Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles, #3)(70)

‘More likely he changed his mind,’ said Vic after Bruno had left for choir practice.

‘What are you getting at?’ asked Sebastian, looking up from his prep.

‘I think you’ll find that when Mr Martinez discovered I was Jewish, and Bruno wouldn’t agree to celebrate without me, he called the whole thing off.’

‘I could quite understand him calling the whole thing off because you’re a wet and a weed, Kaufman, but who gives a damn that you’re Jewish?’

‘Far more people than you realize,’ said Vic. ‘Don’t you remember when Bruno invited you to his fifteenth birthday party? He explained at the time that he was only allowed to take one guest, and it would be my turn next. We Jews don’t forget these things.’

‘I still can’t believe Mr Martinez would cancel the dinner for no other reason than that you’re Jewish.’

‘Of course you can’t, Seb, but that’s only because your parents are civilized. They don’t judge people on which cot they were born in, and they’ve passed that lack of prejudice on to you, without you being aware of it. But sadly you don’t represent the majority, even in this school.’

Sebastian wanted to protest, but his friend had more to say on the subject.

‘I know some people think we Jews are paranoid about the Holocaust – and who could blame us after the revelations that keep coming out about what really took place in those German concentration camps? But believe me, Seb, I can smell an anti-Semite at thirty paces, and it will only be a matter of time before your sister has to face up to the same problem.’

Sebastian burst out laughing. ‘Jessica’s not Jewish. A little bohemian perhaps, but not Jewish.’

‘I can assure you, Seb, although I’ve only met her once, she’s Jewish.’

It took a lot to render Sebastian speechless, but Vic had managed it.

The second incident happened during the summer holiday, when Sebastian joined his father in his study to go through his end-of-year report. Sebastian was glancing at the large selection of family photographs on Harry’s desk when one in particular caught his attention: a picture of his mother linked arm in arm with his father and Uncle Giles on the lawn of the Manor House. Mama must have been about twelve, perhaps thirteen at the time, and was dressed in her Red Maids’ school uniform. For a moment Sebastian thought it was Jessica, they looked so alike. Surely it was nothing more than a trick of the light. But then he recalled their visit to Dr Barnardo’s, and how quickly his parents had given way when he insisted that Jessica was the only girl he would consider for a sister.

‘Overall, very satisfactory,’ said his father after he’d turned the last page of Sebastian’s report. ‘I’m sorry you’re dropping Latin, but I’m sure the headmaster will have had his reasons for that. And I agree with Dr Banks-Williams that, if you continue to work hard, you’ve got a good chance of winning a scholarship to Cambridge.’ Harry smiled. ‘Banks-Williams is not a man given to hyperbole, but he told me on speech day that he’s making arrangements for you to visit his old college some time next term, as he hopes you’ll follow in his footsteps at Peterhouse, where of course he was himself the prize scholar.’

Sebastian was still staring at the photograph.

‘Did you hear what I just said?’ asked his father.

‘Papa,’ said Seb quietly, ‘don’t you think the time has come to tell me the truth about Jessica?’ He transferred his gaze from the photograph to his father.

Harry pushed the report to one side, hesitated for a moment, then sat back and told Sebastian everything. He started with how Sebastian’s grandfather had died at the hands of Olga Piotrovska, then moved on to the little girl who had been discovered in a basket in his office, and how Emma had tracked her down to a Barnardo’s home in Bridgwater. When he came to the end, Sebastian only had one question.

‘And when will you tell her the truth?’

‘I ask myself that same question every day.’

‘But why have you waited so long, Papa?’

‘Because I don’t want her to have to go through what you told me your friend Vic Kaufman experiences every day.’

‘Jessica will go through far worse if she stumbles across the truth herself,’ said Sebastian.

Harry was shocked by his next question.

‘Do you want me to tell her?’

Harry stared in disbelief at his 17-year-old son. When does a child become an adult, he wondered. ‘No,’ he finally said. ‘Your mother and I must take that responsibility. But we’ll have to find the right moment.’

‘There won’t be a right moment,’ said Seb.

Harry tried to recall the last time he heard those words.

The third incident arose when Sebastian fell in love for the first time. Not with a woman, but a city. It was love at first sight, because he’d never come across anything so beautiful, demanding, desirable and tempting all at the same time. By the time he turned his back on her to go back to Beechcroft, he was even more determined to see his name printed in gold leaf on the school’s honours board.

Once Sebastian had returned from Cambridge, he began to work hours he hadn’t realized existed, and even the headmaster was beginning to believe that the unlikely might prove possible. But then Sebastian met his second love, which caused the final incident.