The Height of Absurdity: Red Leicester 13.4

19 February, 2019 by katelaity

I sighed. How often that is the case when I am dealing with Tansy. But I am Bosworth to her Johnson or his, so I suppose mine is not to question Leeds or Leicester or whatever wild snipe hunt we must pursue in the name of absurdity.

Though it did begin to feel like a term that had gone on too long. When would our quest end?

We arrived in Leicester and I admit to be underwhelmed at the station. We arranged lodgings based on the porter’s recommendation, and there we were more fortunate. It seems the splendor of Leicester is an understated one, but our lovely hostelry had every comfort. While it was not in any ostentatious, it was exceedingly comfortable. The landlord himself brought us a tray of cheese and bread to sustain us until our midday meal and I must admit my admiration for the city grew at once.

‘Well, how shall we go about finding this king?’ I said to Tansy when refreshed from the journey she rejoined me.

Or rather he it was this time. He took a rich slice of Red from the tray and gave me a mock withering look, which still had plenty of both mock and withering in it. ‘I’m surprised there’s any cheese left.’

‘I was peckish after the journey.’

‘You are peckish ever.’

‘Just admit that you are stalling me because you have no idea how we should find the king or even where to look. That Boswell’s Field perhaps?’ I admit to a certain smugness as I so seldom have the upper hand with Tansy. I may not quite have had the upper hand, but I certainly did not have the lower for the moment. That’s as good as a triumph for me.

‘How does one go about finding what has been lost?’ Tansy mused, tipping over the bread slices that I had carefully lined up like the rocks of Stonehenge.

‘One would hire C. August Dupin, of course!’ Now we were in territory that I knew. I was a fiend for criminal stories and they didn’t come better than that. ‘Or call on Inspector Bucket in a pinch.’

Tansy laughed but shook his head. ‘You should read more Mary Elizabeth Braddon. However, we are not uncovering a crime, as far as I know—’

‘As far as you know! How do you know there was not some kind of conspiracy at work, deliberately hiding the body to cover the crime. Like the lads in the Tower! They were a royal lot, weren’t they?’ Vague memories of English class were returning to my mind.

‘Yes, though that may well have been some part of Tudor propaganda, but that was one of the charges levied at Richard.’ Tansy looked thoughtful. I was simply amazed that I had hit upon something even tangentially related to the matter at hand. ‘How to find something that was lost a long time ago…?’

‘Prophecy?’

Tansy laughed which was not quite the response I expected. ‘I suppose it is possible such a thing exists. I rather doubt it, but you have hit upon a propitious direction for our question.’

‘Have I really? And what is that?’ For I admit to being rather mystified.

‘We shall go to the Municipal Library!’