uncared for, warehouse.
'He might not even be in his office.' Luke couldn't hide the hint of desperation in his voice.
As Alyssa pushed her way into the hallway they both heard a crash coming from behind a door further up the corridor. She looked down at Luke's face and his eyes widened with horror.
'That's his office, isn't it?'
Luke's face was pale as she spoke the words, his eyes transfixed on the door.
oOo
The knock on his office door caused Winterburne to start as he bent on one knee picking up the pieces of the crockery plates that had smashed when he dropped the tray. He looked up and over at the door.
Who the hell is that? he asked himself. He didn't have any appointments.
He stood and carried the tray over to the trolley which had been placed near the window, resting it down.
Winterburne turned and walked across the room, reaching out for the handle of the door just as a second knock came. He turned the handle and swung open the door. A woman stood on the other side, her chestnut-coloured hair hung down to her shoulders, and she had large, brown, oval-shaped eyes giving her a somewhat exotic look. She wore a fawn coloured dress which was finished with a white apron tied around her waist.
'Are you the Captain?' Alyssa asked.
'I am,' Winterburne replied, just as Luke popped his head out from behind his mother. He looked down at the boy and smiled. 'Well, well, well. If it isn't the infamous Master Vawdrey.'
A grin widened on Luke's face.
'Go on,' Alyssa said, digging Luke in the ribs with her elbow.
Luke stepped out from behind Alyssa but the grin had now vanished, replaced by a sheepish look. 'I came to say thank you for letting me go,' he said, in a quiet voice.
Winterburne frowned. 'Letting you go? I don't think our conversation went quite like that, did it, Master Vawdrey. If I remember rightly,' he said, 'I didn't let you go.' He opened the door wide and beckoned the boy into his office. 'My recollection of our meeting is somewhat different. I believe I told you that you were on probation. That's not the same thing.'
Alyssa followed Luke into the office and Winterburne closed the door behind them. 'I take it you are the boy's mother?'
Alyssa nodded.
Winterburne returned his gaze to Luke. 'Stand over there, boy,' he said, 'by my desk.'
He pulled out a chair for Alyssa and offered it to her as Luke sauntered into the centre of the room. The woman sat down and smiled at him.
'What does that actually mean, Captain?' Alyssa asked.
Winterburne guessed that it was likely Luke hadn't actually told his mother much detail about their encounter. 'Well,' he replied, 'it means that I haven't decided what to do with him yet.'
'I see,' she said. 'I'm so sorry, Captain, I suppose it's all my fault. I've tried my hardest to bring him up the best I could, but it's been difficult these past years.'
'Luke did tell me that his father had passed.'
Alyssa nodded, and a look of sadness crossed her face. For the first time since she arrived in Winterburne's office, the woman's natural sparkle seemed to have left her.
'Luke is all I have now,' she said, turning her gaze to her son. 'He's a good boy, really. He has his moments, but don't they all?' She lifted her eyes and looked back at Winterburne. 'He always told me that he was getting the money from odd jobs around the place. You know, the market, the docks, places like that. I had no idea what he was really up to.'
Winterburne was surprised to find himself liking the woman. She was obviously honest, and, he suspected, hard-working too. He had developed a thick skin in his role but this woman seemed vulnerable, and whilst he felt there was never any excuse for breaking the law, he could almost understand why the boy had done what he had for her.
'I need to tell you,' he said, 'that Master Luke, here, has become somewhat of an arch criminal around these parts. He's built himself quite a reputation amongst my men, becoming quite the minor celebrity. They've spent a lot of their time trying to manage his exploits.'
Alyssa looked at her son. 'Oh, Luke, you haven't, have you?' She turned back to Winterburne. 'I'm so sorry,' she said. 'If I'd had any idea what was happening I would have marched him here myself, by the scruff of his neck.' She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, biting her lip as she looked over at Winterburne.
'Well,' he said, 'I did think that he might start to pay back some of the wasted time he's caused us. There's jobs that need doing; sweeping the floor, and cleaning the windows in the Watch House. That would be a good start. I might even pay him a few crowns a week. It wouldn't be much, but at least it's honest, and I can also keep my eye on him. Some of my men's good habits might also rub off on him.' God forbid, he thought to himself.
'That would be very kind of you.' Alyssa flashed her eyes at Winterburne. 'Luke would be very grateful. Wouldn't you Luke?'
Winterburne looked across at the boy who smirked at the pair of them as they flirted with each other.
'Wouldn't it Luke?' Alyssa said again, this time louder.
'Yes, mother.'
Winterburne now felt relieved that he had not done anything rash with the boy when he had first been brought to his office. Acts of charity were not something to which he had been known for in the past, but in this case, he was beginning to believe that he might be able to make a small difference – to society's purses, as well as to these two people's lives, perhaps, especially if he could turn Luke towards legal pursuits.
'Mistress Vawdrey,' Winterburne said, 'Luke and I are going to have a little talk. May I show you out, and I promise I will send him home to you as soon as we have finished.'
'Of course, Captain,' she replied. 'Thank you.' She stood and reached out to shake his hand. 'Please,' she said, 'call me Alyssa.'
