by Joan Aiken
I said: "I never knew. I thought, the whole time, that she was a boy!"
"She must be quite a doughty young lady, this Juana," said my grandfather.
"Oh, Grandfather! If you knew the things she had done—the things she dared. There is nobody like her!" Surely, I thought, she is not intended to be a religious? Expiation for the tragic death of her Aunt Laura? And then another blinding flash of revelation came to me. Her Aunt Laura—
"Is she a handsome young lady?" my grandfather was inquiring suavely.
"You could hardly say so. Oh, I don't know—I have only seen her thin and scrawny and half starved, with her hair cut off—"
And her lies and her thefts, I thought; her deceits and her poetry and her nonsense and her kindness. No, there is nobody like her. I have to see her again.
"Well, you must tell me all about her," said the Conde. He added, half to himself, "Very old, honorable race, the Euskara. 'Notoriamente hidalgos.' Hmm. Also about the Abbot of St. Just. I have had a most singular letter from a worthy man who signs himself Fr. Antoine at that establishment. He tells a strange rigmarole. But that, I think, must wait until tomorrow, perhaps, for you are beginning to look somewhat weary."
Could I ever tell that tale to Grandfather? I wondered. It seemed, here, like news from another world.
"I suppose that as soon as you are rested you will be wanting to gallop off and visit all those other disreputable friends that you seem to have made on your travels."
"Oh, yes, Grandfather, I shall! Sam and Don Enrique—the good sisters who are looking after my mule in the convent at Santander—and Don José Lopez and Nieves—I hope that some of them may come and visit me here."
"Well, well," he said indulgently, "we can do with the sound of young voices about the place. It has been quiet for too long. Run along, now, however, to your bed. It is a great happiness to me to have you back with us, Felix."
But after I had kissed him good-night and left his presence, I did not go directly to bed. I was too restless for that. I went out into the courtyard and looked up at the stars—the huge, cold, blazing stars of north Spain.
Those same stars, I thought, were blazing down on Juana in the Forest of Iraty—or wherever she was now.
I remembered her poem:
"A strand of hemp, a silent star
And the wind's lullaby ...
A taste of salt, a touch of tar
And a sorrowful good-bye..."
I had left out a couple of lines, the poem was not quite fast in my head yet, but I would scan them when I went in. I felt the paper crackle in my jacket pocket.
Repeating those four lines again, I wandered on into the stableyard. And there a purring shadow detached itself from a pile of sacks and came to rub its head against my leg.
My old cat Gato, waiting for me. I picked him up, buried my nose in his hay-scented fur, and made much of him, thinking of all that awaited me in the coming days: There were friends to see, visits to pay, old tasks and occupations to resume.
And now, as well, I had another journey to make.
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JOAN AIKEN (1924–2004) was the author of many books for adults and children, including Black Hearts in Battersea and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Her 1968 novel, The Whispering Mountain, was a Carnegie Medal Honor Book and winner of the Guardian Award. She was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to children's literature.
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Don't miss Felix's other adventures!
In the first book of the trilogy, twelve-year-old orphan Felix Brooke is given a letter that contains a clue to the whereabouts of his father's family. So he gladly leaves his unhappy home in Spain to follow the trail. But it's a long way to England, and many dangers stand between Felix and his destination.
In the thrilling conclusion to the trilogy, eighteen-year-old Felix is summoned to rescue three children kidnapped by their father, an escaped inmate who is allegedly mad. Felix leaves his studies at college and accepts the dangerous mission in hopes he'll be reunited with his true love along the way. But when it seems the rescue party is being followed, Felix fears they are being led into a trap.
Praise for this trilogy:
"Each leaves the reader eager for more."
—VOYA (5Q—highest rating)
"I can't recommend these too highly."
—novelist and reviewer Amanda Craig in
The Independent on Sunday
"These books get better with each reading."
—School Library Journal
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