Page 10 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
Why was it grown people were so difficult to understand?
The cart came to a stop. Adam made himself pay more attention as he climbed down, not wanting to fall before they had even begun their walk on the mountain. Lord Jonquil gave the coachman who had driven them instructions on when to return, then the pony cart pulled away.
Lord Jonquil was watching Adam. Pooka was on a lead andtugging toward the mountain. Both the dog and the walk ahead of them worried Adam more thana little.
Dukes are meant to be confident.Adam’s father had told him that. He wanted to be a good duke, so he firmed his shoulders and made his face very serious. “It would not do to waste time.” He’d heard his father say that.
The path they walked on was not unlike most country footpaths. It wasn’t terribly steep. There weren’t a great deal of trees, though there were some. Adam’s favorite part was that Pooka kept a whole lead-length ahead of them.
“Did you know I was your age when I first ventured up this mountain?” Lord Jonquil asked.
“Did you live here when you were little?”
“Sometimes. My grandfather was ill, so we lived at his house in Notting-hamshire most of the year.”
“Did he die?”
“He did.”
Adam tugged his hat a little lower on his head, not wanting to look up at Lord Jonquil. “My father died.”
“There’s sadness in the heart when a person dies.” Lord Jonquil didn’t tell him to stop being sad; people were forever telling him that. Maybe he understood about people dying and feeling sad about it. “Lady Jonquil’s sister died when she was your age. Her mother died not long after that. I remember how sad her heart was.”
“She doesn’t seem sad.” Maybe the sadness got better with time.
“She is happy to have you visiting,” Lord Jonquil said. “She told me that, when she met you at Falstone Castle, you asked about her hair but you didn’t say it was ugly. People used to say her hair was ugly when she was younger, and she didn’t like that.”
“The boys at the boardinghouse used to call me ugly, onaccount of my scars.” He set his hands in his coat pockets. “But Jeb, at Falstone Castle, taught me how to fight. So when they said that, I trounced them. No one calls me ugly anymore.”
“You are likely one of the youngest boys there. Can you really bash the older boys?”
Adam nodded, a surge of pride filling him. He even looked up at Lord Jonquil again.
“Do you have any friends at school? Boys you enjoy spending time with?”
“Dukes don’t need people. My father taught me that.”
“I predict, Adam, that someday you will have a friend, and you will be glad you do.”
That was ridiculous. “Who would want to be my friend?”
“Any highwayman with ambition.”
What a strange thing to say. Adam studied him. “What do you mean?”
“Land pirates need associates who are good with their fives.” Lord Jonquil assumed a fighting stance, fists at the ready.
Adam understood now. “You’re being silly.”
“Nothing of the sort. Why, you’d be invaluable in a criminal enterprise. You can fight. You will soon be an expert at mountaineering. You have a forest, so you are likelyverygood at hiding in trees. And you have a castle, which means you likely have a dungeon.”
Excitement pulled at his breath. “I have a gibbet.”
“Excellent,” Lord Jonquil said earnestly, but with a grin in his eyes.
Adam had to bite down on his lips to stop a laugh from bursting out of him.
They continued their upward walk, the trail they followed twisting about a little. It brought them to a spot where the ground was flat and no trees blocked the view of the valley around the mountain. Adam had never seen the world from upabove it. He liked it.
