Queen Read Free

Dressed in their best and
    sworn to good behavior by Jugs, they were driven by old Quinn, the
    hostler, in a fine gig with handsome horses.
        Jamie and Washington took a stiffly formal tea with the Leslie boy and
        girl, attended by their governess, whose manners were as starched as her
        dress and high collar. Afterward, they were taken outside to play in the
        formal gardens of the small castle. They strolled politely through the
        grounds until they came to a fence that bordered a cow pasture. Young Ja-
        mie, the devil in him, dared the Leslie girl to run through the pasture
        with him. She accepted.
        The governess, furious, raced after them, calling on her charge to watch
        her step, but it was too late. The girl slipped on a cow pat and fell to
        the ground. When Jamie went to help her up, he slipped too, in the same
        pat. The girl began to cry, and the governess berated Jamie for what he
        had done. He was suitably contrite at first, but the sight of the primped
        girl covered in cow dung was too much for him, and he started to laugh.
        This infuriated the victim.
        "Go away, you bloody Irish ass!" she cried. The governess boxed her ears
        for her language but not her sentiments, dragged her away, and told Jamie
        he was a horrid little boy, who was never to come near them again.
    Old Quinn drove the boys home, his nose wrinkling at the
        BLOODLINES 9
     
    smell of cow manure coming from the seat behind him, but his eyes
    twinkling with delight at the cheek of his young master. Washington was
    in awe of his slightly older brother, and Jamie could not wait to tell
    Sean.
        That afternoon caused something of a change in Jamie's relationship with
        old Quinn. Previously, the stable master had regarded him as a bit of a
        nuisance, a bothersome boy who had to be taught to ride, and whose
        presence in the stables distracted Quinn from his true passion, and
        disturbed his precious Thoroughbred mares. Following the incident at the
        Leslies', Quinn, who detested everything British except racing stock,
        took more time with Jamie, and found in him a natural talent for riding.
        He encouraged Jamie's interest in horses, and astonished the boy with the
        breadth of his knowledge. He could recount the bloodline of every horse
        in his stable, their ages, sires, and dams, back through several
        generations. He instructed the boy in their care and management, he
        advised him of the potential of any new colt, and by the time Jamie was
        a young man, he had acquired much of Quinn's knowledge, as well as his
        passion. All the animals were divided into separate stables, the racing
        horses in one, the riding horses in another, and the workhorses in a
        third, because, Quinn insisted, the bloodlines could not be mixed.
     
    Jamie's father, James, was often away, on business in Belfast or Dublin,
    but sometimes Jamie was allowed to accompany him to races in which a
    Jackson horse was entered. Then his father was a different man to him.
    Free of the burden of being a parent, free to indulge his love of the
    track, James Jackson was attentive to his son, and taught him something
    of the ownership of racehorses, and the special skills that racing re-
    quired. If his horse won, which his favorite, Crazy Jane, often did, James
    was expansive and bought his son gifts. If their horse was not placed,
    father and son traveled home in mutual, depressed silence.
        Occasionally, his father would entertain, and the breakfast for the hunt
        club would be held at the mansion. These social events were used by James
        to extend and develop his social and business connections with the ruling
        class, with the Leslies and especially Dacre Hamilton.
    10 ALEX HALEY'S