The Spook's Apprentice

Начало книги

When the Spook arrived, the light was already beginning to fail. It had been a long, hard day and I was ready for my supper.

‘You’re sure he’s a seventh son?’ he asked. He was looking down at me and shaking his head doubtfully.

Dad nodded.

‘And you were a seventh son too?’

Dad nodded again and started stamping his feet impatiently, splattering my breeches with droplets of brown mud and manure. The rain was dripping from the peak of his cap. It had been raining for most of the month. There were new leaves on the trees but the spring weather was a long time coming.

My dad was a farmer and his father had been a fanner too, and the first rule of farming is to keep the farm together. You can’t just divide it up amongst your children; it would get smaller and smaller with each generation until there was nothing left. So a father leaves his farm to his eldest son. Then he finds jobs for the rest. If possible, he tries to find each a trade.

Читать дальше →