text: [Themes: Fantasy, Historical, physical simulation, magic]
  
  > go downwards
  You get off the bed.
  
  Up here the female servants used to sleep. Now there is only a dreary row of unmade beds; a rack for drying washing; the fireplace, hollow and untended. Time was, when you were very young, that you used to creep in here for chatter and gossip, and the language you were used to hearing at home.
  
  In the fireplace are some bits of shattered brick.
  
  > link the dancers to the letter
  Bending your will, you form the link between the mechanical human dancers and the old letter.
  
  The cuckoo clock ticks sullenly.
  
  > look at the piano
  Legs and case are fashioned out of a dark, heavy wood, with the keys of the usual color. The lid is propped open on a metal stick, and there is a music stand as well, though it is without music.
  
  > link the dancers to piano
  (first unlinking the mechanical human dancers)
  You succeed in unlinking the mechanical human dancers from the old letter.
  You valiantly try to link the two objects, but they are just too dissimilar.
  
  > play the piano
  You sit down at the piano and begin to play, as you have not in years: a minuette.
  
  The dancers, as though touched by the music, come to life. They meet, and bow, and then begin to dance, now taking hands, now letting go, now apart, now together, up and down their cogged dance floor.
  
  > link the dancers to the letter
  Bending your will, you form the link between the mechanical human dancers and the old letter.
  
  > play the piano
  You sit down at the piano and begin to play, as you have not in years: a minuette.
  
  The dancers, as though touched by the music, come to life. They meet, and bow, and then begin to dance, now taking hands, now letting go, now apart, now together, up and down their cogged dance floor.
  
  While the dancers dance, the characters on the Count's letter begin to shuffle themselves: each sixth letter steps out of line, bows, and slides across the paper into a new position. The punctuation, the capitalization, fade away in the brisk music, and new forms appear.
  
  > read the letter
  "Daughter," it begins. "If I ever leave you or am lost,
  there are some matters you must know of. First-- I have laid aside some provisions, a small store only, against disaster: money, letters of introduction to certain persons, but most of all the means to defend yourself, if need comes. They are hidden, and the ways to find them woven up long ago where only the proper light will show it. You're a clever girl, Marie. I know you will not resort to them heedlessly.
  
  "Look after the servants: they have been loyal and good all your
  life. If you find you wish to sell any of the odder things I brought your mother, don't give them away cheap. They'll fetch a large price from M. Couligne in the Rue des Arbres. If you marry, for your mother's sake let it be a man who is well-born, but for mine, please daughter, not someone who will deny you the right to practice your craft.
  
  "And last -- my dear girl, this will come as a shock to you, and I
  am sorry. But when you were stuck in the well as a child, and so close to death, I became desperate, and took the very dangerous step of linking you to Pierre, so that you would not die as long as he lived. So you see, it was not only gratitude that made us raise him almost as your brother, but concern for your very life, since your mother and I knew that as long as he was healthy and well, so would you be. Therefore, child, keep an eye on him, and if ever he is in want, look after him carefully. I know that you are fond of him in any case, but think on this in addition: his very life is yours."
  
  It is signed, "Your loving father."
  
  > take the bauble
  (putting the fork into the sack to make room)
  The celestial bauble slips out of its holder, and the planets go dark.
  
  > put the bauble in the blue
  (the bottle of mead)
  The neck of the bottle is much too small.
  
  > put the bauble in the blue jar
  You put the celestial bauble into the blue glass jar.
  
  > take the bauble
  (putting the wedge of brie into the sack to make room)
  Taken.
  
  > put the bauble in the green jar
  You put the celestial bauble into the green glass jar.
  
  > Close box
  (the assortment of boxes and barrels)
  You close the assortment of boxes and barrels.
  
  > close the wooden box
  You close the dark wooden box.
  
  > Search boxes
  You look inside one of the nearby barrels and find some hunks of salted pork.
  
  > put the bauble in the blue
  (the bottle of mead)
  The neck of the bottle is much too small.
  
  > put the bauble in the blue jar
  You put the celestial bauble into the blue glass jar.
  
  > examine the rug
  It's a deep, thick carpet, so comfortable that your mother would have been happy to have it for a bed. There is a peculiar pattern woven into the rug, obvious in the blue light, that looks somewhat like this:
  
  ....................#####..####...#####.. ......................................... .............#####..####...####...####... ......................................... ...###.###..........#####.........#####.. ......................................... .....###.###....###...####......#####.... ......................................... ...............#####..####......####..... ......................................... ................................#####.... ......................................... ........#####..#####..................... ......................................... ........####...####...................... ......................................... ...............#####..#####..#####.......
  
