Page 370 - The Grotesque Children's Book
P. 370
Chapter 65.
His poor seashell
Francesco was worried for his poor seashell. Although the previous winter she had been
her usual self, filled with laughter and song and affection, her fevers were growing increasingly
impossible to overlook. She would descend into long stretches of shivering which would
increase as the hours went by, to the point that her very teeth clattered.
“Save her, Doctor!” Francesco would weep, privately in Valerius’s offices.
“I am trying, Sire. But she isn’t following the regimen I prescribe. I think that the
cinchona bark which is working so well in Peru would work for her as well. But I want her to try
only the cinchona to see if it is having an effect. I suspect, however, Lady Bianca is still taking
the vetch we were trying last month.”
“As she should!” burst Francesco. “You never know which treatment will work, Doctor
Valerius.”
“In fact, I think I do know which treatment works. Or, I could know if she would try
only the one at a time, please. Then we can see what its effects are: good, bad, or neutral.”
“Oh, you and your science!” said Francesco. “What good is it doing Bianca? She’s still
sick, isn’t she? She needs now to be assisted by true power, that is, by the magical ferment that
operates her transmutation.”
“What did you say, Sire? Trans, transmutation?”
“That’s right.”
“And what does that mean?”
“Well, how should I know? You’re the doctor.”
“That isn’t medicine. That’s alchemy.”
“I don’t care what it’s called, so long as it cures Bianca.”
Valerius pursed his lips harshly. “You’ve been speaking to Zaccario, haven’t you?”
“And now you’re going to forbid me from speaking to my own counselors, is that your
stance?”
“I wouldn’t trust my own health to an alchemist, sire.”
“Careful, Valerius. You’re treading on very crumbly ground here. Your medicine isn’t
working. That’s clear. And you’re trying now to forbid someone else to attempt to cure my
Bianca. You see that’s grounds for treason.”
“I’m trying to save her.”
“I once believed that,” said Francesco quietly. “Now I’m not so sure.”
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