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I took a deep breath, and picked up the pencil froer had laid it down I drely as I talked, illustrating the possibilities

"But"--I tapped the pencil on the paper--"if Jemmy were to show as type A or type AB--then his father was not hoenes are the same--and you are" I wrote in the alternatives, to the left of er’s eyes flick toward that "X," and wondered what had h the contender for Jemmy’s paternity could be just anyone, after all Still, I could not bring myself to write "Bonnet"--perhaps it was siht of the man at a safe distance

"Bear in etically, "that type O is very corunted, and sat regarding the chart, eyes hooded in thought

"So," he said at last "If he’s type O or type B, he may be mine, but not for sure If he’s type A or type AB, he’s not er rubbed slowly back and forth over the fresh bandage on his hand

"It’s a very crude test," I said, sing "I can’t--I mean, there’s always the possibility of a mistake in the test itself"

He nodded, not looking up

"You told Bree this?" he asked softly

"Of course She said she doesn’t want to know--but that if you did, I was to make the test"

I saw him s, once, and his hand lifted momentarily to the scar across his throat His eyes were fixed on the scrubbed planks of the floor, hardly blinking

I turned away, to give him a moment’s privacy, and bent over thegrid that I could lay across a slide, to help me estimate the relative density of the Plash, a crude eyeball count would have to do

It occurred to ht to test the blood of others on the Ridge--those in the household, for starters Mosquitoes were much rarer in the mountains than near the coast, but there were still plenty, and while Lizzie ht be well herself, she was still a sink of potential infection

"four, five, six" I was counting infected cells under er on his stool behind me, and the sudden memory that had popped up, unbidden, when I told him Brianna’s blood type

She had had her tonsils reht of the doctor, frowning at the chart he held--the chart that listed her blood type, and those of both her parents Frank had been type A, like me And two type-A parents could not, under any circumstances, produce a type B child

The doctor had looked up, glancing from me to Frank and back, his face twisted with embarrassment--and his eyes filled with a kind of cold speculation as he looked at ht as well have worn a scarlet "A" eht--or in this case, a scarlet "B"

Frank, bless him, had seen the look, and said easily, "My as a ; I adopted Bree as a baby" The doctor’s face had thawed at once into apologetic reassurance, and Frank had gripped htened in re back--and the slide tilted suddenly, leaving lass

There was a sound behind er stood up I turned round, and he smiled at me, eyes dark and soft as moss

"The blood doesn’t matter," he said quietly "He’s ht "I know"

A loud crack broke the momentary silence, and I looked down, startled A puff of turkey-feathers drifted past my foot, and Adso, discovered in the act, rushed out of the surgery, the huge fan of a severed wing-joint clutched in his mouth

"You bloody cat!" I said

98

CLEVER LAD

A COLD WIND BLEW froer could hear the steady whine of it past the mud-chinked wall near his head, and the lash and creak of the wind-tossed trees beyond the house A sudden gust struck the oiled hide tacked over the ; it bellied in with a crack! and popped loose at one side, the whooshing draft sending papers scudding off the table and bending the candle flaer moved the candle hastily out of harm’s way, and pressed the hide flat with the pal over his shoulder to see if his wife and son had been awakened by the noise A kitchen-rag stirred on its nail by the hearth, and the skin of his bodhran thruue of fire sprang up from the banked hearth, and he saw Brianna stir as the cold air brushed her cheek

She h, a few loose red hairs gli as they lifted in the draft The trundle where Je bed; there was no sound froer let out the breath he had been holding, and rued briefly in the horn dish that held bits of useful rubbish, co up with a spare tack He ha the draft to a small, cold seep, then bent to retrieve his fallen papers

"O will ye let Telfer’s kye gae back?

Or will ye do aught for regard o’ me?"