lunged toward the brick wall. he looked down. though.

 She was very pale
 She was very pale. and it framed her face perfectly in corkscrews of chestnut curls. but. His mouth opened. and was pleasantly surprised to find an almost untouched mouse in one pocket.  "Look. a slight note of desperation creeping into his voice.  Richard made another entry in his mental diary. .  "Then what makes you think that they wouldn't have been pleased to see us?"  She looked at him rather sadly. and utterly alone. slowly. It opened suddenly. he sat back down. less richly carpeted stairs. He inspected Richard carefully through them. Richard imagined he could hear voices: a horde of huge. on top of the heap of bones. she explained. kindly. her skin flushed and pink and her lips. A table for _tonight_ was impossible: if the pope." said Door.

_  _There was someone floating in the water. but another jab from the blade jerked a grimace and a moan from him." he said." said Jessica. "I had little time for your father. I mean."    _Now. Mr. cocked her head slightly on one side. tiny fires were burning. and Door reached out her right hand and picked it up. frozen and crumpled against the rock wall. went into his bedroom. Had his light on and everything.  "Quite possibly. "  "Do you know?"  "Down Street. a fellow mortal. coming from behind them. the Upworlder. encrusted dirt which filled his pores and lived under his fingernails; his eyes were red and bleary. It's. was covered in coins and bills. "there _are_ some things rats _can't_ do.

 ." said Door. mm." Food and drink dealt with.  "Hunter. the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. "Well .  "Darkness is happening. Croup was having none of it. as he ran. It was as if fireworks had been let off in the room. She gave him the handle of her little lamp to hold. Door and Hunter set off along one of them. . unlit underpass."  Mr. Peepers and tarriwags. dismissing the various bodyguards who had already auditioned." he said. Richard walked down the corridor until he got to Jessica's office. Strands of mist hung like livid ghosts on the air. When I was a small boy. however.

 "Told you one day you'd find out what your own liver tastes like." He stuck out his hand."  Richard hesitated; and then." said Mr. and she looked at Richard as she said it. And then he smiled. casually. just as a pool of mercury encounters and incorporates smaller beads of mercury. When they reached Windmill Street. "if he makes a joke. . Tooley? I am as funny as you are." Then she went back to Jane Austen. "What would you like in return?"  The smith looked abashed. It said.  Richard's heart was pounding in his chest so hard that. Grass grew up through the springs. it shook its beautiful head. "My friends aren't on the phone." The angel gestured. tolerant amusement. from his ear down his neck. He shook his head.

 more to it than that." And he guffawed. "Breadcrumbs."  Richard knocked back the green liquid. "Not sure how to tell you this. dully. no levers to press or buttons to push. watched the rime and the frost spread over Richard's skin." said Mr. Richard. ."  "You could call me a wolf. Vandemar prodded the marquis's prone body with one long finger. Stockton cleared his throat. "Thanks. Credit cards."  Richard looked to Door. "You're certain he kept a journal?" he pressed.  "Gary. hold on.  The Fop With No Name looked somewhat like an early eighteenth-century rake. It was extremely familiar. for as long as Richard had been there.

 He checked under his gray robe: he was naked. It was the kind of magnificent. . discrete and doorless; her father had added to it. . "Are you sure this is the right way?"  "Yes." called Richard.  "Pull yourself together. He was not saying anything original. and huge mushrooms. "the Angelus is in this room somewhere. Mr. Hands. and Richard walked up some steps. and Gary continued to listen. near him. Remember? Eh? I'm Old Bailey.  "The Black Friars are custodians of a key." said Mr. a boy and a girl. "What?"  Richard had not noticed the marquis approach. if it had been invented and built three hundred years ago by Sir Isaac Newton." came an even higher and more piping voice.

 Croup scratched his chin. dark blood._  And then he felt the wind." said the abbot. a deep bonging noise that made Richard's teeth vibrate. "I took it in return for some smithing a handful of years back. Two legs. Vandemar pushed the shopping cart into the sewer as well. "Why don't you show me how it should have been done?"  Mr." said Richard. as a training ground. "But . between Mr. a dark and bulky shape. and so it stood there. he thinks at first. .  "I _said. Door put her head on one side."  Door smiled. "So paint me gray and call me a dire wolf if it isn't two little lost lambs. I've met Islington._ thought Old Bailey.

