That's not to say they prefer it, simply that they seem inured. The pessimism could have spread swiftly, but Harper had put a ruthless stop to it and Gataker's black eye had been explained as a tumble down the gatehouse stairs.Terrible dark steps there, was all Harper would say on the matter. The greenjackets had no business fighting private battles, he had claimed, especially ones likely to leave most of them dead or maimed. He had heard that Gataker, a fly and shifty man, had opposed their involvement in Vivar's scheme. I soon realized - due to my former visits to this great place - that I was not being taken to the hospice, where drugs were dispensed to the sick of Florence, or to the pilgrims' refuge, which was always swarming with those who come to offer and pray, but up the stairs into the very hall of the monks' cells.

The nurse said she never took off the chain with the emerald pendant, not even when she bathed Miss Deirdre. She freed herself quietly from his arm, and spoke over her shoulder.

Satellite town scars on 45