The Hollow Kingdom Read Online Free PDF

not need you. I believe one horse is sufficient to point out the way." He swung up into the saddle. "Now, shall we begin our walk?" he added to thetwo girls. "Or, that is--" he went on, bending toward Emily. "I assume that you
prefer
to walk, too?"
    "I do not!" said Emily decidedly, glaring at her sister. She caught the rider's arm and let herself be swung up before him.
    "Em!" shouted Kate, panicked, but it was too late. He settled her little sister comfortably and put the horse into a plodding walk. Kate stood for a second, hands shaking, unsure what she had expected. Then she had to scramble after them.
    The darkness pressed in around them as they left the bonfire behind. Lightning flickered and flashed. Marak's good humor seemed to have returned, and he soon had Emily telling him all about life at the Lodge. Kate stumbled along at the horse's flank, trying to keep up. She felt like a complete fool.
    "So your name is M. That's a letter, isn't it?" he asked. This notion caught Emily's fancy powerfully, and she couldn't stop giggling.
    "My name is Emily Winslow, but my sister calls me Em. Or maybe she calls me M. I wonder what I stand for." Kate tripped over a root and thought Emily sounded like an idiot.
    "Isn't it funny how humans name a child one thing in order to call it something else? So many names. It's like a game. M's a new one. Kate--now, that's a name everyone knows."
    They were walking through a field of weeds. The weeds were up to Kate's waist, and she kept slipping on the long stalks. "Miss Winslow," she muttered through clenched teeth, but Marak heard her. He must have very good ears.
    "Oh, hello, Kate, are you all right down there? Are you enjoying your walk? So, Miss Winslow. How convenient. You have one name for friends and another for enemies." Emily giggled again. He certainly was making a hit with her.
    "I do not have a name for enemies," Kate answered sharply. "Polite society dictates the use of a person's name." She emphasized
polite;
she just couldn't help herself. "I am Kate within my family and Miss Winslow to strangers."
    "Oh, good, Kate," came the cheerful reply. Really, this was intolerable. "I can keep calling you Kate and still be part of
polite
society. I'm family, you know. Hugh Roberts of Hallow Hill is a relative of mine. His grandfather and my mother were cousins. Their fathers were brothers."
    "Really?" exclaimed Emily excitedly. "I didn't know we had any more relatives." Neither did Kate. She felt her mortification could not go further. Perhaps this man had been on his way to visit his cousin. He must have known all about the two new wards. And now everyone would know how absurdly she had acted. But why had he been so rude? Why the hood, the wordless meeting? Really, it was his fault she had made such a colossal blunder. She was upset to the point of tears.
    "I'm afraid if you're Mr. Roberts's relative, you're no relative of mine," she snapped before she realized what she was saying. Oh, no! After keeping quiet all this time!
    "What?" demanded Emily, and, "Really?" exclaimed her tormentor. He reined in the horse and turned to face her. "What do you mean, you're not a Roberts? I thought you were living with your great-aunts."
    "Oh, Em, I'm sorry," faltered Kate, looking up through the darkness at the pale smudge that was all she could distinguish of her sister's face. "It's old news, really; no one minds. Our great-grandmother was adopted into the family, that's all."
    There was a pause. Then Marak urged the horse back into a walk.
    "I can't say I'm sorry," he said thoughtfully. "New blood is very good for the Hill. But which great-grandmother are you talking about?" Thoroughly cowed, Kate told the story of Elizabeth'sadoption, Adele's death, and their own consequent arrival, but she was rather scandalized when Marak laughed at all the wrong places.
    "That's not how my mother told that story, Kate," he said carelessly. "I wouldn't believe everything that fool Roberts tells you." Emily