Best Kept Secret
gates, Sebastian jumped out even before he’d had time to pull on the brakes. Harry watched as his son ran through the gates and disappeared into a
melee of red blazers in which he was indistinguishable from a hundred other boys. He never once looked back. Harry accepted that
the old order changeth, yielding place to new.
He drove slowly back to Barrington Hall and began to think about the next chapter of his latest book. Was it time for William Warwick to be promoted?
As he approached the house, he spotted Jessica sitting on the top step. He smiled as he brought the car to a halt. But when he climbed out, the first thing she said was, ‘Where’s
Seb?’
Each day, while Sebastian was away at school, Jessica retreated into her own world. While she waited for him to return home she would pass the time by reading to Winston about
other animals, Pooh Bear, Mr Toad, a white rabbit, a marmalade cat called Orlando, and a crocodile that had swallowed a clock.
Once Winston had fallen asleep, she would tuck him up in bed, return to her easel and paint. On and on. In fact, what Emma had once considered the nursery had been converted by Jessica into an
art studio. Once she had covered every piece of paper she could lay her hands on, including Harry’s old manuscripts (he had to keep his new ones locked up), with pencil, crayon or paint, she
turned her attention to redecorating the nursery walls.
Harry didn’t want to curb her enthusiasm, far from it, but he did remind Emma that Barrington Hall wasn’t their home, and perhaps they ought to consult Giles before she escaped from
the nursery and discovered how many other pristine walls there were in the house.
But Giles was so smitten with the new arrival at Barrington Hall that he declared he wouldn’t mind if she repainted the whole house inside and out.
‘For heaven’s sake, don’t encourage her,’ begged Emma. ‘Sebastian has already asked her to repaint his room.’
‘And when are you going to tell her the truth?’ Giles asked as they sat down for dinner.
‘We can’t see that there’s any need to tell her yet,’ said Harry. ‘After all, Jessica’s only six, and she’s hardly settled in.’
‘Well, don’t leave it too long,’ Giles warned him, ‘because she already looks upon you and Emma as her parents, Seb as her brother, and calls me Uncle Giles, while the
truth is she’s my half-sister, and Seb’s aunt.’
Harry laughed. ‘I think it will be some time before she can be expected to grasp that.’
‘I hope she never has to,’ said Emma. ‘Don’t forget, all she knows is that her real parents are dead. Why should that change, while only the three of us know the whole
truth?’
‘Don’t underestimate Sebastian. He’s already halfway there.’
7
H ARRY AND E MMA were surprised when they were invited to join the headmaster for tea at the end of Sebastian’s first term,
and quickly discovered it was not a social occasion.
‘Your son’s a bit of a loner,’ declared Dr Hedley, once the maid had poured them a cup of tea and left the room. ‘In fact he’s more likely to befriend a boy from
overseas than one who’s lived in Bristol all his life.’
‘Why would that be?’ asked Emma.
‘Boys from far-flung shores have never heard of Mr and Mrs Harry Clifton, or his famous uncle Giles,’ explained the headmaster. ‘But, as is so often the case, something
positive has come out of it because we’ve become aware that Sebastian has a natural gift for languages that in normal circumstances might have been missed. In fact, he is the only boy in the
school who can converse with Lu Yang in his native tongue.’
Harry laughed, but Emma noticed that the headmaster wasn’t smiling.
‘However,’ Dr Hedley continued, ‘there may be a problem when it comes to Sebastian sitting his entrance exam for Bristol Grammar School.’
‘But he came top in English, French and Latin,’ said Emma proudly.
‘And he scored one hundred per cent in maths,’ Harry reminded the headmaster.
‘True, and all very commendable, but unfortunately, at the same time, he languishes near the bottom of his class in history, geography and natural sciences, all of which are compulsory
subjects. Should he fail to reach the pass mark in two or more of these, he will automatically be rejected by BGS, which I know would be a great disappointment for both of you, as well as his
uncle.’
‘Great disappointment would be an understatement,’
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