Books by Clive Barker Galilee Forms of Heaven Sacrament ...

for the crime of leaving him.
He rubbed the heel of his hand against the window andpeered out.
"Where are we?" he asked Chant.
"South of the river, sir."
"Yes, but where?"
"Streatham."
Though he'd driven through this area many times—hehad a warehouse in the neighborhood—he
recognizednone of it. The city had never looked more foreign or moreunlovely.
"What sex is London, do you suppose?" he mused.
"I hadn't ever thought," Chant said.
"It was a woman once," Estabrook went on. "One calls
a city she, yes? But it doesn't seem very feminine anymore.'1
"She'll be a lady again in spring," Chant replied.
IMAJICA 5
"I don't think a few crocuses in Hyde Park are going tomake much difference," Estabrook said. "The
charm'sgone out of it." He sighed. "How far now?"
"Maybe another mile."
"Are you sure your man's going to be there?"
"Of course."
"You've done this a lot, have you? Been a go-between, Imean. What did you call it... a facilitator?"
"Oh, yes," Chant said. "It's in my blood." That bloodwas not entirely English. Chant's skin and syntax
carriedtraces of the immigrant. But Estabrook had grown to trusthim a little, even so.
"Aren't you curious about all of this?" he asked theman.
"It's not my business, sir. You're paying for the service, and I provide it. If you wanted to tell me your
reasons—"
"As it happens, I don't."
"I understand. So it would be useless for me to be curi?ous, yes?"
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