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Chapter 12: The Keeping of a Good Wife
She sipped delicately at her tea, her back straight, her hair immaculate, her winning and courteous smile false. But still, there was nothing quite as lovely as a hot cup of tea in the morning.
Little joys kept Liziwe sane, and this was one such pleasure. She kept them, and counted them, and bitterly guarded them: a spoonful of honey, snuck from the scullery in the dead of night. The hot lapping tongues of water that caressed her skin as she laundered the lies clean. The secret vengeance she wreaked upon her husband in her mind, slow and convoluted, as she lay in her narrow cot of a bed. And, of course, tea. Good, brown tea, that she enjoyed with a simpering smile to disguise the fact that inside, she was screaming. In short, Liziwe Matiwane was going mad.
‘‘I do hope you will excuse me, my dear; I will be out late tonight. Don’t wait up,’’ Andile beamed at her genially from across the long table, his eyes twinkling
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Painted Pearls Chapter 13: Gruesome Murder
"Liziwe!You there, hold her!Five shillings to the wretch that catches that ungrateful hag!""What did he say?""Eh?""'Over there, the man at the window! Hesaid five shillings to the lucky bastard that catches her!"Little pattering feet pounded in a frenzy of sudden surprised movement. The sounds of four became six, six became eight, and the tykes passed the intoxicating message from one shrieking maw to the next; a dangling fish, rapidly torn to enthusiastic scraps."Five shillings! Five, he says!She ran as though her very life depended on it- which was, the thought flitted through her mind, not entirely far from the truth. Her boots slapped at the pavement and muck, an abhorrentsquelchringing in her ears with every knoll of filth she plunged through. But there was no time to stop, no time to think: her lungs burned with an abominable inferno that worked its aching way from the inside out, squee
Painted Pearls Chapter 14: Gruesome Murder Continued
He glanced at her, snuffing at the cold air through his corpulent red nose. "I did," he replied matter-of-factly, fluttering the paper over his head. "What's it to you, my dear? Got a mystery that needs solving? Lost your lover, perhaps?" He leered down at her, then cupped his hand around his mouth, shouting, "Papers! Paaaapers! Get your papers here!"She tugged at his sleeve again, in a panic that throbbed desperately through her veins. "Sir,please! If you would- where can I find Mr Edward Skweyiya?"He dropped his arm then and looked directly at her, his face breaking into an incredulous smirk. Bending down to have a better look at her, he chortled; a short, breathy thing that was rank of garlic and goat meat. Barely containing her disgust, she raised her voice, asking once more, "Mr Edward Skweyiya!Where can I findMr. Edward Skweyiya!"He straightened, and guffawed down at her, wiping a frayed coat sleeve cursorily across his n
Painted Pearls Chapter 15: No Good Deed
In the end, she was deposited in a small, windowless room. Save for the addition of a scuffed wooden table with two stools tucked fastidiously beneath, it was not so different from her own despised quarters. She stood a pace into the room and shivered, looking back anxiously at the sergeant. He hovered by the door, and offered a hesitant, sympathetic smile. "Stay here, Miss; the inspector'll be in shortly to speak with you.""The- the inspector!" she exclaimed, her voice faltering. "Surely a... a stolennewspapercould not merit such rigor! Why would the inspector care to speak tome?"A small, niggling doubt lodged itself in her mind then, an uneasiness which could not be entertained for any longer than a moment. It must have spoken plainly on her face, for the sergeant grimaced, and his kind eyes looked away before closing the door heavily behind him. The oil lamps flickered in their stands, casting odd shadows from corner
Painted Pearls Chapter 16: Endless Woe
