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the staff report to him, then makes some discreet remark if he feels concern about one of our guests. He
laid his plate carefully on the table.  Are you particularly worried about him?
 I m always worried if Orlando acts out of character. He s a terrible creature of habit, as you know.
Jonty laid down his fork, an uneaten mouthful still loaded onto its tines.  He was in such a foul temper last
night. I really think I should just go and& hurry him up. He restrained himself from saying  check on
him . There was a horribly cold knot in the pit of his stomach that he wanted to ignore.
 Don t fuss so much, he s a grown man&  Mrs. Stewart s voice followed her youngest son out of the
door.
Charlie Cochrane
Jonty knew it was wrong to run on the stairs and, if he d been twenty years younger, he d have had
six of the best for it. He might still get a whacking now if his mother caught him, but he didn t care. He had
to get up to his friend s room as quickly as possible.
When he arrived there to find a little note pinned to the door, a note saying  No tea this morning,
thank you, I don t wish to be disturbed, Jonty wasn t sure if that was a good sign or bad. He didn t even
bother to knock on the door, bursting in and risking Orlando s wrath if the man had merely taken the
opportunity to sleep in or had cut himself shaving or any of one hundred and fifty little things. But he
hadn t overslept, as the bed was empty and he couldn t have cut himself shaving, as the most perfunctory
examination showed that both razor and shaving brush and all the other bits of paraphernalia that made
up Orlando s toilette were missing.
With the sickening sensation mounting, Jonty frantically searched the room, calling out his lover s
name time and again although he knew it would prove useless. Almost everything was gone. Suitcase,
clothes, shoes, the little book on algebra which had become a constant bedtime companion of late, all of
them disappeared and not a sign of occupation left, not even a note. Just the trunk of things which had
come back from Margate.
 Jonty, what is going on? Both his parents appeared at the door.  We heard you shouting has
Orlando hurt himself?
 He s not here, Mama. Jonty slumped onto the bed, hands between his knees.  He s packed up and
left.
 I can t believe it. Mr. Stewart ran his hands through where his hair had once been while his wife sat
next to her son and put her arm around him.  He s always been so sensible, what can have got into his
brain?
 It s this business with his family. He s taken it so hard. Jonty buried his head in his hands.  Then
last night, that scene at the police station. I think it was the last straw.
 I heard him come back, late. Mr. Stewart leaned against the dresser, where Orlando s things had so
lately lain.  But not go out again. It must have been mortal early for him not to have come across one of the
maids.
 It isn t just this business with the police. Jonty curled into his mother s embrace, as he d done down
the years when at his lowest ebb.  That worry and confusion with his grandmother has unsettled him the
most. Not just the grief, he could have coped with that. It s raised all sorts of unpleasant memories.
 You needn t tell us, if you think it would break his confidence. Mrs. Stewart spoke in a voice which
took Jonty back to the nursery. Scraped knees and endless kindness. And more recent, more troubling,
times.
The feel of his mother s hand stroking his hair, his father s patient expression; this was like when he d
had to confess his own nightmares of times at school. Of cold rooms, stormy nights and unwanted visitors.
66 www.samhainpublishing.com
Lessons in Trust
If he d faced that, he could face this.  You know his father killed himself, he told you that. I bet you didn t
know Mr. Coppersmith cut his throat at the dinner table, in front of his wife and child. It nearly drove
Orlando mad.
 Dear God&  Mr. Stewart came to the bed and slipped his arm round his son as well, the three of
them in unison against a cruel world.
 It s taken him years to be able to talk about it and he s always wondered why it happened. His father
had terribly dark days, you know, and it must have been due to this wretched business with his grandfather.
It makes me so angry. Jonty s head shot up, fear replaced by the need to fight, to take vengeance on behalf
of the man he loved so much.  Since she first told me the story I hoped it would turn out Mrs.
Coppersmith s father was only adopted that would seem fitting. I wouldn t be surprised if he was
someone s by-blow, and that s why he was so harsh on his own daughter.
 They often are. Mrs. Stewart s tones were soft, measured, soothing.  People rail against that which
they most fear or are most ashamed of within themselves. Don t try to find him, Jonty. Let him have some
time and then he ll come back, successful or not.
 What if he isn t successful, Mama? What if he spends all the rest of his life trying to find this family
who rejected his grandmother? He would. You know what he s like when he gets a bee in his bonnet. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]