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About half an hour before Lucas would consider it acceptably mid-morning, Gaston intrudes upon Lucas' morning solitude. "A castle page is here, instructing me to tell your lordship that one 'Seek' is here to see you. Are you expecting a clerk to visit or shall I ask for your mother's hounds to be turned out to chase him back to town?"
Lucas looks up in some irritation.
"Twice round the garden with the dogs, I think." Then, as Gaston turns, he adds, "No, no, I didn't mean that. Well, I did, but I can see it would not be entirely politic. Show this Seek in, and then bring in some coffee. As black and evil as you can make it, please."
Seek arrives, all nervous smiles. He declines coffee if offered. Lucas will note immediately that Seek is not carrying so much as a scrap of paper, much less any ledgers.
"Lady Hardwind said you wished to see me, your highness?"
He sounds enthusiastic and Lucas may well wonder if he is faced with a morning person.
"Well," says Lucas, at his most urbane, "she was saying something about the difficulties you are all having with the resolution of the estate, and all that sort of thing, and she felt that someone from outside might have - as it were - a clearer eye to the books."
He rises gracefully to his feet.
"Clearly there were too many to bring with you and you - how very thoughtful! - decided that I would find it tantalising in the extreme to be shown only a morsel of the feast that lie ahead. But then - on the other hand, I do adore an ... ti ... ci ... pation! You might have whetted my appetite with the merest glimpse of a page of double entry book-keeping. But no matter. Gentle strolls and easy carriage rides are just what the Doctor has ordered. We shall repair - but immediately! - to your offices that I might peruse these sacred tomes for myself. Gaston! My cloak and my cane - the one with the carved ivory head. You will say it is vain to sport ivory still when one so palpably cannot get the elephants, but I find it gives a certain melancholy comfort to the hand that holds it."
Seek looks at one point as if he wishes to interrupt, but does not do so. Seek looks at more than one point as if he is confused, because he is. He allows the confusing parts to travel harmlessly (or perhaps harmfully) over his head.
Lucas is still in his existenialist phase as far as morning garb goes, but now Gaston approaches with a long black opera cloak, lined with dark blue silk. Lucas considers it for a few moments with pursed lips before signalling his acceptance and allowing him to arrange it on his shoulders.
"Eh bien!" Lucas says, with great affability to Seek. "Do we walk or ride? Gaston will be accompanying us."
Seek looks unsure. "Oh, ah, whatever you think is best. I mean, I don't know what yo..."
"I shall send for a carriage" interrupts Gaston.
Seek seems relieved not to have to make a decision. He turns to Lucas and says, in his most optimistic tone, "I shall send word to Lady Hardwind as soon as we reach the house. If we are lucky and she is in, she can send permission to open the books and you can look into them."
"Excellent!" says Lucas warmly.
During the trip to Lady Hardwind's house, the fancy clearly takes Lucas to put himself out to be amusing and charming. He choses not merely to speak himself (for a marvel) for once; indeed, he encourages Seek to talk about his family, his hopes and dreams, and how he comes to be charged with such a momentous task at such a very youthful age.
Lady Hardwind is indeed in, as any widow in mourning should be. Seek reports that her secretary will not allow him to see her, as she is being consoled by close friends and not up to the rigors of business matters this morning. Seek seems to think that Lucas would do better than he did at gaining access.
Lucas nods sympathetically. "Of course she is not up to it. Ma pauvre tante! But now Lucas is here, and all shall be well."
With a nicely nuanced shrug of his shoulders, he doffs his cloak into the hands of a waiting footman, and turns to the butler.
"Instruct Lady Hardwind that Lord Lucas is here, as he promised, and more than happy to undertake the task of going through the books without her having to put herself to any trouble whatsoever. Indeed, I come today for no other purpose! Although, once my efforts are at a conclusion, if your good Lady cares to invite me to sip a small sherry with her and nibble on a few rataffia biscotti, I will be delighted to give her a report of my initial findings.
