Read Online Young Bloods by Simon Scarrow - Free Book Online Page B

know, it’s quite churlish to sit there and try to sour the mood. Try to ruin others’ enjoyment of the game. We all have to accept defeat at some point, Arthur.’
    ‘At some point? Or all the time? I think I’d be quite content to have to accept victory at some point. But, of course, you wouldn’t understand that. Nor would William, nor even Gerald. You’re all so clever, so sure of yourselves. Not like me.’
    ‘Come now, that’s not true. I know for a fact that Father thinks you’re something of a musical prodigy.And you should know how much that means to him.You can’t spend your life feeling so sorry for yourself. It would be a criminal waste of whatever ability you have. I know that you are struggling at school. Not everyone has a facility for Latin and Greek.’
    ‘You do,’ Arthur shot back. ‘And William, and Gerald.’
    ‘True,’ Richard conceded.‘And what we find easy, you struggle with. I understand how hard that is to accept.’
    ‘Do you? Do you really?’
    ‘I think so. I may be more intelligent than most, but that is not at the expense of empathy.’
    ‘Well, when you’re the great statesman, or some brilliant general, as I’m sure you will be, then we’ll see the quality of your empathy.’
    Richard reflected a moment before he responded, ‘I don’t deny I dream of achieving some kind of high office, and I will do all in my powers to achieve it. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t cherish such ambitions.’
    ‘Me?’ Arthur turned to him with raised eyebrows and laughed. ‘Me? Don’t be a fool, Richard. I know I will achieve nothing. So why bother even trying? Why waste my time aiming for success I can never have?’
    ‘You’re wrong.That is precisely why you should aim to achieve it. Just suppose, for a moment, that you will never become my intellectual equal—’
    ‘That’s easy enough.’
    ‘Quiet! Just suppose that it’s true. And that you did win high office one day. Through sheer resolve and hard work. Wouldn’t that eclipse any achievement of mine, with all my natural advantages?’
    Arthur stared at his brother for an instant before his gaze dropped back into his lap and he shook his head. ‘Fine words, Richard, but no more than words. I may be a fool, but even I know the world is not like that. I’m the younger son of a minor aristocrat, and what I lack in social position is made worse by having no compensating talent.’
    ‘You have your music.’
    ‘Precisely. I have my music.’ Arthur stood up.‘Now if you don’t mind, I think my presence here is quite pointless. I’m going up to my room. To be with my music. Might as well get used to it.’
    He left the hall and his footsteps rapidly diminished in the distance as his older brothers exchanged amused looks.
    ‘Now, what was that all about?’ asked William.
    ‘Nothing.’ For a moment Richard stared at the doorway through which his brother had left the hall, hoping that Arthur would change his mind. But there was no sound of returning footsteps. ‘Forget about him. Now then, what’s the score?’
     
Arthur felt tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as he climbed the main staircase. He glanced round quickly but there was no one in sight, so he quickly cuffed the tears away. At the top, on each side of the landing, a corridor ran the length of the house. The rooms to the left were being prepared for guests and the muted voices of servants drifted down the corridor. Arthur turned right and headed for the family rooms. The door to the music room was open and light spilled across the floor. As he made to pass the entrance his father, still at the keys of the fortepiano, saw him.
    ‘Arthur, not playing with the others?’
    The boy shook his head.
    Garrett stared at him. ‘What’s the matter?’
    ‘Nothing.’
    ‘Nothing?’
    Arthur shook his head again and made to continue towards his room.
    ‘Wait. Come in here.’ Garrett stood up and dragged the music stool over to another chair beside