She could not help it; her brow furrowed, her lips parted in a chortle as she exclaimed, "Come now, Inspector, ascoundrel?I grant you, he is an arrogant man, and undoubtedly an egotist to boot, but scoundrel is hardly the word I would choose!"The inspector stood abruptly, his eyes flashing furiously down at her. "Madam, he said stiffly, the coarse hairs of his beard bristling, "I did not present myself to discuss matters that arebeneath me.I came to have a look at the lady who has caused us so much anxiety this afternoon. I was led to believe that you were some lovely young thing, but I find the same could be said of any harlot that spends an evening within these walls. Now, if you would,Miss Matiwane," and he extended his hand, white and hefty and possessive of all the subtleties of a meat cleaver, "I will have the two pounds and six pence."Liziwe stared at him incredulously, impati
Painted Pearls Chapter 17: The Silly Thing
"You must excuse my wife, Inspector; I fear she is given to fits of increasingly fanciful eccentricity.""Come now, Mr Xakatha; whose wife is not?""It is a curse, I think, that their sex must bear. The shock of moving has frayed her nerves immensely!""Ah, I would imagine so- a large move is hard on the strongest of minds."They talked over her as if she were a dog; a little pet that trots submissively alongside its master, dumb and mute. And Liziwe stood with her head bowed in her husband's shadow, quietly seething, allowing the words to fuel a future vengeance shewouldtake."Thank you, again, for notifying me so promptly! I must admit, when she disappeared I feared the worst- she is not, as they say, the sharpest tack in the box. And indeed, if you had not found her I am quite sure we would have found her frozen corpse in the morning. The weather is getting on, you know! Did she have no coin on her as well? Ah,
Painted Pearls Chapter 18: Secrets Most Vile
He scrutinised her, taking in every curve of her form; every line, every crease, every movement. Through a dim fog of disbelief she waited, her awareness wavering on a knife's edge. He seemed to be before her, and yet, he did not seem real; a threatening mirage, a reminder that reality was only the counting of physical hurts. Did she live, did she breathe? His eyes were burning coals; bright, burning circles, burrowing into her, consuming her…"Liziwe, my dear," he said finally, as if she were a little child who had done something very naughty. "You have cost me a pretty penny, did you know? The keeping of a woman is not cheap… nor was this littlejauntof yours today, this… little adventure. Did you not think I would find you? You aremine, Liziwe; you are mywife. The sooner you understand that, the better it will be for you." His words lapped at the edge of her reason, and still she stared, h
Painted Pearls Chapter 19: Serpent
Her eyes snapped into focus, alarm and fear mingling into an entirely different beast, whose hackles rose, whose lips pulled back into a guarded snarl. Her feet slid away from under her, her body propelled backwards on the energy of pure revulsion. But he seized her face between his warm hands, and drew her up towards him. A shriek tore from her lips; high and incoherent- but was silenced with his kiss. His mouth against hers was hard and demanding: it was an assault, an invasion of her person. Twisting her neck, she pulled away,awayfrom the searing contact of flesh against flesh- but his grip was made fast, coiling once more deep into her hair. His tongue darted into her mouth like a serpent; out and away, too quick, too shocking for her to seize it between her own teeth andripfor all her life was worth. He released her suddenly, and she tumbled backwards, catching herself precariously on the bedpost. Her stomach heav
Painted Pearls Chapter 20: A penny for a thought
The afternoon light glanced down like a slice of gold through the billowing clouds, scattering through the streets of Sterling in dispersed glints and flashes. People skittered this way and that, pausing to hail a passing cab, to inspect a broken lace torn free from a shoe, or to simply stop and chew the fat with a fellow. In short, it was that time of day, after the small meal has been taken, when people seem most relaxed in their digestion and less wary of their surroundings. That is to say, it was the opportune moment for a scallywag such as our little mongrel Mylo to pinch a rogue penny from an unattended purse, or to lend a helpful ear to those whose tongues perpetually wagged. On this particular day, our lad had within his possession a commodity which he knew might spark the imagination of his occasional-master:a curious story, which he himself had witnessed first-hand. And with this choicest of morsels tucked neatly away in his shar
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