Temptation

The training was canceled that day, and he went to his father to offer his help. The head had sent him and a couple of guards to take care of the family affected by the fire. The Gliniers were always supportive of those in distress. Liam eagerly responded.

He wished he could get more errands from his father and convince him that he was a worthy, good son. One word of praise would have been enough... but the Head seemed afraid of spoiling his son with a good attitude, so he remained restrained and a little cold with him.

The victims had already taken their surviving belongings outside, and all that remained was to load everything into the cart. They were given an empty house on another street as temporary housing. Liam didn't hesitate to get to work. Throwing bales into the cart, he climbed inside and began taking things from the hands of others, sorting them.

Gradually his beautiful clothes were covered with dust and soot, and he looked no better and, wiping off sweat, got worse dirty than a chimney sweep. The cart left, and Liam staggered home, not caring about his appearance.

A cheerful group of classmates was walking toward him. Liam pulled his head into his shoulders and pretended to be an empty seat, but the prettiest girl in his class pointed her finger at him and everyone looked at Liam. The crowd fell silent, and then the boldest one shouted out:

«Mr. Glinier, have you been attacked by bandits?» was heard from the crowd.

«No, he was deprived of his allowance and had to go to be a chimney sweep,» someone echoed.

«Yes, yes,» said Liam condescendingly, and walked on.

They kept making jokes and laughing in his wake, but he wasn't offended, and he was glad to be noticed sometimes. Only Cal didn't laugh, because he found Liam steadily bewildering.

Besides, he lived off the Glinier family and tried to keep up appearances. He looked after Liam and was silent. Liam thought it would not be right to come home dressed like this and turned between the houses into the narrow alley leading to the river.

A slight ripple gently ran through the dark surface of the water. On the other side, birds were shouting something, and from Liam's side, others were answering.

The young man threw off his coat and leaned into the water. Thoroughly washing his hands and face, he looked into the water. The boy was staring at him with frightened eyes, and why frightened, Liam didn't know himself.

He just looked like he was afraid of everything. At his age, he ought to have loyal friends, teasing his father's pranks, and even fall in love, but the boy thought nothing of it. He shook the dust off his clothes and went home. He was followed incessantly by the beautiful eyes of the girl until his silhouette disappeared into the distance.

The days that followed were like each other. Cal was invariably the soul of the company, and Liam preferred to avoid all contact with people.

As usual, he went to his workshop after practice. The candles in his room dimly illuminated the blank prepared canvas.

Liam stood for a moment in indecision and began to sketch. The idea occurred to him that he could draw his bride. After spending some time creating a draft, Liam was satisfied and began the process.

His hand fluttered over the canvas, the cat bobbing lazily on the floor or watching the moths that flew in to look at the lights. By midnight, Liam had finished the first layer and, extinguishing the candles, went to bed. Cal, too, moved away from the window and went to bed.

The next day, Liam decided to return to the river. It was there that the idea of a painting came to him, and he wanted to get inspired again. Sitting down on the bank, he took off his shoes and lowered his hot feet into the water. The river water cooled his feet pleasantly and Liam squeezed his eyes shut.

Suddenly he heard someone crying. As he listened, he determined that the sound was coming from behind a large old tree growing by the water. He cautiously got up and walked over to the tree.

A gentle-looking girl was sitting on the other side, crying and smearing tears on her face with her fists. Liam was confused. He knew neither the girl nor the reason for her tears.

Fumbling in his pocket, he found a large clean handkerchief and coughed to get the girl's attention. She took her hands away from her face and looked at him with sad eyes.

Liam silently held out the handkerchief to her. The girl, timid and afraid of offending the kind lord, took the handkerchief and blotted her eyes.

The young man was satisfied but was still not ready to speak to the girl. The silence was broken by her.

«Ah, sir, forgive me, I was sitting here giving vent to my grief, not knowing that I would disturb you,» she said, and Liam felt more confident.

Seeing that he was still silent, the girl asked him if he had any food.

«I haven't eaten in three days, my servants left to look for my parents and haven't returned... we came from ***,» she called the town fifty miles to the north.

«If you'll wait here another quarter of an hour, I'll bring you food,» Liam said excitedly, fearing rejection, but the girl suddenly brightened and stopped crying.

Liam immediately went to the Bread Market. After buying kvass and some meat pies, he hurried back to the river. The girl had had time to wash her face and looked very pretty...

«Here,» said Liam, taking the food out of the bundle. The girl, unceremoniously, pounced on the cakes and quickly devoured the lunch, thanking him all the while.

