Amanda Scott Read Online Free PDF

with tacks in hand the very next day!”
    “That was years ago, Tommy,” Nick said, grinning at him, “and you asked for it by treating him with all the disdain of your superior years and education, you know.”
    “Well, you didn’t treat him so well yourself, as I recall,” Lord Thomas retorted. “When he snipped the seams of your leather breeches to make them fall apart when you mounted your horse, you pinned his ears back good and proper.”
    “Yes, that was to teach him respect for his elders. You might have done the same with my goodwill.”
    “Well, I might if I’d been a Goliath like you, but even then young Oliver was near as tall as I am. Moreover, though I might have had your goodwill, I’d not have had Ulcombe’s.” Lord Thomas gave an exaggerated shiver. “Your father’s not a man to cross, and he fair dotes on that scapegrace brother of yours.”
    “He might have doted on Oliver then, Tommy, but the lad is fast losing his charm, I’m afraid. You may not credit the news, but my father complained recently that Oliver’s been wasting the ready at an unbelievable pace and said he means to put an end to it. If I’m not mistaken, the long vacation began nearly a sennight ago, so I won’t be surprised if the lad’s crest isn’t soon lowered a bit.”
    The vicar said tolerantly, “As I remember that boy, he was always full of juice and ginger.”
    “He’s spoilt rotten,” Lord Thomas said, not mincing matters. “Oh, he don’t trouble you any, Nick, but you mind my words. If they’ve let him out of Oxford, London’s where he’ll be, and you’ll have your hands full. Just you see if you don’t.”
    “Oliver doesn’t trouble me,” Nick said amiably, “because I don’t allow anyone to do so. I go my own road, Tommy, and let others go theirs. You said a while back that my father is not a man one chooses to annoy. Would you say perhaps that I am the more easily crossed, old friend?”
    Lord Thomas choked on his wine, and the vicar pounded him on the back, saying sternly to Vexford as he did so, “I have never thought you a heedless man, Nicholas, so I shall not pretend to believe you spoke as you did just now without thinking. Nor do I hesitate to tell you to your head that it don’t become you to speak like that to Thomas.”
    “I’ll speak as I choose when he plays the fool.”
    “No one expects you to cherish fools, but neither would anyone who knows you believe you could harm a friend. Indeed, I believe I know you as well as anyone does, so I shall go further and dare to say that no one who knows you would expect you to ignore any fellow human being who appealed to you for help.”
    “I’ll take issue with that, Vicar, for it would depend upon the particular human being in question. In my experience, most petitioners want only to have their paths smoothed for them without having to exert themselves in any way. In the idealistic days of my youth, I lent money to friends and put myself out in other ways to help those I thought deserving. In most cases, not only was the money not repaid, but my so-called friends never expressed any gratitude, and made it clear that they expected to be able to put a hand in my pocket whenever the fancy struck them. I soon learned to be more wary, I promise you, and in the end decided it was best to be and let be.”
    “But surely you would not refuse a friend in need,” the vicar protested, looking at him with a worried frown.
    “Perhaps not, if he were really my friend and really in need,” Nick said with a sardonic smile. He stood up, adding, “It is nearly eight, I believe, and my man will have returned to the inn from the racing stables by now. Since I’ve got horses running tomorrow and Friday that are both favored to win, I ought to have a word with him before he goes to bed.”
    Lord Thomas looked surprised. “Do you mean to say you don’t intend to go back to the tables? But, Nick, your luck is well and truly in vein