Page 11 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
Lord Jonquil sat on the ground, his back against a large rock. Adam did what Lord Jonquil did, assuming that was the best thing. Pooka’s lead was wrapped around a branch on a nearby bush, but the line was not so short that the dog couldn’t still explore. Lord Jonquil reached into his knapsack and pulled out two paper-wrapped sandwiches.
“Eat your fill,” Lord Jonquil said. “You’ll work up more of an appetite mountaineering than you realize and will run short of vigor on the way down if you don’t eat now.”
Adam obeyed. “Have I done a good job of walking up the mountain?”
“An excellent job.” Lord Jonquil’s eyes slowly roved over the scene in front of them, the valley and the trees around. “If you find you enjoy walking on mountains, we can jaunt over to Long Crag. That’s another favorite of mine. A bit of a journey to get there but makes for a fine day’s expedition.”
“It’s nice up here,” Adam said. “It’s really quiet.”
“Sometimes quiet is nice, isn’t it?” Lord Jonquil gave Pooka a scratch behind the ear as the dog wandered past.
Adam kept an eye on the dog, not entirely trusting it. “Nurse Robbie said the castle was quiet while I was away. Do you think she was glad I was gone?”
“I’d wager she missed you terribly.”
“They had Christmas without me. I was at school.”
That seemed to surprise him. “Your mother didn’t wait to send you?”
Adam shook his head. “I was the only boy at the boardinghouse at Christmas. It was lonely.” He hadn’t told anyone that. Somehow, he didn’t mind Lord Jonquil knowing.
“Then the other boys came back, and you likely weren’t lonely enough.” Lord Jonquil gave him a knowing look. Adam hadn’t thought of it before, but Lord Jonquil would have gone to schoolwhen he was a boy. He’d know how miserable it was.
“I didn’t like having Christmas there,” Adam said.
“Too bad you haven’t thrown your hat in with the highwaymen after all,” Lord Jonquil said. “They likely have raucous Christmas festivities.”
Adam tried to imagine highwaymen celebrating Christmas. It was a silly idea, but he couldn’t push it out of his mind. Try as he might, he also couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “What do highwaymen do at Christmastime?” He wondered out loud.
Lord Jonquil hopped up. He pulled off his coat and set it on a nearby branch. “Highwaymen always look a shambles.”
He mussed his hair with his hands, pulling strands of it out of the ribbon that held it back. Pooka jumped about, apparently thinking they were playing a game of some sort. Lord Jonquil untied his cravat and shook it loose. He then tied it around his waist like a sash. He put one foot up on the rock he’d been leaning against and popped his fists onto his hips. He looked off into the distance with a very serious expression. Pooka barked at him, but in a sound that was more excited than angry. Adam didn’t know dogs could bark in more than one way.
“We are highwaymen, Adam. At Christmastime, we have to steal things.”
“Maybe highwaymen take a holiday from stealing at Christmastime.”
Though Lord Jonquil didn’t change his pose, he looked at Adam out of the side of his eye. “What do you suppose they do instead?”
Adam scrambled to his feet. He pulled off his coat as well. He mussed his hair, most of it already falling out of the string Nurse Robbie had tied it back with. He didn’t have a cravat for making a sash, but he thought he looked the part well enough. He popped his fists onto his hips as well. “Instead oftakingthings from people, we shouldgivethings to people.”
“Excellent.” Lord Jonquil made his voice boom with importance.
“Excellent.” Adam did his best to copy the sound.
Pooka barked again.
They spent a while longer on the mountain, eating their sandwiches and making up silly things for highwaymen to do at Christmastime. Lord Jonquil told Adam about some of the things he had done when he was a little boy and about his friend, Stanley, who had always wanted to have adventures.
Best of all, he told Adam that he liked spending time with him. No one ever seemed to. But he now knew four people who did: Lord Jonquil, Lady Jonquil, Jeb at the castle, and Nurse Robbie.
He would miss Lord and Lady Jonquil when he left Brier Hill. And he wouldn’t see Jeb much now that he had to go to school at the boardinghouse.
But at least he had Nurse Robbie. He would always have Nurse Robbie.
Chapter Six
“We need to hold aChristmas celebration.” Lord Jonquil waved Robbie into the book room after she put Adam to bed that night and made the pronouncement without preamble.
