Chapter 104

BACK IN ARAGONI, we slipped back into the normal rhythm of our daily lives. Just before school began in September, we learned that Father had pulled off a miracle. Rufus had flown in from South Africa, and Trevor had persuaded Algernon Parker to be in the Duchy at the same time. Trevor and his father had escorted the two men separately and had contrived to arrive in Father’s private office at the same time. The initial confrontation had not been pretty.

“Then,” Trevor said, “Grandfather told them both to shut up. He lectured them for a several minutes about family solidarity and told them to go into a closed room and not come out until they’d settled their differences. Nobody knows what transpired in that room, but nearly an hour later they emerged in a state of guarded wariness, and I think time will take care of that.”

“So,” I said, “now we have a foothold in South Africa.”

“That we do, and it’s in one of the better wine-producing regions, to boot.”