*
Jane finished her dusting of the library and looked over to the clock. The ancient grandfather clock chimed the quarter hour, unnecessarily reminding her she had to meet Mr. Drummond at half-past. She grabbed her supplies and exited the book-lined room, gliding down the halls to a staff stairwell. Like the numerous other stairwells reserved for the Manor’s staff, the entrance was hidden in the corner of a stone alcove. Although not completely hidden, and by no means a secret passage, it nevertheless allowed the staff to appear and disappear almost magically to carry out the duties with the least amount of intrusion possible.
Once below stairs, Jane made her way to a storage room to deposit her supplies and more importantly, to compose herself. Technically she hadn’t done anything wrong by delivering the letter to the dispatch box. She had been given an instruction and had followed it. Keeping this thought in mind and ignoring the particulars of the instruction, she set off for the secretary’s office.
Jane found herself retracing the steps she had taken the past night. This time it was during the day and the halls were full of people, many of the servants coming and going on their own errands. Without being too obvious she examined the faces of her colleagues for signs of her impeding chastisement. None seemed to pay any extra attention to her than was normal.
The secretary’s office was at the entrance to the North tower, though still part of the main building. It acted as the gatehouse to the tower, used exclusively by the members of the Hunt. The hallway was lined with windowed office space, used by the secretary’s minions. Although nominally part of the staff, Jane always felt they acted above their position. Therefore with haste she passed the gauntlet of peering office workers to the Secretary’s office.
The office took up two floors; the bottom was an anteroom that accessed the servants’ floor, and the top served as the office, accessible to the members on the main floor. In this way, the Secretary’s office was the neutral part of the Manor, accessible to staff and members alike. The sole passage to the North Tower was by an enclosed stone bridge that started just outside the Secretary’s office.
Jane entered the office anteroom at the bottom level. She was surprised to see that the Secretary’s assistant was not at his desk as usual. As far as any of the staff at the Manor were concerned Mr. Drummond’s assistant lived at his desk. Undeterred and without reservation she headed toward the iron circular staircase that led to the second level. When she reached it she heard voices coming from above, though the words were muted and incomprehensible. Thinking that Drummond was merely passing along instructions to his assistant, Jane started up the steps.
After taking three slow steps, Jane got closer to the opening to the second level. The voices were now completely audible and one of them clearly did not belong to Mr. Drummond’s assistant.
“I hope you will accept my apology. I won’t pretend that hitting you was an accident, but I regret it in retrospect.”
“No apology is necessary sir,” replied Mr. Drummond with as much deference as he could muster. “Tempers will flare from time to time.”
“I suppose I get agitated when I discover I’ve been poisoned.”
“Yes well, hmph…”
Realizing that the subject of the mornings’ gossip was upstairs, Jane quietly moved up the stairs, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
“Well if that is all sir…” continued Drummond, hoping that it was, when he saw a head and pair of eyes from the staircase behind his guest. Before she could lower her head, the mysterious newcomer turned around to see the object of Mr. Drummond’s attention.
Rogue was not the word she’d use to describe the man before her. She couldn’t even come up with a word to describe him. He was a blank; medium height, medium build, light brown hair, and nothing too distinguishable. His immediate expression of surprise at her appearance was quickly replaced by indifference. Though he didn’t seem to outwardly pose a danger, there was something about his blankness that troubled and intrigued her. Most of the Hunt Members were anything but bland, some almost cartoonish, making them easy for her to read and determine their motives. But her quick examination of this Commandant Pierce gave her little to go on. His body language and his voice were as neutral as his appearance. But then she looked at his eyes and she became more uncertain about him. He’s intelligent and he’s examining me just as thoroughly as I’m examining him.
“Ahh, Jane,” said Mr. Drummond, “I haven’t forgotten our appointment.” Then looking to the man and motioning towards the door, “if there is nothing else sir…”
“No… I… Yes, I’ll…” He replied awkwardly looking from Drummond to Jane then the door. He turned towards the door to leave, narrowly missing a vase on a side table.
“Now to business my dear. Please take a seat. We have a few things to discuss.”