This Rough Magic (40 page)

‘I didn’t understand the Greek. Was that it? What did she actually say?’ When he told me, I asked: ‘And Adoni? What was it he said when she was kissing his hand?’

‘I didn’t hear that.’

Max glanced down at me, hesitated, and then quoted, rather dryly:

‘“You wanted to eat his heart, little sister. I have cooked it for you.”’

‘Dear Heaven,’ I said.

Sir Julian smiled. ‘You’ve seen the other face of the enchanted isle tonight, haven’t you, my poor child? It’s a rough sort of magic for such as we are – a mere musician, and a couple of players …’

‘Much as I adore being bracketed with you,’ I said, ‘it’s putting me too high.’

‘Then could you bear to be bracketed with me instead?’ asked Max.

‘Well, that is rather going to the other end of the scale,’ said his father, ‘but I’d be delighted if she’d give the matter some thought. Do you think, my dear, that you could ever consider dwindling as far as a musician’s wife?’

I laughed. ‘I’m not at all sure who this proposal’s coming from,’ I said, ‘but to either, or to both of you, yes.’

Far out in the bay a curve of blue fire melted, rolled in a silver wheel, and was lost under the light of day.

Also by Mary Stewart

Madam, Will You Talk?
Wildfire at Midnight
Thunder on the Right
Nine Coaches Waiting
My Brother Michael
The Ivy Tree
The Moonspinners
Airs Above the Ground
The Gabriel Hounds
Touch Not the Cat
Thornyhold
Stormy Petrel
Rose Cottage

THE ARTHURIAN NOVELS

The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment
The Wicked Day
The Prince and the Pilgrim

POEMS

Frost on the Window

FOR CHILDREN

The Little Broomstick
Ludo and the Star Horse
A Walk in Wolf Wood

Mary Stewart, one of the most popular novelists, was born in Sunderland, County Durham and lives in the West Highlands. Her first novel, Madam, Will You Talk?, was published in 1955 and marked the beginning of a long and acclaimed writing career. All her novels have been bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. She was made a Doctor of Literature by Durham University in 2009.