Arcolin considered. “Perhaps so, but my cohort marched this morning. I must be with them by midday, at least, or they will worry. You yourself consider him good of his kind—”

Kavarthin sat back and folded his hands on his stomach. “It is my experience that everyone handling someone else’s money faces the temptation to borrow a little of it from time to time. Even we bankers. We have a guild, as you know, and within that guild, for the good of all, we have rules and checks to keep our reputation secure. Factors have no guild. If owners of property are here, and use their factor merely as a convenience, another servant to run errands for them, most are honest. But in cases like this, where the owner is far away and may or may not appear once in a year … well, factors are only human, after all, and they can come to feel that they do more of the work and receive less of the profit.” He coughed, a soft dry cough that conveyed more of his opinion of factors than the state of his lungs. “I am not saying—I will not say, because I do not know—that Paltis has been dishonest. But there has been talk that Paltis might have indulged himself.”

That was clear enough. “Perhaps I should speak to your son before I leave,” Arcolin said. “And yet, I must leave soon.”

Kavarthin pushed himself up. “Just a moment, if you can spare it.” He went to the door of his office and called. “Stepan!”

Arcolin had met one of Kavarthin’s elder sons, Arpan, a few years before. Stepan clearly came from the same mold. He bowed politely to Arcolin and looked at his father.

“Captain Arcolin is a little concerned about the activities of his factor, Paltis,” Kavarthin explained. “He must ride this morning; he has a contract with Cortes Vonja. I suggested he might engage your services to look over Paltis’s contracts, since he cannot stay in Valdaire himself.”

“Certainly,” Stepan said, looking at Arcolin. “I would need a letter from you, Captain, giving me authority to speak to Paltis, and some idea of the terms of his contract with you—or, it would have been with Duke Phelan, would it not?”

“Yes,” Arcolin said. “That contract is still operable, though. The Duke had me cosign it.”

“That’s good, but you should make a new contract as soon as possible. Sometime this summer, at least. I understand you’re in a hurry, but if you could just give me that letter.”

Arcolin felt as if he’d stepped into a quagmire. Not only was it taking longer than he’d told Burek, but finances always affected him that way. One of the reasons he’d never seriously considered having his own company was his distaste for the money side. Well, if you fell into a swamp, the thing to do was climb back out. “I’ll be glad to,” he said.

A glass later, he had produced the documents Stepan wanted, and agreed to pay his fee to investigate the matter. Stepan promised to send word of the audit when it was complete. Old Kavarthin looked entirely too satisfied, he thought, and rose to go—this time for certain.