Part 54 (1/2)

recorders whirred diligently. Uncle James seemed to be asleep. Carlotta's

attention wandered. Now and then a cheer rose from the a.s.sembled citizens.

She could see the sleek Brazilian in the crowd. He was staring at the

old man as though he were a mound of emeralds. Then he noticed Carlotta

watching him, and he flicked his gaze toward her, letting his eyes rest on

her in a warm insinuating way, and smiled a sleek smile that gave her

s.h.i.+vers. As if he was buying her with that smile.

What did he want, really? Just to talk?

Uncle James was awake again. Instead of looking at the Emperor, who

had begun to speak in response to the mayor's oration, he was peering at

the rows of foreign tourists, gaping at them as though they came not

merely from other continents but from other planets. In a way, Carlotta

thought, they did. Who could get to j.a.pan or Brazil or Nigeria from

here? They come to us; we don't go to them. It used to be different,

she knew. Hundreds of years ago, before everything fell apart, when

America had been all one country of incomprehensible size that

stretched from ocean to ocean, its citizens had gone everywhere in the