Sand

“I didn’t suspect anything, since I was just a lad. The vicar confessed that the book had disappeared. Then my aunt decided not to take any more chances and to arrange an unfortunate incident. Something is running out of your pot. Aha, that’s better. Where was I?”

“An unfortunate incident” prompted the fat boy in a deathly-scared voice.

“Well now, why are you so agitated? I’m here with you, which means I’m still alive. Anyway, I was having riding lessons. So my aunt crept into the stable and shredded some kind of trash under the saddle of my poor horse. I learned about all of this later, but on that day Esmeralda bolted and so severely that they couldn’t find me anywhere. She threw me into a thicket in a thick forest. The forest around the estate was impassable, same as the one here. I fell and after that remembered nothing, evidently due to fear. You know how it is, the wind whistling in your ears, everything around you is spinning, and you can’t do a thing about it.

An old lady picked me up. I was such a fine child that she thought she’d keep me herself. At first, I believed that she was my own grandmother, and we lived together for several years, but then by chance I came across the book, which she had concealed beneath a floorboard in the storeroom. I was thunderstruck. In an instant all the memories came flooding back. Without stopping to say goodbye to grandma, I set off for the estate. Once I got there, I was faced with the bitter disappointment and pain of loss. No one recognized me, and they wouldn’t let me into the house; but then the servants told me that my parents were no longer alive, and that the heir to my fortune was a pimply freak who was clearly weak in the head. I swore then and there to restore justice, to find the book at any price and to reclaim all that belonged to me by virtue of my birth.”

Mama was crying, burying his face in his apron.

“Poor boy! I will help you, I will not leave you. Would you like a biscuit, or a dried apple?”

Ghost’s eyes were shining. He embraced Mama and took the proffered biscuit.

“Only, I can’t go there myself; I’m too heavily built for those passages. You need someone to help you; there’s no way you can do it on your own. Ask Nort to go with you. Explain everything to him; he seems like a good lad.

Ghost chewed the biscuit intently.

“I don’t know him at all. I’ll size him up for a week or so, and then we’ll see. Is there any cider left?”

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