The period of official mourning was long-drawn-out even by the standards of the day; the funeral ceremony held in Avignon's cathedral lasted a full nine days, with the pope's catafalque hung with black silk beneath candelabra likewise draped in black.

And she nearly started a fight between two young fops in plumed hats and flouncy collars: Clay-brained coxcomb! Mewling milk-livered maggot!

At first she'd wondered if he was a stripagram like the one her friend Meg hired for her surprise party two years ago.

cashierers of monarchs