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Year One—Arrival
Dear Mum,
Arrived safely, but guess you’d have heard if the train had jumped the tracks. Ha, ha! I’ve got Mrs. Grass as housemother this term, wouldn’t you know. My bad luck. I was hoping for Mrs. Pigeon. Sharing with a new boy, too. They spread them out, putting them with us to “ease their transition” as Grass says, rather than clumping them altogether like a herd of sheep. His name’s Ethan Rayne and he’s from somewhere in the Midlands, I think. Seems alright.
Forgot my bat, so tell Richard not to dare touch it. And don’t forget to keep Jessica out of my room—you promised!
Love,
Harry
Dear Mother,
We were met at the station by our new housemother, Mrs. Grass. She seems very nice and concerned for our welfare, but I miss you dreadfully, all the same.
I’m very much looking forward to school and when you see Sir Reginald on Thursday, please thank him again for me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being given this opportunity. I’m rooming with a boy named Harry, and this is his second year here, so he’ll be able to
help me get acclimatedshow me the ropes. School is wonderful, and would be absolutely perfect if you were here to share it with me.
Your loving son,
Ethan
Dear Andy,
How’s Eton? Just started term here and I got bloody Grass instead of Pigeon. I just knew it! That woman is like a bloodhound, checking up on you and always wanting to know where you’re off to and with who—she’s worse than my mum! Got a new roomie and I mean new. Bit of a ponce, sucks up to Grass and reads Shakespeare for fun. He’ll be Head Boy in no time! Got any plans for hols? Maybe you can come stay with us for a bit.
Harry
Dear Mum,
Mind if Andy comes to stay for Christmas Holidays? If it’s alright, I said you’d ring his mother. Thanks.
Love,
Harry
Dear Mother,
The housemother, Mrs. Grass is very nice and really looks out for all of us. I’m doing well and learning a lot, but looking forward to seeing you at Christmas Holidays.
Your loving son,
Ethan
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Year Two
Dear Andy,
How are things going at Eton? Maybe I can stay with you at Christmas holidays? I’ll have to go home for Christmas itself, of course, but maybe mum could bring me over on Boxing Day for the rest of the hols. Ask your mum and then have her ring mine.
Had a brill food fight last night! Think I’ve got treacle still stuck in my ear. The sixth formers made Rayne and some of the younger boys get up as girls. Rayne actually looked half decent. Pierce certainly noticed! Ha Ha! Don’t forget to ask your mum.
Harry
Dear Mother,
Things are going well, but I’m looking forward to the Christmas Holidays and especially to seeing you and Sir Reginald. There was a party last night to which I was invited. There were
abundant refreshmentslots of food available, and then we participated in a masquerade.
Your loving son,
Ethan
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Dear Andy,
Can’t believe it’s time for Summer Hols already. The parents are dragging me off to Italy for some culture. Don’t suppose you could talk your mum into letting you come along? A fortnight with just Richard and Jessica will drive me bonkers! Richard thinks he can do everything I do and Jessica is such a brat!
We’re going to Florence, Venice and Rome. Bet Rayne would love Rome. Says he’s C of E like the rest of us, but I think he’s really RC and doesn’t want anyone to know—he gets up early and sneaks off to Mass all the time. Don’t know how he manages to get in and out like that!
He’s not a bad guy, just not really one of us, you know? Tell me what your mum says about hols.
Harry
Dear Mother,
No, I haven’t attended any parties or get-togethers lately. I just don’t have the time for it, with exams coming up. I really need to concentrate on studying. I don’t want to disappoint you, you mean the world to me, but I feel I must concentrate on schoolwork, and that rather precludes popularity. I see quite a bit of my roommate, Harry Spencer, and an older boy, Charles Pierce, has taken an interest in me.
It would be wonderful to go to Brighton for a day trip during the holidays, if that’s what you’d like to do. You deserve some enjoyment for yourself, Mother.
Your loving son,
Ethan
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Year Three
Dear Lady Jane,
Thank you very much for your invitation to join your family in Gastaad for Christmas. I would like that very much. Andy wrote that you were getting him a new pair of Head skis for Christmas. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you let mum know that, the next time you speak with her?
And if you could also causally mention where you got them and suggest I’d like a pair, too, that would be super!
Thanks ever so,
Harry
Dear Mother,
My close friend, Charles Pierce, has invited me to spend Christmas with his family in Devon. I’d very much like to go, but I couldn’t bear the thought of you being alone at Christmas. If you want me to come home, I’d be happy to do so. What would you prefer?
Your loving son,
Ethan
My dearest Ethan,
Of course you should go to the Pierces for your hols! Its a good oportoonity for you. Dont you worry none about me. I’ll be glad to go to Violet and George since you wont be home. Enjoy yourself and mind your manners. I am so proud of you, son.
Your loving mother
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Dear Sir Reginald,
Thank you very much for your kind offer to spend the summer holidays at your home. I am very grateful, and I will be forever in your debt, both for giving me this opportunity to attend school, and for all your help and support with the funeral arrangements. I must confess, I had no idea what to do and your stepping in was a great comfort to me in my time of bereavement.
I had already been offered summer employment at one of the firms owned by the father of my good friend, Charles Pierce, and had accepted prior to your extending your kind invitation. It’s a good opportunity for me, and will enable me to make connections that could prove very useful when I have finished school.
But I thank you again for your continuing interest and support.
In gratitude,
Ethan
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Year Four
Dear Charles,
I can’t begin to imagine what school will be like without you this year. Everything seems alien and cold and empty already. Dante has described the ninth level of hell as being nothing but ice, and that’s how I feel right now—cold and alone and as if everything good and loving in me has been frozen.
Here you are, starting university, making new friends and I am trapped in a frozen wasteland of despair. I’m not sure I can manage without you, Charles. . .
All my love,
Ethan
Dear Charles,
A visiting Fellow of Ancient Languages will be arriving for Lent Term, and I have managed to rearrange my schedule to take three of his classes. It will be a heavy load, but as I have already developed a fair proficiency in Latin and Greek, I could not pass up the chance to learn something about Coptic, Babylonian, and Ancient Sumerian. I’m actually looking forward to a punishing amount of work, as it will give me something to do that does not involve sitting around in a blue funk missing you.
It appears that I have no life without you, Charles, and no one to talk to, so it makes perfect sense that I fill my hours learning languages in which all the speakers are long dead.
Always,
Ethan
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Year Five
Dear Sir Reginald,
I am absolutely overwhelmed at your exceedingly generous offer. I read your letter twice and still wasn’t sure I comprehended it, so I asked the housemother to read it aloud to me, and she confirmed it. I can honestly say, it was totally unexpected!
You have done so much for me already, putting me through Public school, I never thought—I never dreamed. . . Oxford! You’re sending me to Oxford.
Please forgive the disjointedness of this letter, as I don’t think I’ve quite taken it in yet. Oxford!
With my utmost gratitude,
Ethan
Bloody hell, Charles, I’m going to Oxford! My patron/guardian is an “Oxford Man” and he’s made all the arrangements and it looks like I’m off to university after all—at bloody Oxford! I can’t pass this up, Charles. I’ll need to make my own way in the world and a university education will make all the difference. But why the fuck did it have to be Oxford?
I know we had planned on my coming to Cambridge and getting a job so we could be together while you finished university, but I can’t pass this up, Charles, I just can’t! My mind is in total chaos right now. . . I can’t think straight. I hope with all my heart that we can work something out, but Charles. . . I’m going to university! I’ll be able to continue my studies—even if it is at bloody Oxford!
All my love,
Ethan
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Continued in Chapter Three
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