"And ask her secretary to be good enough to join us."
The butler, a short, wiry man blinks twice and replies in a slow drawl. "I shall bring your message to Lady Hardwind, Lord Lucas. Will you await her reply in the front parlor or in the clerk's office?"
"The clerk's office," says Lucas, removing from the pocket of his cloak a strange sort of half-cap with a peak of green glass that extends forward to cover his eyes (and, presumably, to protect them), the traditional garb of accounting clerks. "Today, as you see, we are for industry!"
"Very good, Your Lordship." As the butler turns to leave, Seek calls after him. "Thrift! Thrift! We need the keys to the books."
Thrift turns, like a laden barge turns--slow and wide and deliberate. "Yes," he replies, and turns back and heads deeper into the house.
When he is definitely out of earshot, Gaston turns to Seek. "Would I be correct in assuming that you handle all but the most personal secretarial duties for her Ladyship, Master Seek?"
Seek nods, unhappily. "They let her secretary go a few years ago."
"So the secretary of whom you spoke earlier - the one who would not allow you access to the books, and who will, I trust, be joining us shortly, is the late Lord Hardwind's secretary?" asks Lucas almost idly. "Has he been undertaking secretarial duties for her Ladyship as well?"
He glances about the clerk's office as the speaks.
"I don't have access to the books without her Ladyship's approval, at any time, Lord Lucas," he begins, seemingly confused. "Oh, I see! Oh, no, it wasn't that I was denied access to the books, but to her Ladyship. By her social secretary. Or she will be her social secretary, when things are ironed out. Lyre tells us we can't hire anyone until the estate is settled without his agreement. We had to have a butler, of course, which is where Thrift came from. I think he worked for another part of the family before he was here."
"Lyre?" murmurs Lucas with a faint note of interrogation.
"Madam Hardwind's accountskeeper," explains Seek.
"So when I said her secretary, I meant Trill, who will be her secretary. My sister. Her ladyship has important guests and cannot be interrupted for me."
"Ahhh," says Lucas. "Much becomes clear."
Seek smiles, gormlessly.
A shadow crosses the door. Thrift, the aforementioned (and aforemet) butler is in the doorway. "Lord Lucas, Lady Hardwind requests that you join her in the solarium. If you will follow me, your Lordship, I will take you there."
Lucas, who has been fitting silver clips to his upper arms to hold his sleeves back, directs a thoughtful look at the butler. But then he smiles and removes the green visor he had adopted.
"Certainlty," he agrees, "if Tante Felicity is not to busy to see me. I really didn't want to disturb her ... Gaston - you will await me here, please."
He prepares to permit Thrift to escort him into Lady Hardwind's presence.
Thrift leads him to a terraced inner courtyard facing a fountain green with age The walls are a riot of blooming early spring plants and the room is quite pleasant. "Lucas!," says Lady Hardwind, "do join us." Her voice is perhaps somewhat tired, but seems to manage forced cheer.
The chair facing hers has its back towards Lucas, although he can see the shoulder and elbow of some ghastly fashion nightmare of the sort favored by the over-rich and under-bred moneyed classes for the older matrons. No doubt the inhabitant of it will be able to live down to the lack of promise it suggests.
"Yes, Lucas. Do," says Harmony, Lady Vesper, from her seat in the chair.
Lucas has already suspected the reason why Lady Hardwind was so desperate for his company. Undiluted Harmony Vesper taken first thing in the morning is enough to curdle anyone's stomach.
No trace of this appears, however, in the charming bows and hand kissing bestowed on both ladies.
"Aunt," he says to Lady Hardwind, "as you see, I am here to fulfil my promise to be helpful."
"Belle mere," he says, to Harmony Vesper. "What a joy. It seems no time at all since I saw you last."
"No time at all? How odd. Solace tells me that one of your gaggle of cousins keeps perfect time in his head. Perhaps you can ask him for lessons." Lady Vesper smiles up at Lucas.
