Darkness descended when Lucy wasn’t looking. She waited in her room awake long after her maids had gone to sleep. With the darkness came silence, signalling time for all of deeper motives to move. A light knock on her window told her Walter was there to deliver. She moved towards her window at a gliding pace, opening it to let in the cool night air.
“Do you have what I asked?” she asked lightly in a tone one without knowledge would mistake as a whisper, but she was heard as intended.
“Yes, my lady,” Walter answered and passed to her the documents he was given.
“The man, how did he seem?” Lucy asked as she opened the documents.
“Afraid,” Walter answered after some seconds of pause.
“Of whom?” Lucy asked. The light from her table reflected outside well enough to see the dirty blonde hair and deep-set green eyes paused in thought.
“I am not sure he knows,” he said.
“I knew you were one capable of assessing character,”
“You have but met me once, my lady,” Walter countered.
“Once is enough,” Lucy answered.
“Dare I ask why you say so, my lady?”
“You spoke very well for a person of your status. That only meant you had somewhat of an education to affect judgement. The moment I threatened you and your kin, you had the sense of mind to know when to feel fear. Yet you had enough judgement to stay calm even though you were but standing on hot coal,” Lucy flipped through the papers he had brought.
“That says nothing much of presence of head than lack of brawn, my lady,”
"Only very few men would look into the eyes of a newborn and feel fear. It means you see something; something worthy of fear,”
“Does that mean it was a test, my lady and you will not truly harm my family?” Walter asked; curiosity more than hope soaked his voice. Only then did Lucy look up from the papers. She looked almost amused by his tone than his question.
“If I said so, would you believe me?”
“Yes,” He answered before thinking, surprising himself. He more than any felt she probably would still kill his entire bloodline. But why did he answer yes? The lady smiled for the first time since he had seen her.
“Good. That means you’re ready for your next job,” She said handing him a pouch. He looked into it and inside, gold.
Walter froze for a second. For some reason, he saw a light shine on his dark life. A light that felt to him, would burn him inside out. A light some part of him desperately wanted to chase away. Those words from the lady's mouth gave him an impression he could not describe. He knew he felt something; was it anxiety? Was it delight? What was this feeling? Lucy took Walter's silence for confirmation.
"Do you believe anyone would have me as an enemy?" Lucy asked.
"Yes, my lady”
"Why?"
"Some people are born to be killed,” Walter answered. Lucy paused for a moment to stare into green eyes.
"Your impression of me is amusing. As much as people would think it wise to play with me, how many do you think I truly ignore?" Lucy asked.
"None,"
"I guess, I do give that impression,” Lucy sighed.
"The Mclears are a rich family devoid of title in any form possible. But for their riches, they have not one standing in society. They seem to find it amusing biting my skin as I try to make a turn, like sugar ants, you see,” Lucy paused a moment, allowing the air to grow stiff between her and her words.
"You have an impression of Jo Jodanham. Have him look into them for me or don't, it's up to you, really,” Lucy said, causing Walter to frown in confusion. That was no instruction at all.
"I have work for him. Tell him, I want to know each person the headmistress has in her confidence, no matter how insignificant. He will be paid when he delivers,” Lucy instructed.
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"I will,” Walter answered. He knew he had received instructions and had been dismissed, but he waited. She had not truly told him what to say about the Mclears issue.
"Is there something else?" she asked him. She no more stood by the window, but he could see her shadow cast upon the table by the side.
"No, my lady; I shall take my leave,” he left in haste.
Walter was sure of one thing; he needed to leave soon. He had told himself, that it was just a little case of information delivery. But something made him feel uneasy as he was not given a document but had to give instructions himself. This told him the lady was testing him. He had no money but the gold in his pocket, neither did he have the status to give instructions to someone of Jodanham's standing. Confused about how to go about it, he decided to go home instead. He had to figure out how to approach this. The lady did not give him a time limit. He decided he will do it in the morning.
He rode home with a small pouch of gold, and a nest full of thoughts hatching in his head. He arrived home and tied his horse in the backyard stable. He unlocked the door and walked into the house to find it dark and silent.
"Is that you, Walter?" his mother called from her room.
