Page 402 - The Grotesque Children's Book

Chapter 74.

Credit where credit is due

Buoyed by the restoration of her health which she attributed to the amulet and the locket
(her dragons), Bianca gave full credit to the alchemist Zaccario. The corollary was not good
news for Dr. Valerius. Duke Francesco came to visit him one day with a very sorrowful face.
“Ludovico, my old friend,” he said.

“Oh dear,” quipped the doctor, “I don’t like conversations which start like that.”
“Like what?”
“With a reiteration that you’re my friend. It makes me feel as though you’re about to
deliver bad news.”
“You know me too well. I’m afraid I have to arrest you, Ludovico.”
“Could we instead go back to being sworn enemies?”
“Be serious, Ludovico. This isn’t easy for me.”
Still smiling, the doctor said, “No offense, Sire, but when the topic of conversation is
about my being arrested, forgive me if I’m less compassionate about how easy it is for you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t make light.”
“And I wish you weren’t saying that you’re going to arrest me. What is it you think I’ve
done?”
The Duke looked away. “Well, here’s the thing.”
“Tell me the thing,” said the doctor.
“Bianca’s recovered of late.”
“Ah. Yes. So, as I am her doctor, you must now put me behind bars. We both see the
sense in that.”
“We think it’s alchemy which has cured her.”
“We do? Or she does?”
The Duke had grown very stern by now, and was no longer responding to the doctor’s
jocularity. “I do as well, I’m afraid. You’ve had your chance, with your membranous vetch and
your glassesful of urine.”
“An inspection of the urine showed me the possibility she has tertian fever.”
“Yes, so you said and so you treated. But she continued to be ill. And then you tried
something else and something else after that.”

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