8
" Gilan,” she said, “you’re looking well.” And apart from those wrinkles, he was.
He smiled at her. “And you grow more beautiful every day, Pauline,” he replied.
“What about me?” Halt said, with mock severity. “Do I grow more handsome every day? More impressive, perhaps?”
Gilan eyed him critically, his head to one side. Then he announced his verdict.
“Scruffier,” he said.
Halt raised his eyebrows. “’Scruffier’?” he demanded.
Gilan nodded. I’m not sure if you’re aware of recent advances in technology, Halt,” he said. “But there a wonderful new invention called scissors. People use them for trimming beards and hair.”
“Why?”
Gilan appealed to Pauline. “Still using his saxe knife to do his barbering, is he?”
Pauline nodded, slipping her hand inside her husband’s arm. “Unless I can catch him at it,” she admitted. Halt regarded them both with a withering look. They both refused to wither, so he abandoned the expression.
“You show a fine lack of respect for your former mentor,” he told Gilan.
The younger man shrugged. “It goes with my exalted position as your commander.”
“Not mine,” Halt said. “I’ve retired.”
“So I can expect little in the way of deference from you?” Gilan grinned.
“No. I’ll show proper deference….the day you train your horse to fly back around the castle’s turrets. "
― John Flanagan , The Royal Ranger: A New Beginning (The Royal Ranger, #1)
20
" Mum and Dad? All they’re interested in is keeping me cooped up. You know I’m confined to quarters for another week, don’t you?” A smile touched the corners of Halt’s mouth. “I’d heard some rumor to that effect. And of course, there’s no good reason why they’ve done that, is there?” Maddie rolled her eyes and sighed resignedly. “Oh, all right. Maybe I did sneak out and go hunting once or twice . . .” Halt raised an eyebrow and she amended the statement. “Five or six times then. And maybe I was just a little cheeky when they talked to me about it.” The eyebrow, which had just returned to its normal position, went up again. “All right, maybe I was a little more than that,” she admitted. "
― John Flanagan , The Royal Ranger: A New Beginning (The Royal Ranger, #1)