"Yes, Ma,” he answered back. He made his way to his room and walked in to find his little brother asleep on his bed. He looked at the other side of the room, at his brother's bed too small for him to sleep in, and took a seat on the wooden stool by the bedside, rested his back on the wall and closed his eyes. It did not take him long to fall into a deep sleep.
Morning came fast, and Walter woke to find himself on the floor. Shocked more that he did not wake up as he fell to the floor at night, than that he fell at all; he tiredly got up. He washed his face with a bowl of water and used a wet cloth to clean the rest of his body. He looked on his bed to find a clean white dress shirt, dark brown trousers and coat, left for him by his mother. He wore them quickly and went out for breakfast hoping there was still some left on the table. He walked out to find his family eating. He greeted his mother and father before taking a seat.
"You are not going to work today, son?" his father asked.
"No. Someone is covering for me,” Walter answered. It was a lie as far as he could tell. Today was the fifth day of the week; his off day. He could stay back if he wanted, but he had never before, as he knew they needed the money.
"And you're doing what for this?" his father asked.
"Nothing, I covered for him many times. He owes me,” he answered.
"Ma, what are you doing today?" he asked his mother.
"Mother!” she corrected him, “I want to get Amie at least three dresses for the coming white cold. She's outgrown all her dresses,"
"Mother, I get to come right?" Amie, Walter's little sister asked. She was not really little as she was turning seventeen come the white cold and Ma would start fussing about getting her married off. His mother was a lady. Born the last daughter of a baron, she lost her title when she married Pa. This did not deter her from her upbringing, and her need to impart them unto her children. She was all about speaking right, being clean and acting proper. She always seemed to miss her time as a lady and forgets that her children had no status to worry about. His sister did need the clothes, though. She and Pa were the only redheads in the family and he could not say that he had not noticed the way the boys in the village looked at her.
"Of course, you can come. How else will we know if it's your size?" his Ma answered.
"I'll come too, Mother,” he announced, confusing everyone.
"Why? That you got no work today, means you can just go 'bout town lazying?" his father asked.
"No. I have not been to town in a while. I won't take long,” he answered almost lazily, making his father frown. They ate in silence for a while before he got up and went to his room.
He looked again into the pouch of gold since given. He counted twenty gold coins. The lady was generous, he thought for a second, before wondering if she had a motive for doing so. He divided the gold into two. He tied in clothe the remaining ten pieces and hid it under his bed. Placing the leather pouch in his coat pocket, he put on his coat and went out to meet an empty table. His father stood by the door, ready to leave for work. He took out two pieces of gold and handed them to him. His father's eyes grew at the sight of the coins which for a moment glittered, as though to emphasize its splendour.
"I was paid yesterday for delivering the document,” he said and turned away before his father could conjure a protest. He took a seat at the table and waited for his mother to finish with the dishes.
Amie arrived soon after his father had quietly left, wearing a pale pink dress. It was her favourite and the only to still fit her now tall form. As she put on her over-washed cream petty coat, he could tell she was excited. She never gets the chance to go out into town as she was always at home taking care of their six-year-old brother, Allen, or learning proper etiquette from her mother. She did not work like girls her age, as mother said it was unbecoming of a woman, for working was a man's job. He felt bad for his father. While the wives of his peers worked to make sure there was enough income for the house, his wife did not and did not allow her daughter to work either.
His mother always stood by the principles of her upbringing, disregarding the reality of who she now was. Soon his mother finished washing the dishes and went in to freshen up. She too came out in her afternoon dress. His mother's dress, though old, was a memoir of her former status. Though she wore less of them at home, she still had so many clothes from her former life.
Clothes she once hoped to pass to her daughter. Unluckily for her, like Walter, Amie had taken their father's tall genes in contrast to his mother's petite form.
"Allen! We're out into town for a while. Stay in the house. Do not go anywhere. I don't want you going to the neighbours for games of any sort,” She warned strictly.
"Yes Ma," Allen answered from inside his room. Walter did not in any way believe Allen would do as told.
Walter got on his horse and his mother and sister did as well. If anything they had, it was horses. Ten horses stayed in the stable behind their house. They were his mother's dowry. His mother made his father build a good and secure stable as she claimed it was now Amie's dowry.
As their house was far from the village and isolated, people did not know it was there. They never went into the village with them as their mother wished that no one would know of them. She was against riding into town too as she had grown up in a carriage and not on top a horse.