Shutting the door behind me, I noticed there was a key in the lock. As it turned it made a reassuringly heavy sound, and I focused on that reassurance rather than memories of prisons, damp cells, and destitute men.

Mercifully, the inn had emptied a little and I found a table without any trouble. A plate of cold meat and hot vegetables was placed in front of me by an apathetic-looking serving girl.

‘Drink?’ she said, without intonation.

‘Wine. Not too expensive.’

She gave a small sigh and left me. The food was reasonable and cooked well, which was unexpected. That I had underestimated Drekenford in many respects was clear, even if I found the south’s reputed bluntness justified. And perhaps, over the course of my investigation, I would come to consider that plain manner of speaking a virtue rather than a characteristic worthy of northern derision.

I had almost finished my meal when the two children from the bridge sat down at my table. They both wore expressions of utmost seriousness. I did my best not to smile.

‘Hello, sir,’ the boy said. He introduced himself as Victor, and his sister Julia.

When he looked expectantly at me, I told him my name was Christophor.

‘My sister believes I coerced you—’

‘With a bribe,’ she interrupted.

‘—into telling a false time.’

‘I see.’

‘Don’t you deny it?’ Julia said.

I judged her to be the elder of the two, but perhaps by only a year. They both shared the same straight black hair, and looked so alike in features as to be almost twins.

‘Monetary gains aside, there seems little reason for me to fabricate the results of an experiment that I know nothing about,’ I said. ‘And I can assure you, your brother has not given me anything.’

‘You might be lying,’ she said.

I spread my hands in an open gesture. ‘I appreciate a week of chores is no trifling matter, but you’ll just have to trust the honesty of a stranger.’

She slumped back in her chair. Her brother was magnanimous in victory and did not gloat.

‘What was the experiment?’ I said, removing my napkin from around my neck.

‘You’re not going to eat that meat?’ Victor said.

‘A trade, then. Your answers for what’s left of my dinner.’ I pushed the plate towards them. They took to the food with ferocious efficiency.

‘Measuring the speed of the river,’ Victor said between mouthfuls.

‘Whatever for?’

He shrugged as if to say, ‘What else would I do in Drekenford?’ I thought on the matter for a moment.

‘Are you taking into account the phases of the moon?’ I said.

‘Of course. We have separate measurements for each phase.’

‘And conditions further upriver?’

‘I’m only eleven,’ he said, flatly. This was clearly a contentious issue.

‘Well, then, what are your findings so far?’

‘It’s getting faster, so Victor says.’ Julia’s tone made clear her thoughts on the matter, and that this was the element the two children wagered on. ‘But I think it’s too early to be sure.’