“It’s nothing, nothing,” he murmured, eyes lowered to avoid hers, not even noticing the food in front of him.

Just then, the owl swooped into the window.  Xenophilius let out a huge gasp of relief as a letter dropped onto the table beside her.  She looked over the bird.  It was a long-eared variety¹⁰ in excellent condition, not one of those that normally brought the mail. She turned back to her father and discovered that he still looked fit to burst.  He was staring at the envelope as if it contained his heart’s desire.  Luna picked it up and said, “Daddy, you shouldn’t have gotten me anything special.”  He covered his mouth with his hand in reply, so she examined the envelope.  It was thick and heavy, and made from quality yellow parchment.  Written in a neat but cramped script, in emerald-green ink that must be very costly, was this:

On the other side of the envelope, a beautifully-detailed carving had been pressed into a purple wax seal.  It displayed a coat of arms bearing an eagle, a lion, a snake and a badger surrounding a large letter H.

“Aren’t you,” Xenophilius managed to squeeze out, “going to open it?”

With a twinge of regret at destroying such beauty, Luna cracked the seal.  She couldn’t remember ever seeing her father in such a state of suppressed excitement.  When she opened the envelope, he immediately creaked, “Read it.”