Page 157 (1/1)
I think I learned that evening the difference between how first sons and second sons were educated My uncle had taken so I had perceived as a proble the students there and extrapolated the consequences of it into the greater world of our military I am not sure at all that my father would have done so I think he would have seen it as a lapse of discipline in the school and a flaw in the ad already affecting the larger community, and I could feel the depth of his concern
I could think of nothing to reply to his reeneral talk When he bid us good night, Spink and I were subdued, and parted to our separate rooms without any further discussion
Habit awoke , the one day of the hen I could have slept late I tried to huddle back into my pillows, but my perverse conscience rerounds and that I had not yet coroan, I stretched and rose I was splashing my face at the washbasin when the door opened and Epiny sailed into the rooown and wrapper, her hair in long braids past her shoulder She greeted me with, "What shall we do today? A seance, perhaps?" Her question was teasing My reply was not
"Absolutely not! Epiny, this is coe, you should never enter a htclothes!"
She stared at me for a moment and then said, "You’re my cousin You don’t count as a o riding?"
"I have a lot of schoolwork to do Please leave"
"Very well I told Spink that you’d probably prefer to stay behind That leaves Sirlofty free for me, then"
She turned and started to leave I said, "You and Spink are going riding? When was this decided?"
"We had early breakfast together"
"In your nightclothes?"
"Well, he was dressed, but I scarcely see the sense of getting dressed before we’ve decided what to do with the day Now I shall go and put onskirts"
"That is scandalous!"
"It’s e it takes for a woman to dress, you would see that I’ve saved nearly an hour of my day And there is no more precious commodity than time" Her hand was on the doorknob She opened the door
I spoke hastily "I’ with you On Sirlofty"
She smiled at me over her shoulder "You’d best hurry then if you expect to eat anything before we leave"
Despite her clai it took for a wo by the door before I had finished a very hurried breakfast Spink was likewise eager to depart He and Epiny stood in the foyer talking and laughing, she with her annoying whistle claood-natured farewell, for he would not budge fro newspaper I envied hi off my horse to Spink
Nevertheless, I was a bit disappointed I had expected a grooallop off without worrying about Epiny Instead, ere her guardians Spink was , a well-trained saddle horse but one completely unfamiliar with any sort of military maneuvers And Epiny chose that ould ride on the bridle paths parallel to the Grand Promenade in Cuthhew’s Park I suspected that she enjoyed displaying herself to the proper young wo the paths in groups of three or four with an earnest chaperone And there wasto her shins, as if she were a girl of ten instead of a young wo ht appear to others when I had agreed to ride with her, and feared I would bring embarrass would fly back to my uncle’s wife How could any of Epiny’s acquaintances know that I was her cousin and responsible for her that day? They would si with two soldier sons Epiny’s mother already disdained me How could Epiny put me in a position where I would appear to deserve that scorn? I did what I could to present a respectable appearance I kept our pace sedate Several tinored her, determined to behave properly in such a public place
She was the one who suddenly put her gray ive chase and exciting all sorts of cries of alar like a burr to her h the otter whistle that she still gripped in her teeth I wondered if she was too stupid to realize that the sound of the whistle was probably frightening her horse and provoking Celeste to even greater speed I kicked Sirlofty to overtake her, but the path had narrowed and Spink and his gelding were in the way I cried out to hiivetoward us wailed in alare to avoid us as we thundered past hirily after us