"Really?" says Lucas, fascinated. "Which one of 'em is that? My lamentable memory, you know.
"I shall certainly present myself for instruction, and tell him it is at your earnest desire - if he is still resident in Amber."
"Sir Jovian, if I recall. He may well be the best dancer in Amber, Lucas. He certainly will never lack partners."
"I am sure of it," says Lucas with perfect sincerity. "What woman would want to refuse a man famed for possessing such a large dragon?"
Lady Hardwind seems interested in this talk of dragons. "Does he bring his dragon to the Castle, Lord Lucas? Have you seen it, close up? I have heard that they fought for us in the wars."
"I believe they did," said Lucas. "And if you want to see Jovian's dragon, I'm sure he'd be happy to show you. And it certainly does come to the Castle. Works better than bagpipes as a wake-up call, I assure you."
"Will you take tea with us, Lord Lucas?" asks Lady Hardwind.
"It will be a pleasure, Aunt," says Lucas. "And while I indulge myself in pleasure," (he rolls that word out with Gallic relish) "perhaps you would permit your young chappie and my Gaston to prepare those account books for my later perusal."
"Of course." She sends a maid to fetch Thrift and so instructs him. He departs and, you assume, things happen the way you have requested.
He then will set himself out to be witty and especially charming on the subject of the doings of Phillipe and the sayings of Hope, and any other topic the ladies wish to discuss. If he feels any impatience to get down to the task he has come here to undertake, it does not show one iota in his easy urbane manner. Indeed, his sole purpose in coming to visit Lady Hardwind might be for no other purpose than to take tea.
Tea progresses as nicely as it can with your mother in law. It becomes clear that
A: Lady Vesper is fond of her grandchildren, in an utterly conventional way.
B: Lady Hardwind wishes she had children.
C: Lady Vesper is amazingly tedious, much more so than the conventionally and pleasantly boring Lady Hardwind.
While it may take Gaston some hours to get a good feel for the state of the books, you don't really need to look unless you want to. You are, as it were, better at sums than he is, even if you don't generally use that skill. Lady Hardwind seems to have forgotten that you had any other purpose to your visit.
Even if Lady Hardwind has, it is a fairly safe bet that Lady Vesper hasn't forgotten her instructions to her son-in-law. Lucas enjoys playing on her expectations for a good while ... circling the question of how he might help Lady Hardwind with delicacy and rare adroitness, in a way nicely calculated to ruffle Lady Vesper's feathers, without ever bringing her to the point of open complaint. Provoking his belle mere to a point just short of where Solace is made to suffer is a very fine art, and Lucas relishes the opportunity to practise it.
But eventually he says, in a tone of mock reproof, "Now, dear Aunt Felicity, you really have tempted me from the path of duty for long enough. I promised you I would have a look at these books of yours and, you see, I do not neglect my promises. So I really should take a peek before I leave you... "
Lady Hardwind regretfully sends you off with promises of anything you need and Lady Vesper mentions that she must be going.
Lucas bites his tongue to refrain from saying, "So soon?" After all, he will be ensconced in the office - it will be poor Aunt Felicity who will have to put up with the old bat.
Lucas returns to the clerk's office and finds Gaston explaining to Seek why the numbers on the left should match the numbers on the right. The most recent set of books have extensive cross-outs, errors, and adjustments. It is not always clear which ledger entries refer to what transactions, especially in the area of household payments.
Lucas watches with some amusement. Gaston giving full range to his inner pedant is always worth seeing.
"I think," he says eventually, "it might help if I send in a chap I've used to do accounts for my trading voyages in the past. He can help you get all this straightened and on the right path for the future. And we'll tell Lady Hardwind that it's been a bit much for you to take on all at once ... "
Although Lucas speaks with easy affability, it is quite clear that he is doing young Seek a great favour, and pulling his chestnuts out of the fire on this one.
"We should have something ready to show Lord Hardwind's daughter and her lawyers as soon as possible, you know."
