Part 30

          "Well.  Over here, you'll see I have a collecti---"  He freezes, silent, and a moment later I realize why: the crunch of heavy footsteps on fallen leaves and bracken outside.
          Avery motions for me to be quiet, and blows out the candle.  We wait, motionless, straining to hear what's going on outside.  Is he worried he'll be in trouble for being out here?  Or just loathe to give away the location of his 'secret' clubhouse?
          I'm still trying to decide if it's two sets of footsteps or just one, when they stop a short ways away.  There's the sound of something being dumped on the ground - garbage pile, maybe?
          "There.  Now that's done, will you tell me?"  A man's voice, but muffled by the wall of the hut and a slight distance from us.
          "Well.  You know I really oughtn't to - and mind, I have this information second-hand.  So it may not even be true, but the boy I learned it from was pretty certain it was."  A woman's voice, older, a little nasal and "country" sounding.
          "You don't have to tell me gossip is gossip, and it's not as though I'm going to confront the Missus or Master about it."
          "I should hope not!  Well, as I said, I heard it from Jacob, that serving boy the other Master Mason had with him when he visited.  He didn't mean to let it slip, but the two older children.  You know how they don't look much like the Master at all.  Did you notice the resemblance between Master Avery and that Mr. Harris that was asking around at the carriage house last week?"
          There's a long pause, and the air in the little fort suddenly feels very thick and ominous.  For Avery to be hearing this kind of rumor--- but I can't exactly clap my hands over his ears, he's heard enough already.
          "Well now.  I reckon there was a bit in common between them."
          "And you saw how fast he took off when Master's carriage came 'round the bend."
          "I would too, if it wasn't him that paid me!  He's doesn't exactly have many friends, especially in this town."  There's something a little familiar about this voice, and I wonder if it isn't Joseph, the stableboy. Or, man, I suppose, at this point in time.
          "Well.  That Jacob once told me that his Master couldn't father any children on his Missus, may she rest in peace, and that he was awful surprised our Master had so many children, them supposed to be brothers and all.  And then later on, he had this letter from what I bet was that same Mr. Harris, addressed to the Missus, but when he took it into the house, Master was in the room with Missus, and he let out such a roar!  That little Jacob came running out white as a sheet, and said Master'd torn it up and thrown it into the fire, saying he wouldn't have any of her old lovers come courting under his nose like that."
          "Well, now, maybe he's just an old beau of hers, then, before she met the Master."
          "Now how can you say that, when those two children of hers don't look a bit like him?"
          "Looks don't always run true in a family."
          "Ah, but blood will out.  Always does in the end.  You just wait until that Avery's grown, and see if he isn't the picture of that man Harris."
          "Well.  I'm not so sure on that - and anyway, what good would it do anyone for word to get out?  It would only hurt everyone in the family.  You have better have not even told me, I hope you haven't gossiped it around any more."
          "Well!  Didn't you just keep on me 'til I told ye?"
          "...I didn't know it was such a troubling bit of gossip.  But I'm glad to know it's out there at least.  I try and look out for those little ones when I can, you know, so the more I know about what's said, the better I can do it."
          "That's true enough.  But come along back with me now, it's gotten quite dark and I've still some cleaning to do in the kitchen.  Your eyes is younger than mine, help me find this path back to the house."

          Avery and I listen in silence as the two sets of footsteps recede.  When it's clear they've gone, I kneel down next to him and look into his eyes as best I can in the faint light.  "Avery.  I want you to understand, that was just gossip.  She doesn't know for sure it was true.  And even if it is... well, family's more about the people who take care of you all your life.  That's what's important, and what real family is."
          He sniffles a little, and I do put my arms around him this time, holding him close as his shoulder shake for a few minutes.
          "But... she's right, I just know she is."  His voice is muffled into my shoulder, and trembles a little - but there's a strength under the surface still, a confidence to his words.  "Father doesn't really care for us at all, he never has.  He can't hardly stand the sight of Evelyn and I.  And Calvin... well, I don't know about Calvin, but he upsets both Mother and Father, and I don't know why, it's something different I think.  I don't know.  But we don't look anything like him, and Mother... well.  Mother stays in town with her friends an awful lot."  There's an edge of coldness to his voice at this last, and I wonder again if he's older now than I'd at first guessed - or if it's just the world-weariness that some children gain far, far too early when the life they've been living hasn't been quite that of a child.  It's clear he takes his duty to protect Evelyn seriously - probably, I fear, more seriously than the adults do.