Free The Sorcerer's House by Gene Wolfe Page A

number of the Riverman; Mutazz would answer, and their conversation might be amusing. "If you'd care to try it . . . ?"
    "No, no!" He backed away.
    I returned the cell phone to my pocket, and we had gone off to find the bed when something caught my eye. "Look at this."
    He nodded. "I've seen it. Do you know what it is?"
    "Certainly. It's an escritoire, a writing table. Quite a nice antique, too." On impulse, I pulled out the uppermost drawer, and to my delight found a small stack of stationery and a dozen or so envelopes.
    "Didn't you say you needed those?"
    "Yes. We didn't set your father's triannulus to find them for me, but here they are anyway. If this is what numen does for one, I'm heartily in favor of it." Well before I completed that sentence I had taken this paper, thinking to roll it up and put it in a pocket. Beneath it lay three gold coins.
    Although I heard Emlyn's sharply indrawn breath, I paid that little heed, picking up the coins instead and examining them with interest. Winkle leaped onto the escritoire so that she might look, too.
    "This is Greek." I displayed the coin so Emlyn could see it. "I believe the city must be Corinth, but I've no idea whose head that is."
    "It's gold." Emlyn sounded as though he were choking. "Don't you understand what this means?"
    "Yes, I understand. But you can't possibly understand how much this gold means to me."
    Winkle echoed my sentiments, barking joyfully. "Tho thcrumptiouth! Thuperb thilkth! Oh, tho thuper!"
    "It means that something's gone terribly wrong," Emlyn declared. "We asked for money, you got it, and you put out the longlight. It should have stopped there."
    "Are you sure?"
    "Absolutely! You think this is good news. It could hardly be worse."
    I feared then that I understood what he was getting at, and I dropped the coins into my pocket and declared that I intended to keep them.
    "You may have them," Emlyn declared. Then, like his brother, he turned and fled.
    Later, as you may imagine, I searched the telephone book in the drugstore for a coin dealer. I found an ad for one, and was overjoyed to find it--then plunged into the depths of despair when I perused the address. The dealer was in Port Saint Jude, some distance away.
    Leaving the drugstore, I called him, described the smallest of the three coins, and asked what it might be worth.
    "You want to sell it to me?"
    I said, "Yes, I might."
    "And I might buy it, but I'd have to see it."
    "I understand. What if I didn't want to sell it?"
    "Then I'd charge you fifty dollars for an appraisal. You'd get that in writing, and notarized."
    "But you'd have to see it."
    "Correct. You say you found it in your house?"
    "Yes, I did."
    "I see. I'll have to check it against the reports of stolen coins. If it matches, I'll have to call the police. Do you still want to show it to me?"
    "Certainly. Very much."
    "Fine. I close at five and open at nine."
    You can easily guess what I did next, George. I went to the office in which Doris worked, hoping that I could persuade her to drive me to the dealer's. She was showing houses, however, and was not expected to return until morning.
    At the pawnshop, the pawnbroker told me quite frankly that he could advance me no more than the value of the gold if I left it with him. I did, and received a pawn ticket. That was perhaps three hours ago.
    Here I shall explain my reasoning, George, though I doubt that you require it. With the money I received from the pawnbroker, I will beable to pay for dinner and have a bit left to tide me over until my check clears. Tomorrow, surely, I will be able to contrive some means of reaching the dealer. Doris will drive me, or Martha will. If worse comes to worst, I will hitchhike; although I do not enjoy that, I have done it before and emerged unscathed. Possibly there is someplace in town where I might rent a bicycle; I'm told the distance is only about fifteen miles.
    Once there, I will sell one of the larger coins. It should bring a considerable sum, and