"Yes, Your Lordship, if those are her Ladyship's instructions" Seek replies in a tone and with body language that implies "No, Your Lordship..."
"Good," says Lucas, sublimely oblivious. "Then that's settled."
Going back a few months, the books are better, in a thin, spidery hand.
"Who wrote this?" Lucas asks, interested.
"My grandfather. He helped out some, before he retired again. He was Lord Hardwind's business manager before I was born."
"And your Grandfather is still with us?" asks Lucas. "Tending his roses and generally cultivating his garden in the twilight years of his life?"
Seek looks confused. "Grandfather doesn't tend roses," he says, tentatively.
What is clear in older ledgers is that there seems to be a greater outlay than income.
Some entries are coded.
"We'll take these earlier books with us and make sure they're all sorted out," says Lucas. "You just carry on sorting out the more recent stuff - and well drop these back in a couple of days."
He looks startled. "Would you let Her Ladyship know? I don't want to get in trouble for allowing them to be removed," he explains. He waves a languid hand to indicate Gaston should burden himself with the heavy ledgers and carry them to the carriage forthwith. That's rather a lot to convey with a negligent hand gesture but Lucas is good. He's also half French.
[Gaston only half-pities you for it...]
"Now," he says, "I shall take my leave of Lady Hardwind - and tell her matters are all finally in train, and she will soon be free of all this bothersome business."
Seek seems relieved.
Lucas returns to Lady Hardwind (hopefully to find her alone) and explains the actions he is taking - including a wealth of technical detail about the vagaries of the double entry book-keeping system and the need to enter full depreceation costs ... He seems to be entering into this with all the passion he usually bestows on the correct selection and placement of a buttonhole.
If he obtains her (possibly somewhat dazed) consent, he bears (or rather Gaston does the actual bearing) the ledgers off in triumph back to the castle, and gives the promise of someone to aid Seek with the book-keeping.
She suggests that he looks at them with young Seek, since he could certainly benefit from Lucas' expertise and offers to make him available at Lucas's convenience at the castle. Lucas cheerfully agrees to this, pays his adopted aunt some gentle compliments, presents a request from Solace that she may come to visit and generally does things handsomely before returning to the Castle with the ledgers.
Back at the Castle, he scrawls a note.
"Take this to Silken," he tells Gaston. "And obtain the address of Seek the eldest."
Gaston nods and takes the note. "The infamous grandfather of the bad penmanship but adequate maths? One Scope. He lives with his grandson and the widow of his son, Scrape. In a house owned by the Hardwind family some two tenths of a mile from the townhouse."
Lucas regards his faithful manservant with amused approval.
"Your sagacity, Gaston," he says, "never fails to impress. I have long appreciated your skill in mixing cocktails and your efficacy in forensics, but that you should now appear in the guise of a walking gazetteer is a new and quite delightful revelation. Help yourself to some port. Ah ... I was forgetting - you already do."
"Your Lordship."
"Then you can take a second note - requesting the pleasure of Scope's company at some point with the near future. Should he prove infirm or enfeebled, offer transport or - as a last resort - the pleasure of my company within his sheltering walls."
Unless Lucas stops him, he leaves on his errand.
Lucas waves him away with the two messages.
Then he moves into his study, spreads out the account books, and bends his best efforts to breaking the code.
It frustrates. There is no key and no obvious pattern to the numbers. Lucas starts to make a summary of the encoded data, but it will take some time.
And continues to do so until Gaston returns or he is otherwise interrupted.
Gaston returns, leading an older man by the arm. The man is slightly disheveled, and as Gaston leads him to a chair, it's clear that what Lucas suspected is true. Both of Scope's eyes are grey milky spheres. The man likely can see nothing at all.
"You sent for me?" Scope says, in the general direction of Lucas.
"Indeed I did," says Lucas genially. "Perhaps you've heard about the trouble there's been over the Hardwind estates? I've stepped in to ... erm ... repair the damage.
"Let me get you a drink ... "
He signals Gaston to bring any refreshments the old man might require.
