House of Windows Read Online Free Page B

door under a high arched gateway.
    ‘Did you take them via Ely Cathedral?’ The voice echoing from above was lemon juice and smoke, like a growl poured over cracked ice.
    ‘Wanted to give you time for a constitutional in case all that shouting earlier had tired you out,’ Tim called back, bounding up the wood-panelled staircase. He gestured them through a doorway to the left as he stepped into a kitchenette on the right.
    Nick stopped at the threshold in surprise. The room was full of light, streaming through a grand bay window taking up almost an entire wall of the spacious study. The floor was uneven burnished wood, the walls entirely books, floor to ceiling.
    ‘Note that young man there.’ Professor Gosswin gestured to where they could hear Tim thumping about in the next room. ‘He is a rude and reckless boy. Your father and godfather always conveyed a very healthy level of terror in my presence. See that you do the same.’
    Nick squinted into the darkness of the corner where the Professor was sorting books on to her shelves. ‘Tim said we had to have a glaring match. You may not have realised this from my interview, but I’ll win.’
    The Professor turned. ‘Indeed,’ she said coldly, looking him up and down.
    Nick met her sharp gaze. ‘Indeed,’ he said.
    ‘I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,’ drawled Tim, shouldering the door open and carrying a laden coffee tray over to the desk, where he had tobalance it precariously on a corner while he moved a stack of papers to create a level space.
    ‘You’re disordering my research, you vandal!’ hissed the Professor, breaking eye contact with Nick to snatch her papers away protectively. ‘How am I expected to work with all these careless children underfoot, creating havoc in my very own set?’
    ‘Sett as in badger?’ Nick whispered to Michael.
    ‘Set as in set of rooms, but badger sett might be more appropriate,’ his father whispered back.
    ‘Did you just refer to me as a badger, Mr Derran?’
    ‘I was asking a question about etymology,’ Nick replied.
    ‘Do you realise that badgers are related to the weasel family? Are you suggesting I am weasel-like?’
    Nick frowned at her thoughtfully. ‘You’re more like a polecat. Those are related to badgers too.’
    ‘Indeed,’ snapped the Professor.
    ‘Indeed,’ replied Nick.
    ‘On which note, I’ll have to excuse myself.’ Michael slid his phone from his pocket, pulled a face at it. ‘Got a text. I’m needed at the office. Knew I had to get off soon.’
    ‘It’s much better that you go now so we can move the conversation on to more civilised matters.’ The Professor turned her back on him in clear dismissal. ‘We’ll see you again far too soon, I dare say, now that you are once again resident.’
    ‘Bye, Dad,’ said Nick.
    ‘And you,’ she said to Tim, the moment the door had closed behind Michael. ‘Off you go, Mr Brethan.’
    ‘Um …’
    ‘Did you just “um” at me? Go away, I said. At once. Instantly .’
    ‘She’s dead fond of me really,’ Tim stage-whispered to Nick.
    ‘You are an odious creature, Mr Brethan. You are always smiling . I have endured quite enough of your buffooning about for one day.’
    ‘See ya, Nick! Bye, Prof.’
    ‘Odious boy!’ shouted Professor Gosswin, turning quite purple with the effort, as Tim slammed the door behind himself. ‘What are you looking at?’ she snapped at Nick.
    ‘Are you imperial purple, do you think?’
    Professor Gosswin stepped back to look at herself in the mirrored surface of a brass plate on the wall. ‘Certainly. Imperial from imperator . You should think of me as such in relation to your chances of success at Cambridge.’
    ‘I thought you were a Law professor?’
    ‘Mr Derran, I am the College’s only current Life Fellow, in residence in these rooms since before your father trod these halls. I am considered one of the great minds of several Cambridge generations. The execrable Mr