”It’s half my own fault,” he mumbled, “if not more. You were already badly upset and I should have made certain you knew how to operate a top-break revolver before we even set foot through the gate. It’s just there’s so much to remember, sometimes even experienced guides forget little things like checking up on what your partner knows.” A crook of his lips and an embarrassed flush surprised her. “And, well, I’m not really used to halving a partner along.”
Margo found it sudden y impossible to swallow properly “I’m starting to understand, Malcolm. Really, I am. I’m studying every minute we’re here. I’m trying to learn how to learn, not just what to learn.”
Malcolm touched her chin. “That’s a good beginning, Margo. We’ll give it another go, shall we?”
Her eyes filled in turn. Scouting was about so much more than just adventure and money, that for the first time, Margo wasn’t sure she had what it took. She dashed knuckles across her eyes and sniffed hugely. “Thanks, Malcolm. Ever so.”
He tousled her short hair. “Well spoken, young Smythe. It’s barely gone noon. You have a good stretch of London left to study.” His grin took any possible sting out of the words.
Wordlessly, Margo set herself the task of trying to understand what she saw around her, rather than just staring at it like a sun-struck tourist.
Margo studied hard for the duration of their stay. She learned-slowly and painfully-but she learned, nonetheless. Malcolm grilled her endlessly in the evenings with help from John, who was amassing quite a wealth of notes for his own research. Margo recorded observations in her personal log each evening, while they were still fresh in her mind. Even she was surprised by the detail she could recall when she put out the effort.