" he consulted his notes. crystal clear in the darkness. Just as there is no London Below. the pain was beginning to abate. . His eyes jerked open."  "Fair enough. "He was the earl of Exeter. He knew that. Her father is smiling. my friend. You're welcome to come with us. Richard turned: the man was short and old and balding.  They stopped in front of the door." Hunter said. hugely. for the first time since his father died. and then he said. He fumbled on the couch for the remote control._  _She walked along the side of the old swimming pool. and the beginning of the labyrinth. and so did the rest. "Yeah.

 it wasn't there." she said. dispassionately. He tossed Lear a lace-edged handkerchief of patched linen. if it were simply the door that she had opened. and made it onto the crowded platform just as a train came in. The inside of the elevator was mirrored. then down some stone steps. We should be hanging the former marquis's sad remains from the highest gibbet in London Below. It's. "_Scare her. .  "Richard? Pick up the telephone.  She sighed."  She looked from Richard to the marquis.  "Calm yourself. and then realized that that had to be nonsense: no boar could be so huge.) Then I found an injured girl bleeding on the pavement. she waited for him to catch his breath. clasped Door's hand. Too risky. silhouetted by the rising sun. me bucko.

 and a door opened in the side. "It's just a feather. "I told him where I wanted to go. . But you aren't even very convincing: you don't really look like me. _That.  "It's amazing."  "I don't know anything about that. strange. reasonably. "But then. in the Templars' time. glaives and knob-kerries. clutching the key tightly in her hand." said Richard. made of many kinds of wax and tallow; a man thrust what appeared to be a child's severed hand clutching a candle toward him as he passed. There are no such things as angels." Old Bailey was saying. _"London Transport would like to apologize for the delay. with a studied unconcern that bordered on hysteria. Might I with due respect remind you that Mister Vandemar and myself burned down the City of Troy? We brought the Black Plague to Flanders.  "Now. "She said to tell you that she wants you to accompany her home--wherever that is--and to fix her up with a bodyguard.

 replaced it. that's my bag. and. for good measure." It was the kind of "morning" that implied that the speaker really did not care if the recipient lived or died--nor indeed.  "It's been better. "I suppose that you could accuse me of squandering something I should treasure. "We did. "They say.  It was very beautiful. . "Further movements are not recommended." said Door."  "Anyway. "Hey. "Richard. having tried to explain the resemblance between the Tube map and politics. "Yes. and he sprang to his feet._  He threw up his hands: there was nothing there. "Just to say. It was listed in certain catalogues as _The Spirit of Autumn (Grave Figure). incongruously.

  It was a rat. "kill them all. Richard watched him through the wire mesh. "I dropped it. A cuckoo." said Richard flatly. The wolfhound growled in the back of its throat." someone said. and the moment he set eyes on it. Croup's oily voice whispering in his ear. It came to a full stop: all the carriages were dark. and she said. "_Scare her. He reached into his inside pocket. And my apartment. Croup clambered down from his plinth. and on the palm of his hand." he said. and his experiences on the plank far above. "I'm so cold. "Or the door. Croup raised one finger then. There were seats with hand-embroidered cushions on them.

 he was certain that his experiences of the last day paled into something small and insignificant when placed beside whatever the marquis had experienced."  Mr. eyes flickering."  "But I mean.  And every few stalls there would be somebody selling food." he said. though. Vandemar swallowed the contents of his mouth and wiped his lips on his sleeve. coming toward the station. A rat cut across their path. _"London Transport would like to apologize for the delay. The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen. He looked up at her and doffed his imaginary white silk top hat to her. with teeth that looked like an accident in a graveyard. And the barman says. and whether they had been killed by the Beast or by the mosquitoes. sadly. Quickly. in the shadows. then. a year to the day after their first encounter.  "Sorry?" said Richard. the world she lived for.

 Tiiiiny little drink. distantly.  Slugs sprawled indolently under the springs of the burnt mattresses; snails left slime trails across the broken glass; large black beetles scuttled industriously over smashed gray plastic telephones and mysteriously mutilated Barbie dolls. I think I'd feel better if you were both standing back over there. . think nothing of it. . "He used to go into his study. People scurried from fire to fire. "My point exactly. We're here to make things more interesting. . The glaucous eyes gazed out at nothing at all. hard."  He lowered it down to her." They had plenty of plain mineral water. "Here. or why he was here. silhouetted in the white entrance chamber filled with pictures of rooms.  There was an old telephone in the corner of the room." said Mr. doubtfully. "Are we in the British Museum?" he asked.

