text: > Look around
  This was the countess' favorite room, and it is more richly decorated than any other in the house, betraying her taste for the brightly-colored and the jewel-like. The count brought her some things from his travels, and made others for her. Most of the contents seem to be gone -- the chairs and sofas, and the wall hangings -- but some bits remain.
  
  A thick-pile Persian rug lies on the floor, patterned in lapis and emerald.
  
  Against one wall is a glass case full of rare and valuable clockwork figures.
  
  > Go south
  A long empty room with shined wooden floors, perfect for sliding in stocking-feet. West is the top of the staircase, and rooms open to the north and east.
  
  The door east is closed.
  
  A small portrait hangs on the wall.
  
  > go west
  Staircase, First Floor
  The top of a broad curving stair: east is the long salon that goes the length of the house, downstairs are the foyer and the grand receiving rooms.
  
  North is the old conservatory.
  
  > go north
  A chilly northern exposure, perhaps, but really quite lovely. This room used to be where Marie would practice her music, and the Countess play her compositions; Marie's own room lies to the west.
  
  On the high shelf is a celestial bauble.
  
  The pianoforte stands in the center of the room.
  
  > examine the bauble
  A delicate ornament made of glass, containing inside it a little sun and star that whirl infinitely in the hollow space. It was a plaything of Marie's, which (due to careful reverse linking to a perfectly round rock) she could hurl at walls and never break, drop down staircases and find intact at the bottom. But it is very doubtful that the link has lasted out the years.
  
  > get the bauble
  It is too high for you to reach.
  
  > look at the pianoforte
  Legs and case are fashioned out of a dark, heavy wood, with the keys of the usual colors. The music stand is empty, which is an odd sight. The Countess used to bring composers to the house, to talk to and sometimes to sponsor in small ways; her own compositions she was too reserved to share with the musical groups, but she would labor over them in the afternoons, filling the upstairs with the sounds of trills and runs, always soaring and bird-like.
  
  > play the piano
  You sit down at the piano and begin to play, as you have not in years: a minuette.
  
  > I tall
  You are carrying:
  two books:
  Clock Repair
  On Vegetable Dyes
  a stone block
  a butcher knife
  a sword
  a hinge-lidded teapot (which is open)
  not very much water (which leaves some room in the hinge-lidded teapot)
  a sack (which is open)
  a sponge
  a snuffbox (which is closed)
  a white handkerchief
  two metal dishes:
  a plate
  a cup
  a swordstick
  five food items:
  a bay leaf
  a sprig of parsley
  a sprig of mint
  a clove of garlic
  a single yellow onion
  a dashing hat (being worn)
  
  > link the sponge to the bauble
  Bending your will, you form the link between the sponge and the celestial bauble.
  
  > Reverse link bauble to sponge
  The two are already linked.
  
  > Unlink bauble
  You succeed in unlinking the celestial bauble from the sponge.
  
  > Reverse link bauble to sponge
  Bending your will and all your attention, you manage to make a reverse-link between the celestial bauble and the sponge, feeling their properties begin to merge together.
  
  > examine the bauble
  A delicate ornament made of glass, containing inside it a little sun and star that whirl infinitely in the hollow space. It was a plaything of Marie's, which (due to careful reverse linking to a perfectly round rock) she could hurl at walls and never break, drop down staircases and find intact at the bottom.
  
  The effect has proved easy enough to copy now that you are a bit more practiced in your skills, though at the time it seemed very difficult.
  
  > examine the shelf
  A high shelf on which the countess used to display things she thought would be good for you to observe but not touch: ivory figurines, a crucifix made of gold, an asphyxiated butterfly in a glass jar.
  
  > take the sponge
  (putting the sword into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  > drop it
  Dropped.
  
  You should have stopped at an inn on the way down. And eaten.
  
  > throw the sponge at the bauble
  (first taking the sponge)
  The sponge shoots through the air. It strikes the celestial bauble, which rolls off the high shelf. It strikes the ground with a
  clenk of glass on stone. The sponge falls on the high shelf.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  two books:
  Clock Repair
  On Vegetable Dyes
  a stone block
  a butcher knife
  a hinge-lidded teapot (which is open)
  not very much water (which leaves some room in the hinge-lidded teapot)
  a sack (which is open)
  a sword
  a snuffbox (which is closed)
  a white handkerchief
  two metal dishes:
  a plate
  a cup
  a swordstick
  five food items:
  a bay leaf
  a sprig of parsley
  a sprig of mint
  a clove of garlic
  a single yellow onion
  a dashing hat (being worn)
  
  > throw the Clock Repair at the bauble
  Clock Repair strikes the celestial bauble, which rolls off
  the high shelf. It strikes the ground. Clock Repair lands
  on the high shelf.
  
