Meantime, a young man walked up the steps from the audience to the stage and talked privately to the MC, who then held up his hand for order. “Wait, wait,” he said. “Here’s a lad from Osmington asking if he might show. What do you say?” Of course the crowd hollered in favor; onstage, the competitors smirked. The newcomer was trim and fair, with a youthful bit of a beard, dressed in well-worn rustic tweeds. Alec’s eyes widened: he knew the man. Rowena Blunt’s brother, the one with the risible name, Ivanhoe. Van, as they called him, was some years younger than Fred; the two used to go about
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