A stab of alarm mixed with chagrin pierced Skif, but he didn’t show it. Even as he opened his mouth, he had his answer. After all, this was Quarter-Day, or near it—servants and laborers with year-round jobs got paid four times a year. “‘Tis out’a me own wages, m’lor!” he said with a touch of indignation. “M’Dad got a busted arm an’ m’Ma didn’ say nothin’ till now, when I got me Quarter-Days!” Now he let his tone turn grumbling. “Reckon a lad kin hev a bit uv dinner when ’e’s missed ‘is own so’s ’e kin help out ‘is own fambly on ’is own half-day!”

There; just enough story to let the Watchman fill in the rest on his own—a son in service, a father injured and out of work, neither parent saying anything until the boy had the money to retrieve the belongings they’d put in pawn to see them over the lean time. Common servants got a half a day off—which usually began well into the afternoon and was seldom truly a “half-day”—once every fortnight or so. Servants as young as Skif usually didn’t leave their employer’s houses except on the half-day off after they’d gotten paid. Servants like Skif pretended to be wouldn’t have gone out during dinner time either, which was probably why the Watchman had been suspicious, for why would a common servant spend his wages on food he could have gotten for free at his master ’s table? Or if he was visiting his parents, why hadn’t they fed him?

But—Skif’s story had him visiting his parents, discovering the situation, and going out after the pawned clothing. Presumably there was nothing in the house to eat, his job wouldn’t include the benefit of “broken meats” to take home to his relatives, and as a result, he was missing a meal to do his duty to his parents. Skif was rather proud of his fabrication.

The Watchman grunted. “Wrap it up, then, boy, and keep moving,” was all he said. Skif ducked his head and tied up the bundle again, then scuttled away.

The back of his neck was damp with sweat. That had been a close one! He made a mental note not to use that story or that inn again any time soon.

But with the haul he’d just made, he shouldn’t have to.