Chapter 12
Perched on his narrow bed so the covers would appear believably ruffled, Daniel eyed the letter lurking by his side. A scant half-hour earlier, he had crept into his family’s little house by the kitchen entrance, reckoning it would be unlocked by this hour, and taking a bowl of hot water upstairs to his small bedroom, he had washed and changed. Now he was listening for his mother’s call to summon him to breakfast without anyone being the wiser.
He had promised himself he’d wait until this evening to open Jolyon’s missive, but his nerves were getting the better of him. He tried to placate himself with warm memories of the early morning, Jolyon shaking him awake, anxious that he would be late for work, eagerly enquiring when they might next meet, bestowing not quite chaste pa
