Francis Xavier and the Devil E-Book

Suzann Dodd

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Some times in life, there is no choice.   The decision is success or failure.  When one can't afford failure, they must go for success.  And so Francis Xavier made his bargain.

Leseprobe

Suzann Dodd

Francis Xavier and the Devil

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG80331 Munich

Chapter One

Memory

Summoned to his father's study; a room no one entered without invitation.

It was always night in the study. Thick dark curtains; what colour were they? Forest green? Mud Brown? They were always drawn. They ran ceiling to floor, covering two walls. No light could penetrate those heavy curtains, not in, not out.

On one uncurtained wall were bookshelves; mahogany, floor to ceiling, filled with books he could not touch. On occasion, at odd points,  his father would bring one to him, expecting him to study it and answer questions.

This always caused great fear that he would miss the significant points, not memorise the required ideas, not understand the point or purpose.

Francis Xavier came to dread books, they were another opportunity for him to disappoint his father.

Chapter Two

Memory

It was winter, his ninth winter. He remembered the fire burning in the grate, he smoke of the wood adding to the smoke of the thick cigars the men were smoking.

The study, dark and thick and heavy with smoke, the windows behind the curtains slightly opened, to beg cold air into a room one could suffocate in. A room of power.

All the men wore dark suits, real suits; jacket, vest, tie, collar, cuff links. Men, important men, always dressed in suits. Always.

The Memory

The men filled the two sofas, the four chairs. And he, nine year old Francis Xavier Kirkpatrick, summoned to the study.

He was dressed in his best suit, hair slicked down, face scrubbed. The door was opened for him by Young Seamus, who guarded the door.

He remembered to stand tall, walk in measured step.

He was introduced to the men, looking into their eyes, repeating their names to himself, then saying, "Good to meet you, Mister---" and clasping their hands in a firm grip.

The words of his father, repeated over and again, chanted in his mind;