Alinor stepped forward and signed her name as Widow Reekie, Rob’s parent and guardian, and signed her occupation as a midwife.

“It’s done,” Mr. Tudeley said. “Robert, I expect you to be a credit to the Priory and to your mother.”

“I will, Mr. Tudeley,” Rob said. “Please thank his lordship for giving me such a chance in life.”

“You’ll want to see his room,” Mrs. Sharpe said to Alinor.

“I’d be grateful,” Alinor said.

The mistress led Alinor and Rob up the staircase to the two rooms over the little shop. From the landing there was a loft ladder, which led upstairs to where the maidservant slept on one side, and the little room that Rob was to have, under the eaves on the other side.

The three of them crowded into the little space and Alinor bent down to look through the window to the street below.

“He’ll eat at our table,” the mistress said. “And one Sunday a month he has the afternoon off.”

“And may I come and see him?” Alinor asked. “When I come to Chichester for the market?”

“You can come in the shop if he’s not busy serving. But he can’t come out to meet you. We’ve had apprentice boys before. They’ve got to settle.”

“He’s lived away from home,” Alinor reassured her. “At the Priory for the last two quarters. But I’m grateful you’re letting him home this Sunday, for his sister’s wedding.”

“She’s to marry the Stoney boy, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” Alinor said.

“Mr. Tudeley told me, when he came for Rob’s apprenticeship. You must be proud of both your children!”

They went down the ladder, then down the stair and back to the little shop. Mr. Tudeley had already left, with a sachet of rose petals as a gift. Alinor curtseyed to Mr. Sharpe and kissed Mrs. Sharpe on both cheeks, and Rob went with her to the shop door and stepped outside to say good-bye.

Alinor faced her young son. His head was up to her shoulder, now. She thought that he was still her little boy, tied to her apron strings, wrapped around her heartstrings, and at the same time he was near to a young man: she could see the broadness of his shoulders and the confidence of his stance. Already he had book learning that she would never know, already he had manners that no one had taught her. He would rise in the world, away from her, and she should be glad to see him go. Her task as a mother now was not to keep him safe and hold him to her heart, but to release him and let him fly, as if she were a falconer, hacking a beautiful hawk into the wild.

“God bless you, Rob.” Her voice was choked with emotion. “You know to be a good boy, and let me know how you are. Send a message that everything’s all right?”

“Don’t you worry about me,” he said cheerfully. “I’ll be home on Sunday for the wedding!”