Chapter 1 The slave yard

Arthur rubbed his forehead and sighed irritably. He had grown weary of the man's fawning from the moment he had stepped into the building, and with an impatient grunt he held up one hand. "Enough. Show me the slaves."

"Of course." The old man bowed low and pattered down the long narrow hallway. "Forgive me, my lord. It is not often we have someone of your stature visiting."

They walked out into the courtyard and the man stopped short, staring suspiciously at the large horses hooked to an empty wagon. A young man and a small girl were sitting on the seat of the wagon and they stared back at him.

He glanced up at Arthur. "My lord, how many do you need?"

"I require six."

The man led him across the yard toward a second building. As they walked by the wagon, Arthur stopped and held his arms out to the young girl. She was no older than seven, and she hesitated briefly before allowing him to pull her from the wagon seat and set her on the ground. "What are we doing here?" she asked.

"We're hiring some staff for our new home, as well as a nanny for you and your baby brother." Arthur smiled down at the girl.

She didn't return his smile, staring solemnly at him for a moment. "I can take care of Nicholas."

"I know you can, my love. But I think it would be best if you had some help." He squeezed her hand encouragingly as they approached the building. "I could use your help in picking out the right nanny. What do you say, Sophia?"

She nodded, watching curiously as the small, dirty man in front of them pulled out a giant ring of keys from a pocket hidden deep within his coat. He thumbed through them until he found the correct one and unlocked the door. Its rusty hinges squealed, and the little girl cringed but followed her father into the building.

They walked down the hallway. The man flipped a light switch on the wall and the overhead lights buzzed on weakly.

"You have electricity here," Arthur said.

"Aye - some days. We're close enough to the city to latch on to their grid. But it goes in and out." The man led them down the hallway to another door. This too was locked, and they waited patiently as he picked out the right key and unlocked the door. He ushered them into the room and shut the door behind him as Sophia peered from behind the safety of Arthur's legs.

The room quieted as the women in the room stopped their chatter and stared at the two strangers. Arthur grimaced. All of the women were dirty and unkempt, their hair uncombed and their clothing ripped and stained.

He swore softly and gave the man an undisguised look of disgust. "What kind of facility are you running here?"

The man bristled. "I can assure you, my lord, that our slaves are of the utmost quality. Just because our facility is not as proper as you are undoubtedly used to, does not mean we don't offer excellent services."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm sure." He eyed the women in the room with suspicion. "How many of them are suffering from the sickness?"

"None of them!" The old man puffed himself up, trying to match Arthur's formidable height. "If they suffer from the sickness, we banish them to the outskirts immediately." He paused.

"Perhaps my lord would prefer to go somewhere else?"

"You know very well your facility is the only one within fifty miles," Arthur said. "Enough idle talking. I require a nanny and a house staff. Who do you recommend?"

The man didn't reply. Instead, he hobbled toward the group of women and began pulling a few of them to the front. Out of the nearly fifty women in the large room, he separated fifteen of them into two groups before returning to Arthur and Sophia.

"They have experience in both cooking and cleaning." He pointed to the ten women on the left. "They have experience with child-rearing." He waved his hand at the other five on the right. Arthur moved forward, Sophia trailing behind him, and looked over the ten women. He stood in front of the oldest. "What's your name?"

"Marian." She kept her gaze on her bare feet.

"What experience do you have?"

"I was the head of the household for the Farthing family for more than fifteen years. Perhaps you have heard of them?"

"I am not from here. Why did you leave their employment? Were you fired?" Arthur asked.

She shook her head. "No, m'lord. Mr. Farthing grew ill and died. Mrs. Farthing could no longer afford my services and sold me to pay some of her bills."

"How long have you been here?"

She squinted in thought. "Not long, m'lord. Six months perhaps?"

He looked behind him. "I'll take this one. Who among this group of women would you recommend, Marian?"

She hesitated. "How many do you need, m'lord?"

"Five, including yourself."

She pointed to four of the other women. After questioning them, Arthur agreed to the ones she had chosen.

He turned to Sophia, crouching beside her and patting her back awkwardly. "Sophia, would you like to help me pick out your new nanny?" "Yes, Arthur," she replied.

Arthur stared at the women critically as he and Sophia paced in front of them. "How many of you were nannies before?"

Three of them raised their hands and Arthur glanced at the other two. "You're dismissed."

They melted back into the crowd of women as Arthur questioned the remaining three women.