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He refused to turn the book back He said it wasbook whatever I tried It’s probably still where I hid it, down inside the cover of the old teaching bus seat Grundo is obstinate as well as proud

You ht say I adopted Grundo as my brother We were both on our own I am an only child, and all the other Court wizards’ children were the sae were sons and daughters of Court officials, who had no gift for —but they just had a more normal outlook

There were only about thirty of us young ones who traveled in the King’s Progress all the ti religious ceremonies Grundo and I always used to envy them They didn’t have to wear neat clothes and reoing to be, instead of traveling through the nights and finding themselves suddenly in a flat field in Norfolk, or a re They didn’t have to ride in buses in a heat wave Above all, they could go for walks and explore places We were never really in one place long enough to do any exploring The reat houses where the King decided to stay

We envied the princesses and the younger princes particularly They were allowed to stay in Windsorforeign, had threatened to go back to Denmark unless she was allowed to stay in one place Everyone pitied the Queen rather for not understanding that the King had to travel about in order to keep the realic of the Islands of Blest—or ’s constantly land

I asked id and knows about the ics of countries and worlds and so on And he said that there ht people were overstating the case The ic of Blest was very important for all sorts of reasons, he said, but it was the Merlin as really entrusted with keeping it healthy

My randfather in London But this would haveGrundo to the ested it, I told her I was proud to be athe best possible education—which was partly quite true—and then I sort of went heavy at her and hoped she’d forget the idea If she got really anxious and went on about this being no sort of life for a growing girl, I went on abou

t the way Grandad grows dahlias I really do hate dahlias as a way of life

Mam had her latest worry session in Northumbria, in the rain We were all ca to pay our King a formal visit It was so bare that there was not even a house for the King The canvas of the royal tent was turning a wet, dis in shiny, wet sheep droppings while I went on about the way Grandad grows dahlias

“Besides, it’s such a stupid thing for a powerful ician to do!” I said

“I wish you didn’t feel like this about hireat deal roers He’s a relad to have you as company for your cousin Toby”

“My cousin Toby is a ho doesn’t ,” I said I looked up at Males of my hair and realized that my dahlia ploy hadn’t worked the way it usually did Mam continued to look anxious She is a serious person,Exchequer, but I can usually get her to laugh When she laughs, she throws her head back and looks very likepink cheeks and a dih her eyes are black and mine are blue

I could see the rain was getting her down—having to keep the water out of her co tent and all the rest—and I saas one of the ti doith rheu of it I realized I’d have to play est card or I’d be packed off down to London before lunch