Don Juan had been inclined to roll his eyes at Endymion and offer up a dry, sarcastic response along the lines of Since eight years ago, that's what they mean when they describe a child as eight years old, didn't you know? Except that he didn't recall exactly how old Kaatjie was, at least not without figuring out what year it was she'd been born and doing the math. On the off-chance that this detail had been included in the letter to his mother, he thought it was in his best interest not to hazard a guess and be wrong. That was almost certainly the sort of thing that would have been held against him. But he didn't like that both of his brothers in their reaction had decided to talk about him rather than to him, as though even when he was the only one with any relevant information they didn't care what he had to say.

"Because I was married to her mother when she was conceived," he said, tone decidedly petulant despite knowing that this would help his case with his mother not at all. "D'you reckon that's evidence enough?" If it had just been Oz to contend with (if this had been another summons to his London house to be lectured about how Don Juan's problems were now becoming Oz's problems and Oz had bigger and more important problems to spend his time thinking about) he might have gone on to offer up some more specific evidence, but he did at least have enough shame to spare his parents and sisters that.

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