Then he leads the old man into a gentle conversation about the old days, and what Amber was like way back when, and how he worked for Hardwind, man and boy ...
Lucas, so waspish with his relatives, shows easy patience with the old man. But he is alert for anything that might have a bearing on the muddled states of the books.
"So," he says, when they reach the right point, "a second marriage and a new bride. That must have been expensive ... "
"He felt the need to do so. A duty, as it were. I was surprised that they had no children, him being so disappointed with his first set and all. Not that he didn't do right by them, but there's right and there's more than right, if you understand my meaning."
"Indeed, Lucas agrees sagely. "And yet I was thinking ... the old Lord took his daughter into the House business. I was assuming she was perhaps ... less of a disappointment. Perhaps I'm mistaken?"
Gently (and very persuasively) he encourages the old man to talk more.
"A man can feel his child has excelled in business or other endeavors and yet failed at other parts of life, My Lord. There is more to life than numbers and profits, for some."
[Lucas is] also interested in the impact that the war had on the business - and what steps Hardwind took to repair any damage.
"His lordship, I believe, felt he had earned his retirement. He did what he could, but he was more of a mind to spend money than to save it."
Finally he raises the question of the code. "Do you remember anything of the notation? It would help us sort out this problem enormously if you did ..."
If Scope feels it will help, Lucas will have Gaston trace some of the symbols on Scope's palm with an uninked pen.
"I have sworn to his Lordship not to talk of such things. A personal oath to the late Lord Hardwind."
"And very commendable," says Lucas approvingly. "Did you hear that, Gaston? Such a fine example of loyalty - I hope you are as struck by it as I am."
He allows a pause to develop.
"Such a very great shame though that this matter unresolved may lead to the destitution of Lady Hardwind. One does feel, somehow, that it was not what her late husband intended.
"To say nothing of the pressure your poor grandson will come under. But he seems a game lad, and will doubtless bear up well. Very character forming, this sort of thing, I believe. And I am sure we will all do our best to avert outright public humiliation.
"Would you care for some more tea, Mr. Scope? Alas that we no longer import Earl Grey. One cannot help but feel this is a somewhat inadequate imitation, but I daresay the Castle's grocer does his best."
He looks grim. "His Lordship arranged things as he did, My Lord, and if we or Her Ladyship must pay a price for it, then that is as it is fated to be. I shan't hurt his Lordship nor his friends by oathbreaking, My Lord." He coughs a wet, raspy cough.
"Admirable," sighs Lucas, seemingly overcome by awe. "Quite, quite admirable ... Do you hear that, Gaston?
"But that's a dreadful cough. You must let me give you some of my patent coffee medicine - it will ease your chest considerably ... And Gaston shall see that you have a hot brick for your feet in the carriage on the way home. Indeed, Gaston had better escort you ... one would not wish any harm to come to such a loyal and faithful servant."
He thanks you.
He allows Gaston to assist the old man to rise from his chair and make his way to the door before saying, "Oh, one thing that confuses me ... You spoke of Lord Hardwind's children ... "I know of Madame Opal, of course. But Lord Hardwind had others? Sons?"
"None as he's recognized in Amber, but it's well-known that he had a son along the trade routes. His Lordship had not heard from him since the trade routes went away. It was a great sadness. The man meant a great deal to his father."
"How very sad," says Lucas, betraying by not a flicker on his face how this seems to contradict the old man's earlier statements about Lord Hardwind's disappointment in the first set of children. "And did he make efforts to trace him at all?"
"I'm sure he intended to, My Lord, when trading voyages resumed. Asir was not a popular trading port, but it served the Hardwinds well."
Lucas makes the opportunity for a quiet word with Gaston before the two of them leave.
"See if you can find out the names of any of Lord Hardwind's 'friends' from the old man."
Gaston nods and goes off to comply with Lucas' request.
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XIII: Lucas meets a termagent | Index | XV: Catching up with the Gossip
