The Madness Of Love | The Secret History

I

I'm a terrible writer, so don't expect much. Just warning.
This part starts when Camilla, Francis and Richard come to the country house.
P. S. This all is going to be from Richard's point of view.

"Come see the library" said Camilla. With Francis behind us, we went down the hall and through several rooms, rooms I wanted to linger in but only got a glimpse of. I heard faint piano music, which got closer as we walked. It was Chopin.

Walking into the library, I took in my breath sharply and stopped: it was the prettiest room I've seen yet in this house. With high ceilings, Gothic panels and a marble fireplace in the back of the room.

There was a piano, too, and Charles was playing it, a glass of whiskey on the seat beside him. On the piano laid a girl I've never seen before. She had black hair, was wearing a white silk dress and was barefoot. I noticed her black heels standing next to the piano.

Charles was noticeably a little drunk; his Chopin was slurred, the notes melting sleepily into one another, but the girl seemed to enjoy it.
A breeze stirred the heavy, moth-eaten velvet curtains, ruffling his hair.

"Golly" I said. The playing stopped and Charles looked up. "Well there you are" he said. "You're awfully late, we've been waiting for you. Bunny's gone to sleep."
"Where's Henry?" asked Francis. "Working. He might come down before bed." answered Charles. The girl scoffed at his words.

Francis noticed her, still laying on the piano, and his eyes lit up. "Ma belle!" he said in a surprised voice. The girl quickly sat up, looked at him and then with a smile on her face jumped off the piano and almost ran towards him.
"Francis! I missed you so much." she wrapped her arms around him.
Francis hugged her back very tightly, still a bit surprised, but the happiest I've seen him during all this time.

Camilla went to the piano and took a sip from Charles's glass. "I'm glad to see you back" she said to the girl. "I'm glad to be back" she replied, now sitting on a leather armchair. She turned to me: "You're Richard, right? Francis told me about you, but I doubt he told you about me".
I shook my head. "I'm Lilith" she told me. "I'm studying classics with them at Hampden."
I wanted to ask her why she hasn't been at Hampden, if she's studying there, but before I could open my mouth she answered it herself.
"I had some family problems, so I had to go out of the country for a while. But now it's all fine, so I'm back." After she said this, I noticed that she had some kind of an accent, definitely not American, more like British.

Camilla stopped talking with Charles and turned to me. "You should have a look at these books." she said. "There's a first edition of Ivanhoe here."
"Actually, I think they sold that one" said Francis, sitting on the arm of the leather armchair Lilith was sitting on. "There are one or two interesting things, but mostly it's Marie Corelli and old Rover Boys." He took out two cigarettes from a pack and offered one two Lilith. Then lit both of them with a match.

I walked over to the shelves. Something called London by someone called Pennant, six volumes bound in red leather - massive books, two feet tall. I wondered if anyone ever read them. Next to it The Club History of London, an equally massive set. The libretto of The Pirates of Penzance. Numberless Bobbsey Twins. Byron's Marino Faliero, bound in black leather, with the date 1821 stamped in gold on the spine.

"Here, go make your own drink if you want one." Charles was saying to Camilla.
"I don't want my own. I want some of yours."
He gave her the glass with one hand and, with the other, wobbled up a difficult backwards-and-forwards scale.
"Play something" I said. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on." said Camilla. "No." "Of course, he can't really play anything" Francis said in a sympathetic undertone. Lilith hit him lightly.

Charles took a swallow of his drink and ran up another octave. Then he handed the glass to Camilla and, left hand free, reached down and turned the fibrillation into into the opening notes of a Scott Joplin rag.
He played with relish, his sleeves rolled up, smiling at his work. Lilith, sitting next to Francis, smiled at me. 'She's quite beautiful' I thought. I smiled back, a little dazed.

There were footsteps on the stairs and Bunny, his eyes screwed up and his hair standing on end, tottered in wearing his pajamas. He threw a glance at Lilith. "What the hell" he said. "You woke me up." But nobody paid attention to him, and finally he poured himself a drink and tottered back up the stairs with it, in his bare feet, to bed.

Lilith drank the rest of her whiskey and put out her cigarette. "I'm going to bed" she announced. Then gave Francis a kiss on the cheek and murmured 'goodnight'. I watched her as she took her heels and slowly walked up the stairs.