Page 165 - The Grotesque Children's Book

“So that I might capture the gown's beauty and properly depict a mystic message in the
brocade.”

“I don't like it,” frowned the Duke. “A female stranger lurking the halls and wearing my
wife's gown. I don't like it.”

“I would show you the girl first, sire, before I hire her. You would see her beforehand.
You'd be able to recognize her. Identify her, you know, in a courtroom, if anything went
wrong.”

“In a courtroom? In a jail, you mean. In a line of prisoners standing in line before the
executioner's axe, you mean. If anything went wrong, this girl -- and you for that matter --
would be escorted across the bridge to the prison, never to see the light of day again. Strike that,
you'd see the light of day once more, on the morning of your execution. But!” he added with a
sudden chipper clapping of his hands, “Yes, by all means hire her!” he shouted. “Hire a girl to
pose in my wife's clothes and sit in her private chamber alone with you. What could possibly go
wrong?”

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