  > get the bauble
  Taken.
  
  > examine model
  Originally a salon for the receiving of guests; but in recent years the Count has become increasingly interested in his own projects, and has taken over the entire room for the storage of books. Bookshelves line the walls, reaching above your head, leaving exits only east and south.
  
  A clockwork model of the universe stands in one corner, the planets rotating in their orbits.
  
  On one wall is an enormous portrait of the Count's father, from the hand of Hyacinthe Rigaud.
  
  The surface of the model Saturn catches the sunlight.
  
  Fitted out with tiny planets on arms, and the major moons of the planets, revolving around a center. There is no sun, however; there is only a sort of holder designed to contain something spherical.
  
  Most of the planets are ordinary balls of solid metal, except for Jupiter. They are in motion.
  
  Oddly, the contraption also seems to be linked, and quite unsubtly, to something in the foyer, to the south. You can feel the pull of it.
  
  The surface of the model Saturn catches the sunlight.
  
  > put the bauble in the holder
  The celestial bauble clicks neatly into position.
  
  The model universe ticks ever so faintly in its motions.
  
  > wait awhile
  Time passes.
  
  The model universe ticks ever so faintly in its motions.
  
  > look at the planets
  All the moons and planets are made of different materials to represent their different types.
  
  In the model universe is a celestial bauble.
  
  The lens inside the Jupiter ball glitters in the ambient light.
  
  > examine the lens
  The lens looks as though, were something in the central holder, it would focus the light out and away.
  
  In the model universe is a celestial bauble.
  
  The lens inside the Jupiter ball glitters in the ambient light.
  
  > examine the bauble
  A delicate ornament made of glass, containing inside it a little sun and star that whirl infinitely in the hollow space. It was a plaything of Marie's, which (due to careful reverse linking to a perfectly round rock) she could hurl at walls and never break, drop down staircases and find intact at the bottom.
  
  The effect has proved easy enough to copy now that you are a bit more practiced in your skills, though at the time it seemed very difficult.
  
  The model universe ticks ever so faintly in its motions.
  
  > go north
  A chilly northern exposure, perhaps, but really quite lovely. This room used to be where Marie would practice her music, and the Countess play her compositions; Marie's own room lies to the west.
  
  On the high shelf is Clock Repair.
  
  The pianoforte stands in the center of the room.
  
  You can also see a sponge here.
  
  > go to the west
  In your hunger, you hallucinate the hearts of artichokes.
  
  Stripped of the clutter it once possessed, the room still offers a charming view through the north window of the old grounds, and the way out is to the east. The wallpaper and floorboards are still as fine as ever.
  
  Hanging on the wall is an elegant gilt-wood mirror, reflecting sunlight over the ground before it.
  
  Her desk remains, pushed against the wall.
  
  > look at the mirror
  Framed with twists and curls of gilded wood, most abstract, though along the top are floral swags.
  
  > look through the window
  Through the windows you can see the gardens -- first a wide patch of green, and then the flower plots delineated by hedges and topiary, and the scattered statues.
  
  > examine the desk
  A deep, satin-lustrous cherry, with gilt-metal decorations. The years have not been kind, and it has cracked and split in several places; the finish is damaged, and where there is inlaid mother of pearl, it is beginning to come up from its bed. But it is still a sound piece, and features two drawers.
  
  > open the drawer
  Which do you mean, the top drawer or the bottom drawer?
  
  > Top
  You open the top drawer, revealing some household papers.
  
  > look at the papers
  A small pile of papers, written over in Marie's handwriting, dealing with various day-to-day matters: menus for dinner parties, seating diagrams for the table, an account of how she had spent her pin-money.
  
  > read the papers
  You pick out of the pile some notes for the design of the contraption in the kitchen downstairs: Marie's project, apparently. There are lists of foods, and sketches, which you cannot entirely follow, of machinery, with the links drawn in in colored ink. Whatever she was doing, she seems to have been quite intent on it and for a long time.
  
