The Connoisseur

Chapter 11 - The Library

At eight o’clock sharp, Sophia’s phone rang.

“Good evening,” said Alexander.  “Everything ready?”

“Everything ready.”

“Then come on through.”

Sophia picked up her handbag from her bed and glanced at her bedroom mirror one last time.  She wore a long-sleeved purple dress and black leggings, and she quickly touched up her subtle makeup.  Although Alexander would provide suitable clothes for their destination, she still felt like she should make an effort.

She finished, opened her bedroom door and walked straight into the gilded hall that was Alexander’s home.  He sat at the piano a little distance away, playing a delicate little tune that sounded like something from the 20s.  She closed the door behind her and walked towards him, careful not to make too much noise on the tiled floor.  He glanced up at her as she approached, smiled, and brought the tune to a gentle cadence just as she reached his side.

“Channelling Mozart?” she said.

“Cole Porter.  Do you know, I think they’d have appreciated one another.”  Alexander stood up, brushing back his long tailed jacket and straightening his black bow tie.  “How are you?”

“Very well.  You look like you’ve just been to see Queen Victoria.”

“Diamond jubilee, 1897.  Extraordinary year.  We should certainly go together someday soon.  But you said you had somewhere else in mind.”

“I do.”

She told him.  He frowned, not unpleasantly.

“Scheherazade?” he said.  “The famous storyteller of the Arabian Nights?  Famously mythical?”

“Oh come on,” Sophia smiled teasingly.  “You can do better than that.”

“I’d love to.  But those stories were collated over centuries.  They’re folk tales.  There are even some historical characters in them that come after the time Scheherazade supposedly lived in.”

“I know that,” said Sophia.  “But let’s see something of that world.  Anything.  Palm trees and oases and magic.”

“I can do the first two.”

Sophia stared around the hall, turning on the spot.  “Oh, I think you can do the third too.”

They stared at one another, straight-faced, and both cracked a smile.

“Come with me,” said Alexander.

He led her out of the hall to a grand staircase, richly carpeted in red.  They ascended several floors.  Sophia wondered what Alexander could keep in this place, if anything.  It seemed so immense for one man.  The emptiness of the long corridors and halls she glimpsed was striking.

At the very top, the stairs ended at two elegant wooden doors, flanked by marble busts.  It was darker here, and long shadows from the windowpanes arrowed past them.  It felt like a very private part of the building, if there could be such a thing in this place.

“We’ll soon find something good in here,” said Alexander.  He opened the doors and beckoned her in.

Sophia looked around – it was a library, four floors high, full of huge dark bookcases and ladders for reaching the high shelves.  The walls were made of thick stone and the only light came from a very tall, thin window at one end, and candles in sconces all around.  It seemed to her like a room in an old cathedral or monastery rather than a palace; a place of secret learning, not public show.