Winterburne felt a rush of excitement as she looked at him. He had to admit that she had left an impression. 'Very well,' he said, a smile on his lips. 'I will send him home shortly...Alyssa.'
He took her hand, and was surprised by its softness and warmth as he led her across to the door. He opened it for her and showed her out into the corridor. Winterburne watched Alyssa walk down to the front doors and as she reached the end, she turned and waved at him. Without thinking, he found himself waving back.
After the door had closed behind the woman, Winterburne's attentions snapped back to the boy. He returned to his office and clicked the door closed behind him as he marched across to his desk.
'You like her!' Luke said. The boy had a wide grin on his face.
'I beg your pardon.' The boy had caught Winterburne off guard with the remark that was for sure.
'I saw how you looked at her.' Luke was hopping around like a frog on a hot-plate, clearly amused. 'You like her, don't you?'
'I think you need to be quiet, boy. Stand still.' The worst thing was, Winterburne thought, Luke was right and he hadn't meant to make it seem so obvious. But yes, he did find himself liking the woman.
The grin left Luke's face. 'What are you going to do with me now?'
'That's a very good question,' Winterburne said. 'I've pondered the matter at great length and I've thought of a punishment that will take you a very long time to pay off.'
'How long?'
'Be quiet,' Winterburne said. He took the seat behind his desk and an air of authority came over him. 'With a little luck, what I have in mind might even make a good citizen of you in the end.' He watched the boy. Luke seemed to squirm in anticipation of some imagined list of possible punishments that was running through his thoughts. 'Some people might even put what I have in mind into the cruel and unusual category. But, I am effectively, and certainly as far as you are concerned, the law. And that means that I can do what I want.'
'Which is what?' Luke had now become cocky in the absence of his mother, and he stood up straight as tall as he could, puffing out his chest.
Winterburne leaned back in his chair and a smile crossed his face. 'You, boy, ' he said, 'are going to learn to read.'
15
Two short, hard, bony raps came on Frederick's office door. He looked up from the documents that were spread across his writing desk and glanced at the timepiece on the wall. The spring sun shone its beams through the high windows, falling onto the gilded hands of the clock and making them shine; they pointed at exactly ten o'clock. He was always on time, Frederick thought. One of the constants in his life that could be depended upon. Reliable and predictable, just like the seasons of the Empire. Heaven knew that he needed that at the moment.
'Enter,' Frederick said, and reached across his desk to stand his pen upright in the inkwell.
The door opened and Courtenay strode into the room. As he reached Frederick's desk he bowed a shallow bow. The man displayed a grace and economy of action in his movements that never failed to impress Frederick, even after all this time.
Courtenay took up a stand before the desk and waited. 'Your Highness is most generous in finding the time to see me,' he said.
'It is no problem, My Lord. You are always welcome.' Frederick looked up at the Lord Chamberlain and leaned back in his chair. 'Please, do sit, ' he said, holding out his hand in invitation and waiting for Courtenay to pull out a seat of his own. Courtenay perched himself on the edge of the chair. Frederick had sometimes thought that the man never seemed truly at ease in his company, and today that seemed especially true. As he watched him, he was reminded of a stork poised to pick at a fish in a river.
On the whole, Frederick enjoyed conversations with his confidant. They usually followed a pattern that he could predict to some extent and he wondered if today's meeting would be the same.
'Your Highness,' Courtenay leaned forward as he spoke, 'there is a delicate matter that I wish to discuss with you.'
Frederick interlocked his fingers. He had guessed this matter would arise at some point during the meeting but he was surprised to find that it was the first item on the agenda. Courtenay must consider it of the utmost importance. 'And would that matter be related to your responsibilities of State?' he said. 'Or am I mistaken?'
Courtenay smiled. 'Her Highness did say that she would discuss it with you, Sire.'
Frederick continued to watch Courtenay. It was unusual for the man to appear to be this nervous, and he was interested in seeing how this exchange developed. 'She did,' he replied. 'My wife did not go into great detail, although she said just enough to outline the course of your conversation.'
Courtenay slid himself back into his own chair. 'And I wonder, Sire, did Your Highness have any thoughts about the matter?'
'To be frank, Lord Courtenay,' Frederick replied, 'I was rather more interested to hear what you, yourself, had in mind.' He suspected that Courtenay would have rehearsed his words many times before coming to see him and he looked forward to the man's speech.
'Of course,' Courtenay said. 'Sire, your father and I had many discussions around this when he was alive.' He held his hands in his lap. 'It is true that many of the responsibilities I discussed with him have already been transitioned. But there are one or two others.'
'Then, perhaps you might care to enlighten me on those additional areas of responsibility.' Frederick hadn't thought about his father for some time, but a touch of sadness entered his heart as he did so. And, what would he do now? he wondered. Frederick missed his father's guidance at time like these but if he could be half the leader, half the warrior, and half the statesman that my father had been then history would think well of him. That would certainly be something to aspire to.
'If I might be indulged a little further, Your Highness,' Courtenay said.
'Please, continue.'
'Your father suggested that it might be possible to pass over some of the day to day running of law and order in the city.' Courtenay shifted awkwardly in his seat. 'In particular, he mentioned that the Imperial Guard may benefit