  > open the bottom drawer
  You open the bottom drawer, revealing a dark wooden box.
  
  > look at the box
  Which do you mean, the dark wooden box or the snuffbox?
  
  > Dark
  A dark wooden box that smells faintly exotic.
  
  > open it
  You open the dark wooden box, revealing an mirror inset inside the box, a pearl necklace and an old letter.
  
  > open the letter
  You crack the seal, aware that you are trespassing on what was meant to be a private confidence.
  
  Inside is the count's long black writing: he used to sit at his desk in the gold lamplight, tossing back the lace of his cuff with a little flick so that it would not drag in the ink.
  
  > look at the mirror
  (the gilt-wood mirror)
  Framed with twists and curls of gilded wood, most abstract, though along the top are floral swags.
  
  > link the mirror to mirror
  (the gilt-wood mirror to the gilt-wood mirror)
  Redundant; all things are themselves.
  
  > read the letter
  At the top of the page is a sketch of dancing figures. Then:
  
  Devv Rtare,
  
  Ea tu irymhg flolehi e uo rte aose, aeruwsrm ssot. Ea ytfisto kfho
  tu niame morv es mias, liess tadp. I moiero ardson. Leaovslo ni smeol nao tfyss nti atte.
  
  Eng deyr tairlsro or ebtdnt ruo, u tastfcoi omatcnn oli epss ltnf
  uic -- hse rfoetns nm mode -- e, e edyle. S a eofd. Thhaw fee in aim yd dynwadt, sdore httv eneo hengey oguar. Tphp! gehe tlooer w, own plinh lri. L lt ara nsycgro holi iw ouerey wrvlio ie emk: uwt, tmeo irthsoleo, esk lstela nohdy fo rell. Teesana r rtv lntv heodhae bygeny ea osthelo dui iwsarfn: Ielly dsllio yh ly fuo taoefuo n y oh bto od. Irytfdn. Ooh teguueh r. Sgrret ihmdo ewalh ntaplathy tflg echeaimhet. Rvaeyc g efo, erap rui urroln, ebi mitdr c mghee. Ecness iarost, fryt aiyrohk; toyuee bufr rle mom. Sea mi btnsaso feen wro pdw. Enrlahlb meu. Ol ui. Ag h tniyetse l yreowlo. Irm hd ug neoet, hoownht tt ulsao i ratr pcs nmgre. K dy i ayil dr col aeltl acum hlska si. Cat n oso sod r wmhy. Irieooaybnr kwa.
  
  Uyeie cto sn lh wutt. Lihwuha leece, sd.al db danoee e tdsac sese.
  Ta p aothm enco ier dt eauoio v nsf noe gslgkre tiytyr eno. Hdopk. Utra ot loe tudo psylin ioodege. Tun aarhw oss hds an tesesli loeny tiyi o guvo tt rdeuwoae tdia abhes lsr aue myotsho.
  
  Ot mrisu haamt re. Rnovfeb cree yue yr sotro yiucn ulnrof ricmon
  wssht dtlhe h. I hoeae. Kanwl rnt gatae a ash ylube halle f in sdtold oyhrd, wwo eek eour. Ce ee av stponeil. A nd rn onhihwo eif eaky meina fmunte tcloyfe. alw o. orrytunh. Eihadi fk ar o fa e. I h dhnb n idiyuks imctoitiatnni nshtaon. Risoa hysy vtily oi hs iounevf.
  
  > look at the mirror inset
  A shining panel that reflects whatever is inside the box.
  
  In your hunger, you imagine in great clarity dark squares of prepared chocolate.
  
  > Link inset tgilt-wood
  Bending your will, you form the link between the mirror inset inside the box and the gilt-wood mirror.
  
  > Unlink inset
  You succeed in unlinking the mirror inset inside the box from the gilt-wood mirror.
  
  > Reverse link inset tgilt-wood
  Bending your will and all your attention, you manage to make a reverse-link between the mirror inset inside the box and the gilt-wood mirror, feeling their properties begin to merge together.
  
  > look at the inset
  A shining panel that reflects whatever is inside the box.
  
  > look at the gilt
  (the gilt-wood mirror)
  Framed with twists and curls of gilded wood, most abstract, though along the top are floral swags.