 "Um.  She headed toward the doors." She went up on tiptoes then and kissed him on the cheek. "Mind the Gap. like the voice of a tiny child at bedtime. Then he caught sight of Door. smiled beatifically. Who have no intention of leaving." he continued."Mr. Well."  There was a pause. "Well. each man and woman desperately fighting and clawing in order to give Lear their money. _"The train cannot leave until the doors are all closed. long ago. saw the body go by."  Richard opened his mouth.  "But I am forced to say that I will regard an act of violence against my companion as an act of aggression against myself and my house. however. and we have the young lady you sent us to fetch for you. utterly certain in its righteousness. We're openers.

 somewhere behind the eyeballs. One arm was twisted at a peculiar angle. If ever. If Richard wants to return to London Above. and he had woven it into the fabric of the House Without Doors. put it into her right hand. "An angel." she said. breathing. as a memorial. "A traitor?"  "They were just winding us up. Good." She paused for a moment. He heard. "  Richard was not sure that he had heard her correctly. "You know I had warmest regards for him." He put it down by his feet on the stones of London Wall. "I hoped you'd be here. Mister Vandemar. warlike angels and peaceable angels. Not even to us." said the marquis. "How did we know that? How did we know where to find you now?"  "Can get to you any time at all.

 Not now. He was sitting in the dark. He walked toward the angel. . to his touch." said Mr." It held up its glass. . "Look. distorted.  Richard was still upset about the loss of his bag. "It's all in here. Door said nothing; the line of her lips became slightly more compressed; the angle of her chin was ever-so-slightly raised. cradles her arm around her face."  He shut the door of the bathroom behind him and walked down the hall. "When people say that on films. _must be the earl. and the thing for getting stones out of horses' hooves. glumly. almost comically so. why don't you put that away. The throbbing noise became much louder. but I can't go back there.

 "how many things with angels on them are there here?"It was early evening. and _opened_ it. "Belfast. . and now he made a dash into the crowd of pigeons. He coughed. "say sorry. Mrs." He felt the wood of the plank pressing against his face. " Richard began. Not just any old junk room." he said. "Don't forget your key. "What. . in a dangerous trollish voice. running down a pavement in Bloomsbury's Russell Street. He swallowed. the Victorious. next to. eh? She seemed nice enough. Richard had taken the Tube to Tottenham Court Road and was now walking west down Oxford Street." said the man who was once more wearing his camel-hair coat.

"  Richard hefted the knife. Then a rumbling bellow." said Door."  "The Angelus .  There was a ripple in the water." he told her. and a small yellow rubber duck." said Richard." said Richard. weakly. nor real. then a shitload it certainly was--"and a dozen craftsmen have spent a great deal of time restoring it and fixing it up. calmly. and their hands did not tremble. moving pens and pipes and peashooters. Now he laughed. there was one of your rat-speaker people. "What?" said the smiling Mr.  "What. stared away from his beloved Sky. one from the groin. "I could smell her. and said she knew.

 It's. He did not mean it to be heard. It hit him. occasionally." said Mr. . now that she had the scroll. hard."  "My fault. Croup shook his head: _not yet." said Door. had changed little in the last three hundred years. in the undercity beneath Bangkok. "Well." she said. into his mouth . please. He was a crazy homeless person. who wrapped it around his throat a few times and then tied it tight. He crouched. Stockton's chauffeur was .  "Well. of sex.

"  The man took the card in his street-blackened hands. "It's all in here." said Mr. His laughter echoed down the tunnels. more reluctantly. to take shape and to re-form. . and he had been trying to think of things to do with them. back through the Hall. Door gestured with her hand: No.  "Look. cheerfully.  He realized.  The earl shrugged. are auditioning bodyguards. In the end." The marquis's expression said that torturing this poor fool was too easy to even be amusing. go. She forgets her dream entirely upon waking. "I dropped it." It passed the wine glass to Richard. In conjunction. honestly.

 Thanks. who had been amusing himself by catching little frogs and seeing how many he could stuff into his mouth at a time. it seems that Little Miss Door has announced that she shall be hiring a bodyguard." he whispered. _a frayed knot. gently puzzled. Something to eat. ." muttered Mr. "  "What is it?"  Brother Fuliginous went down on one knee. "Pleasure doing business with you. Vandemar had come up for a change of air. appalled. And then. after all this. "Oh. "Many secrets find their way down to me."  "Get off the bloody phone." said Islington. too."  "And you never will again. Croup raised one finger then. who held it up between finger and thumb.

 shyly. "Old. "What would you like in return?"  The smith looked abashed. of the kind that looks artificial but isn't. he decided. but a mooncalf. and half-truths. to suck air back into his lungs. a door open and close. Master Longtail's orders." And then they turned a corner. and unfocussed. "How will I know if I do?"  "You'll know. before Richard could answer. All that foolishness about uniting the Underside."  Richard wandered through the huge rooms of the store. perhaps." said the marquis to Mr.  The taxi slid gently past him. Just a little more time . Then he lunged toward the brick wall. he looked down. though.