Page 39 of The Affair of the Mysterious Letter
Turning in mychair I beheld, to my dismay, Augur Extraordinary Standfast, the lady who had recently been so very enthusiastic about the idea of arresting me, shooting Ms. Haas, and starting a war with the Ossuary Bank.
The Second Augur did not seem best pleased to see her either. “What do you want, Standfast? As you can see, I am in the middle of interviewing this suspect.”
“He’s not your suspect anymore,” returned the Augur Extraordinary, a statement which, when combined with her manner, bearing, and prior behaviour, did little for my confidence.
“It was my team picked him up.”
“The crime includes a charge of witchcraft. You know as well as I do that means it falls under the jurisdiction of the Sorcerous Crimes Unit.”
“And you know as well as I do,” said the Second Augur, folding his arms, “that the final decision on what matters get passed over to the SCU lies with First Augur Mehdiyeva.”
“I spoke to her twelve minutes ago. This case is ours.”
“It’s just someone gate-crashing a party.”
The Augur Extraordinary scowled. “It is not his first associationwith a magical offence and he clearly keeps company with a notorious sorceress. Witchcraft is a contagion. Unless purged, it spreads and it flourishes.”
“Remember you’re in Khelathra-Ven, not the Commonwealth. We’re here to solve crimes, not burn people.”
It had been a trying evening and one that had contained rather more unflattering generalisations about my country than I could remain sanguine about. “If I might,” I interjected, “the witch hunters of Ey seldom condemn anybody to the pyres. They are very much seen as a tool of last resort and are employed only when the individual in question has rejected all opportunities for penance.”
This comment endeared me to neither party, earning me a look of exasperation from Lawson and one of outright contempt from the Augur Extraordinary.
“Look”—the Second Augur stood up and began squaring away his notes—“we’ve got his statement. He’s copped to aiding and abetting. He’s clearly not a wizard. You can interview him if you like, but you’d be wasting your time and his. Go talk to Haas. She’s the actual sorcerer.”
“Your advice is noted. I’ll take it from here.”
Second Augur Lawson collected his papers and the wax cylinder, shot me one last look, which I could not entirely read but elected to interpret as sympathetic, and exited, leaving me alone with Augur Extraordinary Standfast.
We were silent for some minutes. During this period, she did not sit down, preferring instead to prowl the room behind me, her boot heels clicking ominously against the flagstones. I presumed that this behaviour was intended to intimidate me, and in this regard, I feel it was only partially successful. There was certainly something disquieting about it, and I did not enjoy having a person in the guise of an Eyan witch hunter constantly flitting in and out of my peripheral vision. Nonetheless I had faith in the city’s system of criminal justice andwas certain that, however unpleasant the Augur Extraordinary may be in her manner, the harm that she could do to me was strictly limited by the laws of the land.
At last she circled round in front of me and leaned over the desk, bracing herself on her red-gloved hands. “State your name.”
“John Wyndham.”
“Is that your real name?”
“Yes.”
“The name you were born with?”
“As you are no doubt aware, I was born in Ey. And since I am clearly not a child, you must also recognise that I was born prior to the revolution and that, therefore, any record of my birth would have been kept by the local Tallyman and destroyed in the revolution.”
Her mouth thinned in evident frustration. “What did your parents call you?”
“My mother calls me John. My father and I have not spoken in many years.”
“Why have you been so remiss in your duty to your father?”
This stung a little, as I am sure it was meant to. “I do not believe this line of questioning is relevant to the accusations against me.”
“I decide what’s relevant.”
“Then, if you insist upon it, my father does not approve of me. As I’m sure yours does not of you.”
This last comment, I think, struck a reciprocal chord, and it is somewhat shamefacedly that I admit the effect was intentional. She pushed herself upright, regarding me with an expression that had progressed beyond contempt and was fast approaching the territory of hatred. “Do not pretend that you know me.”
“With respect, Augur Extraordinary, I know enough.” I folded my still-manacled hands. “By your speech and manner I can see that you are a devoted adherent of the Church of the Creator. By your dress it is clear that you at least style yourself after the witch hunters,who protect the people of our homeland from those of the Witch King’s servants who yet remain at large and those weak-willed individuals who may fall under his sway. That you have chosen to travel nearly a thousand miles to a foreign city quite unsuited to your values and beliefs merely in order that you might pursue a career analogous to the one denied you in Ey suggests, paradoxically, a devotion to your faith so strong that it would cause you to disregard some of the most basic precepts of the society in which you learned that faith.”
