- in a room of a Public House, may the Maker spare his Mercy on you. While there are some who define madness as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, you have to believe that this is the best of brace of bad options. Taking the time to find some quiet, out of the way spot with no surety beyond wishes that it remains secure while you conduct your business, or taking even more time to go all the way back to the far edge of Stickport to stow the cart in the dried well egress tunnel ... no, you simply cannot accept that, not under current circumstances. You are much too pressed for time, and both options will chew minutes coming and going.
But, if you were to find a decent establishment, unlike the Perch, and didn't do anything near-fatally idiotic immediately after entering the place, unlike you did in the Blue Boy, then you should be able to square your cart away quickly, allowing you to explore and shop until the hours of closing - and to take some peace of mind that your possessions will not be molested in your absence. That is a prospect so appealing that even in the face of all of the misfortune you have had with public houses, it cannot be gainsaid. And truly, what are the odds that you come into some misfortune at <span class="mu-i">three</span> different public houses in one day? If you were, you would have to wonder if this was some small part of a Judgement against your failings - and more than that, you would seriously consider forswearing all such institutions.
You pass the next block praying silently, but once you have fortified yourself to the extent that you can at the moment, you turn your full attention to finding a Public House. As an unexpected benefit of your escapades looking for water earlier, you have a very good idea of where public houses <span class="mu-i">aren't</span> in the area, so it does not take you overlong to find one. You look the place over from all angles afforded to you on your approach .. though admittedly, that is not many. This House is not on a corner, so you cannot see too much of it from the street - but as you are determined to learn from your mistakes, you make a point of peering down the thin little alley between it and its neighboring building as you pass. You are heartened to see that none of the windows that you can see have been reduced to slits or bricked over entirely, and that by all outward appearances the House is plain but in good repair. More than that, it seems that you are close enough to the kitchen to smell its labors, and the warm redolence vouches for the propriety of the establishment as well.
