my understanding.’
‘I know it does,’ he replied. ‘It’s rather surpassing mine as well, at the moment. So let’s have a look at this tale and see if we can pick out some sense from it, shall we? It is a question of the balance of characters, you see. Why, Catherine, do you exist? Why did I create you? Why did I make you such a remarkable person?’
Catherine said nothing, so he continued.
‘I didn’t,’ he said apologetically. ‘You were a backdrop only, I’m afraid. A minor figure, there merely to give Henary someone to talk to. That’s all. Yet you seem to have turned into a major character. I find that perplexing. You have taken on a life of your own through sheer force of personality. I congratulate you on that, but it means that you are a bit difficult. Such a person could easily harbour dark thoughts and motives without me knowing about it.
‘Henary knows all about you, of course, which is why he was so relieved when I removed him as Pamarchon’s advocate, no? What were you going to do, Henary? Make out a devastating case against Catherine, as you were obliged to do? Or keep quiet, and betray the honour of your calling, by failing to defend Pamarchon to the best of your ability?’
Henary took a deep breath.
‘A problem, eh? Catherine was alone in a rigid, unforgiving world. I know; I made it so, although it was not my intention.’ He pointed at Henary. ‘You knew that she was nothing. Nothing. No family, no position, not a great lady from a grand family. All she said was one lie after another. She was just herself, a fraud. But what a remarkable self. Clever, spirited, resourceful. Everything you admired. Everything I value. Did you know Thenald was going to put her aside, before he was murdered? In your speech for Pamarchon, you would only have needed to lay out the facts.
‘So wasn’t it lucky that Gontal tried to take advantage of you? That I sided with him and against you? Your honour was spared. Tell me now. What would you have done? Do you know?’
Henary looked squarely at the apparition. ‘No. I don’t know.’
‘Let me tell you. You would have walked away and incurred disgrace by failing in your duty as advocate. You would have laid down your honour and reputation for your friend. As any good person would, if put into an impossible situation. What does that say about you, Scholar Henary? The two most important people in your life are Catherine, a fraud, and Jay, whose lack of discipline undermines the Story you so reverence. You admire others who do the things you dare not do yourself. Time to change. Etheran showed you how. Do you really think this woman murdered her husband?’