May 15, 1665
May 15, 1665Of the many things William Coke regretted in his life, the bargain he’d made with Dickon was certainly one. And he had never regretted it as much as he did that morning.
When he’d first discovered the orphan starving in his doorway, after two weeks given to the necessities of food, clothes and warmth, he’d thought that it might calm the lad if he learned to read. Words, like music, could soothe, it was said, and Coke had assumed, even though the Bible had not impressed him much despite his parents’ and his tutors’ urgings, that the holy book might tame some of Dickon’s wilder jerks and lunges. But the boy remained uninterested; indeed, could not be made to sit even for a minute to trace with his finger the formation of the letter I. Coke had tried a basic grammar