  > look at the rug
  It's a deep, thick carpet, so comfortable that your mother would have been happy to have it for a bed. There is a peculiar pattern woven into the rug, obvious in the green light, that looks somewhat like this:
  
  ..#...#...#..#...#....................... ..#...#...#..#...#..#......#...#..#...... ..#...#...#.............................. ...#..#..#...#...#..#......#...#..#...... .............#...#.........#...#......... ......................................... .............................#........... .....#..#..#...#...#..#...#..#..#........ ....#...#...#................#........... ....#...#...#..#...#..#...#..#..#........ ....#...#...#..#...#..#...#..#........... ......................................... ......................#......#........... ........#......#......#......#........... ......................#......#........... ........#......#......#......#........... ........#................................
  
  > put it in the red jar
  You put the celestial bauble into the red glass jar.
  
  > fill the cup with water from well
  You put some water in the cup. This fills the cup to the brim. The water mixes with what was already there.
  
  > fill the cup with the water
  The cup is already full.
  
  > examine the cup
  A cup, glossed in white and decorated with the crest of the family, just as though it belonged to the family china pattern.
  
  In the cup is a mixture of water and onion dye.
  
  > Empty cup
  water and onion dye: You pour the water and onion dye out onto the ground.
  
  > fill the cup with the water
  You put some water in the cup. This fills the cup to the brim.
  
  > link the water in cup with the water in well
  Liquids repel linkage, not being discrete bodies. (The Count once demonstrated this by linking a block of ice and letting you watch the link fade as the ice warmed.)
  
  The sun burns off some of the water and onion dye.
  
  > examine drain
  What you can see of the drain hole is chiefly that it is blocked at this end by the sponge.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  On Vegetable Dyes
  a slice of brie
  a table knife
  a bottle of mead
  some mead (which leaves some room in the bottle of mead)
  a sack (which is open)
  an old letter
  some silver coins
  a bag on a string (which is open but empty)
  some mechanical human dancers
  a stone block
  two corks
  a rug
  a yellow handkerchief (tied in a sopping knot)
  a rope ladder
  a butcher knife
  a dark wooden box (which is closed)
  a sword
  a green glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a red glass jar (which is open)
  a celestial bauble (providing red light)
  a navy cloak
  some documents
  a blue glass jar (which is open but empty)
  a round metal tin (which is open but empty)
  a small portrait
  a jeweled pin
  a snuffbox (which is open)
  a quantity of snuff
  a swordstick
  two keys:
  a silver key (which opens the red door leading west)
  an iron key (which opens the russet door leading east)
  two bottles of wine:
  a blue bottle
  a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape (which is closed)
  three books:
  Guide to Assorted Wines
  The Lavori d'Aracne
  The World Is Hollow (which is open but empty)
  two recipe cylinders:
  a Tea Recipe
  an Andouillettes Recipe
  eight food items:
  a wedge of brie
  a goat cheese
  a salers
  some apples
  a bay leaf
  a sprig of parsley
  a sprig of mint
  a clove of garlic
  three pieces of silverware:
  a fork
  a silver-plated corkscrew
  a spoon
  two metal dishes:
  a hinge-lidded teapot (which is closed)
  a plate
  a dashing hat (being worn)
  a cup
  some water (which fills the cup to the brim)
  
  > examine the blue bottle
  (the bottle of mead)
  Aside from the contents, an entirely ordinary bottle. Currently open and corkless.
  
  In the bottle of mead is some mead.
  
  > link the blue bottle to well
  (the bottle of mead to the well)
  Bending your will, you form the link between the bottle of mead and the well.
  
  > Empty bottle of mead
  mead: You pour the mead out onto the ground.
  
  The level of the water in the well sinks out of sight.
  
  > look at well
  A dark circle of stone, the depths of which you cannot see. The water does not begin until many feet down, and is for all reasonable purposes inaccessible from here.
  
  A bar of iron crosses the well, to support a bucket on a rope (which, however, is itself lacking).
  
  > put the ladder on the bar
  (first taking the rope ladder)
  Taken.
  
  You adroitly fasten the rope ladder to the bar.
  
  > put all in the sack
  On Vegetable Dyes: Done.
  slice of brie: Done.
  table knife: Done.
  blue bottle: Done.
  
  > put it in the well
  The celestial bauble falls into the distance.
  
  > look at well
  A dark circle of stone, the depths of which you cannot see. The water does not begin until many feet down, and is for all reasonable purposes inaccessible from here.
  
  A bar of iron crosses the well, to support a bucket on a rope (which, however, is itself lacking).
  
  > Link the bottle of the mead to well
  Bending your will, you form the link between the bottle of mead and the well.
  
  > Empty bottle of mead
  mead: You pour the mead out onto the ground.
  
  In the hot sun, the mead would appear to be evaporating.
  
  The level of the water in the well sinks out of sight.
  
  > put the bauble in the bag
  (first taking the celestial bauble)
  Taken.
  
  You put the celestial bauble into the bag on a string.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a dashing hat (being worn)
  a cup
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a bag on a string (which is open)
  a celestial bauble (providing white light)
  a dashing hat (being worn)
  a cup
  
  > drop the cup
  The cup is already here.
  
  > Wear the bag
  You put on the bag on a string.