The young man's heart softened. He sat down on the grass at a distance so as not to embarrass the stranger and watched the feathery clouds reflected in the river.

Having finished eating, the girl shook off her clothes and turning to Liam asked:

«Young master, may I ask your name? I would like to know the name of the man who saved me from starving to offer my prayers for you.»

Liam's eyes widened at this eloquence. So as not to be disrespectful, he jumped up, bowed, and introduced himself.

«Mr. Glinier,» the girl curtsied, «my name is Brigitte Scott, nice to meet you.

«And me,» replied the young man, as if in a dream.

They looked at each other in silence for a while, and then Liam lowered his eyes and was about to leave, but the girl spoke again.

«Monsieur Glinier, I am staying at the Queen Mary Inn. I gave all the money and jewelry for the room and I'm still waiting for my servants,» her suddenly confident and cheerful voice quivered and snapped, «I... will probably starve again...»

Liam was thinking very slowly. He was still thinking about what the girl had said about the jewels and the servants, so he didn't immediately realize that the girl was timidly silent...

Suddenly the meaning of her story came to him. He slapped his forehead.

"You have nothing to worry about, I can bring you food every day!"

"Thank you young Mr. Glinier! I beg you not to come to the inn to find me. The innkeeper is a very strict and prim woman, I am afraid she will not be pleased."

The young people agreed to meet at sunset the next day by a large tree on the shore.

Puzzled and happy, confused and excited, Liam walked to his house.

For the first time, his heart was beating more often, he put his hand on his chest and listened, it was, pounding like a rabbit's paw.

When he was a child, he often played with pet rabbits and marveled at how fast they tapped their claws. His lack of experience was his greatest flaw. Even now he compared his hot heart to a hare's foot, which was not romantic at all.

From his window, Cal observed Liam's strange behavior. Then he saw him walk into the studio, light the candles, and just sit on a chair without touching the canvas.

«Something happened,» Cal surmised. He thought maybe Liam had been teased by his classmates again and decided to do the good deed of following up and punishing the rascals.

He was very surprised when, the next day before sunset, Liam bundled up some food and went alone to the river. Cal followed him and found the young man on the bank with the girl.

The spy whistled. He had not expected such a turn of events and was taken aback. He kept looking and made sure Liam and the girl were not romantically involved, but then what?

And then Cal remembered how Liam often fed stray cats and dogs and gave his food to hungry children... That was it... Cal didn't wait for Liam and returned home first.

Liam continued to feed Brigitte, and Cal followed him. Gradually, the young men's conversations became more and more fascinating.

Liam was amazed at how much Brigitte thought like him and their tastes were the same. They laughed together and seriously discussed painting, politics, medicine, and everything else.

It seemed to him that he had met a kindred spirit. Brigitte also blushed charmingly, thanking him for his food. All this made his unsophisticated heart begin to dance.

After several weeks of uninterrupted meetings, Brigitte disappeared. Liam walked along the river and found no rest. Night came, but the girl did not come, and he had to return home. After spending all the time without sleep until dawn, Liam decided to go to the inn.

As soon as the sun rose, he quickly got ready and went to the Queen Mary. But there was an unexpected turnaround waiting for him. No Brigitte Scott had been at the inn yesterday or a month before.

Not knowing what to think, Liam went to class and spent the day in deep thought, and at sunset, he went as usual to the river.

Sitting on the shore and thinking about Brigitte, he didn't notice the girl sneaking up behind him.

Closing his eyes, she asked to guess who it was. Liam jumped to his feet and, unable to believe his eyes, was ready with happiness to drown himself in the river.

The girl blushed sweetly and then kissed him. Out of surprise, Liam hiccupped and was infinitely embarrassed. Brigitte was silent as well. Finally, Liam forced a few words out of himself.

«I was looking for you,» he began, «but you weren't at the inn,» he tactfully omitted that it sounded like a hoax.

"Forgive me, Monsieur Glinier,» the girl lowered her eyes, «in fact I was staying in a miserable inn in the suburbs and I was... I was so ashamed to tell you... And yesterday my servant returned and told me that my parents had died and I was now an orphan..."

Liam stared in horror at the weeping girl, unable to bear her suffering and without the courage to comfort her.

But she came up to him and clutched at his surcoat, gradually pulling him to her.

If Cal had seen this picture he would probably have suspected something wrong, but that night he had gone for a walk with friends and was on the opposite side of town.

Liam felt that what was happening was wrong, but he couldn't resist the temptation.