Part 3: Synchronous Rotations
Duncan Farnsworth, Earl Leveret, stripped off his gloves and deposited them in his hat. “Do you know, Jamison,” he said to his butler, “what the absolute worst thing is about being dead?” The sun was skimming the horizon. Another few minutes and he might have had some unpleasantness. Jamison closed the heavy door behind his master and Duncan shuddered with relief.
“I fear you are about to tell me, sir,” his butler replied, entirely uninterested.
“It is simply this: being deceased has done nothing to improve the quality of my social engagements.”
“Perhaps, sir,” Jamison said, ushering his lord into the parlor and folding the rain-damp coat over one arm, “you should lay down and play dead with slightly more conviction.”
“Sarcasm is a terrible trait in a but
