House of Windows Read Online Free PDF Page A

Brethan aside, I am generally accorded the respect and fear that are my due. Now, I recall you telling me quite frankly, on our brief first meeting at your interview, that you were of exceptional intelligence, without being a genius. On that basis, while you may be advanced for your age, I am advanced for mine .’
    ‘So advanced squared.’
    ‘I think you will find it is an exponential function. Now, sit down … No, not there , you foolish child, there ! In front of the chess board.’
    ‘I don’t play chess,’ Nick said.
    ‘Then you have even more to learn than I thought. It is quite ridiculous how ill-prepared students are becoming. No more excuses. Make your move.’
    Nick stared into Professor Gosswin’s cold, dark eyes and tried not to think how very much like a polecat she looked at that moment: a polecat in its den, getting ready to show its teeth. There wasn’t a hint of a smile around the thin lips, the lined eyes, just the sharp intelligence of a predator.
    A year ago, at his Cambridge admissions interview, the Professor had greeted him with the disconcerting statement ‘Three years of your father and godfather for my pains and now they send me you to look at.’
    ‘I think I’m meant to be looking at you too,’ Nick had replied and, against the odds, Professor Gosswin had smiled.
    ‘You may have all day, Mr Derran,’ she snapped now, ‘but if I have to endure your company then it shall be in the service of equipping you with at least a little skill. Now make your move .’

    ‘Hey, Nick!’
    He looked up to see Tim hurrying his way from a small courtyard by the chapel. A very pretty girl was staring after him. Nick watched her hands rise into the air, clenching intofists, her face distorted with fury, before she turned in a whirl of glorious dark hair and stalked away.
    ‘So you survived the Dragon’s Lair,’ Tim said.
    Nick gave him a flat stare.
    ‘Right. Sorry. Forgot you’re not convinced by my startling wit. You’re missing out, you know.’
    ‘No one’s watching, Tim. You don’t have to be nice to me now.’
    Tim was either a much better actor than Michael or he was genuinely puzzled by this response, his face twisting into a bewildered frown before Nick had even finished speaking. ‘Why would anyone be watching?’ he asked. ‘You don’t have some weird paranoid … Um, I mean, you’re not Asperger’s or schizophrenic or anything, are you? Not that that’s a problem, but—’
    ‘I’m not an idiot savant,’ Nick interrupted.
    ‘Right. Good to know.’
    ‘And I’m not a genius either, in case you were wondering.’
    Tim grinned. ‘I wasn’t actually, but I suppose that’s good to know too. Grist for the rumour mill and all that. Our porters are gossips but they’re nothing to our manciple.’
    ‘Your what ?’
    ‘Manciple. Like the butler of the dining hall.’
    ‘Manciple. Got it. Anything else?’
    Tim sighed. ‘Nope. I get the message loud and clear. I’ll get out of your hair. But maybe you could have a go at losing the chip on your shoulder, Nick. Sometimes people really are just trying to be nice.’
    Nick watched him set off across Front Court, suddenly cold in the bright sunshine as he tried to think of something to say, even though it was already too late to do more than make a fool of himself by shouting. Tim ducked instinctively as he reached the low, narrow passage into North Court and glanced back over his shoulder. He grinned, raised his hand in a brief wave when he saw Nick looking, and Nick had time to answer both the smile and the wave before Tim was on his way again.
    Don’t screw it up before you’ve even started , he told himself as he set off out of College.
    He turned left, thinking to go down by the river, but quickly changed his mind when he saw a horde of ravening French tourists swarming up narrow Garret Hostel Lane. Just as he was about to turn the corner to follow Trinity Lane up to the centre of town, a small door opened within the