‘Out!’ Jack yelled at them. ‘I want you all out, now!’ Any of them that dared to ask questions were ignored or berated. Within minutes the house and buildings were empty and Jack was alone in the house that had once belonged, still belonged, to one of the only people in his life who had befriended him. He ate his way through the larger part of a fruit cake and drank half a bottle of wine but they did nothing to comfort him. Life was putrid. There was no sense in expecting it to be otherwise. He had been foolish enough to believe that he might find acceptance in the world, but it wasn’t so. They were all using him in one way or another; Lord Gordon, his wife, his daughter; not one of them cared about him in the slightest. Even Keithly, he reflected bitterly, had only delivered him to Gordon as a way of getting his revenge. He was still a frog. He would never be anything else. But he would not play along with their games. And no other innocent victim would ever be put through a similar torment.
