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that this skill was probably more useful to both of us than some of the educational things he’d missed out on, on account of being so busy learning how to take proper care of horses.
    Corporamore rolled his cigar between his fingers and sucked on it from time to time so that the end of it got dark and soggy. He listened, staring at Kevin and glancing at me, until Kevin stopped talking.
    He spoke in a leisurely way, like someone who’d never been in a hurry in his life. The sound of his voice made my whole body feel cold.
    â€œI was prepared to overlook the irregularity of this boy’s arrival,” he said, pointing at me like I was a thing, not a person.
    â€œAnd in any case, as I understand it, he’ll be gone by Sunday. Furthermore, Mrs. Kelly had a part in bringing him here, which bestows upon his visit the legitimacy it requires. But now, Kevin, I’m beginning to suspect that you’ve lost the run of yourself altogether. What you’ve done is wrong. It’s very wrong indeed. It makes me think that you’ve gotten much too big for your boots. Taking it upon yourself to smuggle a young girl into my home, my estate,my territory without my knowledge and moving her into my deceased son’s quarters? I consider that most disloyal and deceitful, and by rights you should be punished very severely.”
    Kevin was doing his best to stay upright and non-intimidated-looking. Neither of us had a clue what Corporamore was going to say next, and after he said it, we were both very surprised that he had.
    â€œBut,” Corporamore continued, “you see, now that I have met your stowaway, and now that I have a sense of what kind of a girl she is . . . well, I think that given her personableness, and her clearly burgeoning health, we can certainly make room for her here at Blackbrick, and after all, Mrs. Kelly has been needing additional help for some time. Of course, you’re both extremely fortunate that I have decided on this course of action. It lets you off the hook, so to speak, but do not operate under any misconception. What I am saying to you is not an invitation for you to open the doors of Blackbrick to every vagabond you happen to think deserves some shelter. Maggie McGuire, however, is no vagabond. She is welcome to stay.”
    â€œGrand so,” said Kevin, breathing out for what seemed like the first time since we’d entered the room, and I went, “Yeah, great.” I made an effort to smile too, even though I totally did not feel like it.
    â€œI’ll talk to Mrs. Kelly about moving her out of Crispin’s wing,” added Kevin, but Lord Corporamore leaned forwardon his sharp elbows and said, “No. No, she can stay there. It will be useful to have someone to warm up that part of the house, after all.
    â€œThe two of you can show her the ropes and get her organized. Now you may go.”
    He flicked his pointy hand toward the door, and a gold ring on his little finger flashed. Long yellow flames licked at the inside of the fireplace.
    We backed out of the study. All the way down the stairs, Kevin muttered things like “What’s he up to?” and “I don’t trust that man at all.”
    But at the time, I thought that Corporamore was okay, that he had been fairly decent even though he was all pointy and had a horrible voice. I didn’t know the real reason he wanted Maggie to stay. I hadn’t a clue what he was planning for her. I just took him at face value.

    Under the circumstances, it might have been easy to forget that I had to go home, but as the week went on, I knew I had to get back to the Granddad of my own time zone. It was getting urgent. Dr. Sally was probably already sharpening her pencils and freshening up her clipboard for her next visit. I had to be there to help Granddad review for his memory test. And now I had all these details about his life that I could fill him in on, so no one would take him