The next day was Sunday, the day the Raven was
supposed to call me. After a light breakfast that I had great difficulty
sending down my gullet, as my anxiety was almost painful to bear, I waited by
the telephone from around half past eleven onwards, not wanting to miss the
call under any circumstances. It never rang. At twelve thirty the doorbell rang
instead. Wondering whom it could be calling at this time of the day, I answered
it. I was both astounded as well as relieved when in rushed Joan, her hands
spread wide in front of her, which she had soon flung around my neck. As we
stood there in a tight embrace, somebody walked in behind Joan. If I had
imagined my surprise could not have been greater a few moments ago, I was
mistaken, for who should be standing there before me but the Sire, a sly smirk
imprinted on the smug expression upon his face.
Joan realized he had entered and turning to me with
a semi-apologetic look said, “Eldor, let me introduce you to the Raven, better
known to you as the Sire.” My shock was so great, for a moment I thought my
heart had stopped beating. Then I collapsed in a heap onto the sofa, shell
shocked and breathing unevenly. Joan rushed across and brought me a glass of
water, half of which she poured on my face and the rest she made me drink.
The moment I had recovered somewhat, I demanded a
complete explanation from Joan. She hesitantly began, “This, Eldor, is Mr.
Saphor, a good family friend of ours. At my request, he agreed to participate
in this plan of ours to test your love for me. We devised this scheme,
fabricating many stories, including the one about the unfortunate soldiers.”
Seeing the look of surprise that had sprung into my eyes, she quickly added,
“Yes, there never were any soldiers who set out on that final mission, though
the organization called the Tronix did
exist and Mr. Saphor here was a member of it. Everything had been preplanned,
and mostly did work out as expected, except for your brilliant idea to refer
those books and fish out an explanation for that non existent incident. Lothar
too was in on the plan and I heard he played his part finely.”
She went on, “I must apologize if I have hurt you
in any way for you have passed the test with flying colours and as your
reward”, she hesitated, “I accept your proposal, Eldor, I agree to marry you.
Are you mad at me or have I made you happy.” “I could not have been happier
ever before in my life”, I replied and I really meant it.
No comments:
Post a Comment