Dukes

Cap. 8 Love tunnel

The next day both of them were completely wrecked, due to the few hours of sleep. They woke up at the same hour and had their lesson with Mr. Green. Then after lunch Mrs. Becket was waiting for them in her study. They entered the room to find a giant blackboard with the scariest words they had ever read on it: Math tutoring.

Mrs. Becket: "Welcome to your first economy lesson"

Eddy: "But...on the blackboard is written math..."

Mrs. Becket: "Yes, because you cannot learn economy without math"

She gestured to a man in the back of the room to join them. The man waltzed toward the blackboard; he resembled a celery: pale, skinny, with a velvet dark green jacket. He smiled at the two boys and took a piece of chalk.

Mr. Edwards: "Good afternoon guys, I'm Mr. Edwards and I will be your math teacher"

Both: "Good afternoon Mr. Edwards"

Mr. Edwards raised his brows and looked at Mrs. Becket.

Mr. Edwards: "You educated them well, I see"

Mrs. Becket: "Glad to hear that"

Mr. Edwards: "Ok...who amongst you can tell me what is..."

***

Some years flew by in that strange new found routine: music, math and economy. On Saturday afternoons, discussion about the projects for the city, and on Sunday business meetings. They were blooming into young bachelors and it didn't take long for the marriage proposals to come copious. Mrs. Becket didn't want her young men to get married before their 20th birthday: she had to marry too young and that decision had brought her a sad life, and she didn't want this for her sons.

Meetings had become a little difficult due to the new disposition of their rooms. After the lights were out the boys alternately snuck in each other's rooms, tiptoeing in the empty corridors. It was risky: many times, the one in the corridors had to hide behind the curtains because the butler was on his way, and many times they had to make up excuses when the servants didn't find them in bed in the morning.

Brett slid out of his bed and tiptoed out of the room to join Eddy. He was about exit his room when he heard the butler coming. He quickly ran back into bed and pretended he was asleep. The butler passed his room and walked away. Brett sighed in relief and tiptoed once again for the door. He walked in the darkness of his room, but this time he didn't notice that he was walking a little bit on his left, so he stumbled on the armchair. He started to jump holding his foot and searched for the nearest wall to lean on. He felt the curtain with the fingertips of his free hand and grabbed it while jumping closer to secure his weigh on the wall. He leaned on his side but the wall opened under him and he fell right onto the ground. It was not his room: it was too cold. He squeezed his eyes but it was too dark, he tried to stand up but his hand hit something that made a glass noise. Hoping it was a lantern, Brett stretched his arm and reached for the mysterious object, he ran his hand on the glass till he was sure it was a lantern bulb. He scanned he ground with his other hand to find a lighter when his foot hit what seemed to be a matches' box. He grabbed it and lighted one. With the dim light of the little stick, he turned on the lantern, illuminating the path in front of him: a long corridor with bare walls and concrete pavement, maybe an old servant's way, not used for years judging from the dust. Brett squeezed his eyes but the hallway seemed to have no ending.

Brett: "Well let's see if I can get to Eddy"

He said to himself before starting to walk. He left some matches on the way to be sure to find the road back, had he gotten lost. Fortunately, the corridor seemed to follow the main shape of the building and so it was easy for Brett to find the way: straight for 10 m, turn left, turn left, and turn right, straight for 15 m and Eddy's room is on the left, well right in front of Brett this time. He arrived at what seemed a door and if he had done every passage correctly, he should have been in front of Eddy's room. He sighed deeply and took the handle in his hands. Crap it was locked! The door was open but the lock was completely rusty blocking the handle to move correctly. It took a while and some good strength to finally be able to open it. He stepped inside the room and his lantern flashed Eddy leaning over him with an iron stick in his hands