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He laughed at that, eyes crinkling at the corners

"Tennis? At an Inverness graaht, I was fine at the football, but not much at rounders Why?"

"You don’t have any binocular vision," I said "Chances are that someone noticed it when you were a child, and made an effort to correct it with prismatic lenses--but it’s likely that it would have been too late by the ti his face go blank "If that’s going to work, it needs to be done very young--before the age of five"

"I don’tbinocular vision? But doesn’t everyone?I mean, both my eyes do work, don’t they?" He looked mildly bewildered He looked down into the palh so the lines there

"Your eyes are fine," I assured hiether It’s really a fairly common condition--and many people who have it don’t realize it It’s just that in some people, for one reason or another, the brain never learns toin froe"

"I don’t see in three dih expecting ainst the wall

"Well, I haven’t quite got a trained oculist’s kit"--I waved a hand at the burned-out candle, the wooden spoon, the drawn figures, and a couple of sticks I had been using--"nor yet an oculist’s training But I’m reasonably sure, yes"

He listened quietly as I explained what I could His vision seemed fairly nor the infor the distance and relative location of objects simply by unconscious co a real 3-D ie Whichyou want to do," I assured hiht;close one eye when they fire, anyway But you ets You can see what you’re aiht--but without binocular vision, you may not be able to tell precisely where it is in order to hit it"

"I see," he said "So, if it co, is that it?"

"In hts aun or arrow if your goal is murder--and in that case, a blade is usually the weapon of preference So runt of a else He sat quietly, considering what I’d told hiery I could hear thu from the kitchen, and the pop and sizzle of fat that ith the tantalizing aro onions and bacon that floated down the corridor

It was going to be a hastyhad been busy all day with the preparations for the ’s least elaborate spreads orth the eating

Muffled voices cah the wall--Jemmy’s sudden wail, a brief exclamation from Brianna, another fro the baby while Bree and Lizzie dealt with dinner

Roger heard them, too; I saw his head turn toward the sound

"Quite a woman," he said, with a slow sood thing, under the circuto forestall any attempt on his part to feel sorry for hi in my life, and I put food on this table every day If you really feel you eese and pigs And if you can catch that damnable white sow before she undermines the foundation entirely, you’ll be a local hero"

That h with a ist to it nonetheless

"I expect s," he said "The worst of it will be telling the sharpshooters"--he jerked his head toward the wall, where Brianna’s voice led with Jamie’s in muffled conversation--"what the problem is They’ll be very kind--like one is to so out my mortar, and reached up to put it away in the cupboard

"Bree’s only worrying about you, because of this Regulation trouble But Ja; the chances of you needing to shoot soot binocular vision, either," I added, as an afterthought "Except for owls Hawks and eagles can’t have; their eyes are on either side of their heads Just tell Bree and Jaht at that, and stood up, dusting off the skirts of his coat

"Right, I will" He waited forthe door to the hall foruely toward his eyes "I was born with it, I suppose?"