Read Online Nancy Atherton by Aunt Dimity [14] Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon - Free Book Online

was at
    school. And I have a ready wit. A weedy child with a silly name
    learns early on to fight with words rather than with fists.”
    “I think words are always better than fists,” I said.
    “You’re not a ten-year-old boy.” Jinks allowed his gaze to wander freely over me for a moment, then said brightly, “Nor are you
    English, if your accent’s anything to go by. Where are you from?”
    “I’m from the States,” I replied. “I was born and raised in Chicago.”
    “I know it well,” he said. “I met Calvin at a Renais sance festival
    less than an hour’s drive from the Windy City.”
    My eyebrows rose. “Did you work at the Ren fest in Wisconsin?”
    He nodded. “I waited tables at a restaurant in Milwaukee during the week and worked the fair on weekends, but I drove down
    to Chicago whenever I could.”
    “But you’re English,” I said. “How did you end up in Wisconsin?
    Did you discover the Ren fest on the Internet, like Calvin?”
    Jinks wrinkled his forehead and squinted at the sky. “It happened
    so long ago that I can hardly remember. I believe I was studying for
    an advanced degree at the University of Wisconsin at the time. One
    fine summer day some friends and I attended a fair we’d read about
    in a local newspaper. They went home afterwards, like sensible boys
    and girls, but I stayed on . . . and on . . . and on . . .” He threw
    back his head and laughed.
    I gazed at him uncertainly. “You dropped out of university to
    become a . . . a jester?”
    Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon
    45
    “I ran away with the circus,” he acknowledged cheerfully. “And
    I’ve never regretted it. Fantasy feeds my soul. A university degree
    would have been wasted on me.”
    “Don’t let my sons hear you say that,” I said urgently. “I want them
    to stay in school.”
    “My lips are sealed,” said Jinks, drawing a finger across his lips.
    “How, may I ask, did a Chicago girl end up living in England?”
    Since I had no desire to discuss Aunt Dimity with him or any
    other stranger, I said only, “A friend left the cottage to me in her will,
    and my husband and I thought it would be a good place to raise our
    children.”
    “How many children do you have?” he inquired politely.
    “I have two six-year-old boys,” I replied. “They’re twins.”
    Jinks placed his folded hands on the table and said gravely, “If
    I promise not to ruin their university careers, will you promise to
    bring them to the fair?”
    “I couldn’t keep them away if I tried,” I said, laughing at his somber
    expression. “They’ve spent the past month on horse back, spearing
    little plastic rings with wooden poles. They wanted to spear other
    riders, too—purely for the sake of research, you understand—but
    their riding instructor wouldn’t allow it.”
    “Spoilsport,” Jinks scoffed. “Every boy should be allowed to
    behave like a barbarian once in a while.”
    “And you have the scars to prove it,” I said dryly.
    He fell back in his chair, gasping, and clasped his hands to his
    breast, as if I’d stabbed him.
    “Touché,” he croaked.
    I chuckled appreciatively, then asked, “What brought you back
    to England?”
    “Cal,” he replied, straightening. “When he revealed his grand
    plan to create a Ren fest on the other side of the pond, I asked if I
    could tag along. Ten years of listening to Americans speak in dreadful, faux-English accents made me long to hear the real thing again.
    No offense.”
    46 Nancy Atherton
    “None taken,” I said. “Faux-English accents set my teeth on
    edge, too. Are all of the fair’s performers from America?”
    “No, indeed,” he said. “Our new cast is exclusively from the
    UK. Cal spent the last six months in England, Scotland, and Wales,
    recruiting street performers, reenactors, artisans, artists, and food
    vendors. He’s quite a good pitchman, you know.”
    “I do know,” I said, nodding. “My neighbors are a tough audience,
    but he won them over