“I am!” his manservant said without a moment’s hesitation. “ ’Tis a blessing, it is, my lord, to have been given such a bounty. We’re not getting any younger, either of us.”
As big as his master was, Archie was a wee bit of a man, short and wiry with stone gray hair and sharp blue eyes. His family had served the Stewarts of Torra for many years, and but for his master, he was alone in the world now.
“Perhaps we’ll find ye a nice plump lass to warm yer bed on those cold border nights,” Fin teased, and he laughed aloud.
Archie laughed with him. “Aye, my lord, ’twould please me greatly if we did.”
“My cousin, Lady Janet, has given me a purse, and the king has supplied us with twelve men-at-arms to go with us. They will be here shortly to escort us into the Borders, Archie. Ye had best hurry and pack us up now,” Fingal Stewart said with a smile. “Can we leave within an hour or two? And shall I send for Agent Boyle and rent the house?”
“Nay, keep the house empty for now, my lord. What if ye want to bring yer lady to court once we have a queen? There’s never any room at court for unimportant folk.”
“The king prefers Linlithgow Palace to Edinburgh Castle,” his master replied. “But yer right. I should not be hasty. Still send for Boyle and see what he says. We’ll need the house watched so nothing is stolen while I am in the Borders.”
Archie hurried from the hall, and opening the front door of the house, gestured to one of the lads always about the small street. “Go and fetch Agent Boyle to Lord Stewart. He must come immediately,” Archie said. “There’s a copper in it for you when you return with him.”
The boy pulled at his forelock and ran off. The rain was beginning to fall more heavily. Archie then went about the business of packing up what they would take. Less than half an hour had passed when a hammering came upon the front door. Archie ran to open it, admitting the house agent. He flipped the lad his copper while ushering Boyle inside. He led the man to the hall where Lord Stewart was packing up his weapons.
“Boyle’s here, my lord,” he announced.
Fingal Stewart looked up, beckoning the man to a seat by the fire. “Sit down, Boyle,” he said. “Sit down. Archie, a dram of whiskey for Master Boyle.”
“Thank ye, my lord, thank ye. ’Tis damp outside.” He accepted the dram cup, and swallowed down its contents. Then he looked to Lord Stewart. “How may I serve you, my lord?” he asked politely.
“I have to leave Edinburgh for some months,” Lord Stewart began. “I will need you to find someone to watch over the house so it not be burgled. Someone reliable who will not sell off my few possessions while I am gone,” he told the house agent.
“Ye don’t want to rent, my lord?” Boyle inquired.
Fingal Stewart shook his head in the negative. “What if I return before I anticipate? If I have no house, where can I lay my head and stable my horses?”
“I was nae considering a rental to a family, my lord. Men of importance come to Edinburgh, wealthy merchants, those high up in the church, among others. They are nae asked to the castle. They do not choose to house themselves at some inn. Their stays are brief. A few days, a few weeks, a month. And they pay well for their privacy and the discretion that a house like this can provide them, my lord. They bring their own servants and require naught but a secure shelter.”
“And how much commission would you want for providing such a service, Master Boyle?” Lord Stewart inquired.
“But ten percent of the rental fee, my lord,” Boyle answered him.
“I will want a woman in to clean before any come, and after they go,” Lord Stewart said. “And you will pay her from your ten percent for I have nae a doubt that you will also collect ten percent from your clients as well.”
The house agent’s eyebrows jumped with his surprise.
“How much will you charge per day?” Fingal asked, and when Boyle told him, he nodded. “Do not consider you can cheat me by paying me for four days when the guest remains seven,” he warned. “I have eyes that will watch ye. I will expect a proper rendering of my account every other month. You may deliver it to Kira’s bank in Goldsmith’s Lane. They will be informed to expect it, and will advise me if they do not get it, Master Boyle. If this is satisfactory to you, I will allow you this rental.”
“Will ye be visiting the town yerself, my lord?” the agent asked.
“I will send to you when I am and will expect the house available to me when I come,” Lord Stewart said sternly. “I will attempt to give you enough notice that your clients not be inconvenienced by my coming. Is this agreeable to you?”
Master Boyle nodded. “Quite, my lord.”
Both men stood up and shook hands.
“I am departing today,” Lord Stewart said. “Archie will give ye a key.”
The house agent bowed and exited the hall where Archie was waiting for him. The manservant handed Master Boyle two keys on an iron ring. “Front door, and door from the kitchen into the garden,” he said. He opened the front door, ushering the man out.
Master Boyle hurried out, and down the street to the Royal Mile, stepping aside as he came to the congested wider way to allow a party of mounted men-at-arms to enter the small lane. He stopped, watching to see what business they could possibly have on such an undistinguished lane. His bushy eyebrows jumped as they halted before Lord Stewart’s stone house. He peered down the dim street to see the badges on their jacket arms. The bushy eyebrows jumped again as he recognized the king’s mark.
Well, well, well, Master Boyle thought.What brings the king’s men here? And what business could they have with my client?Was he being arrested? Was that his reason for leaving Edinburgh for several months? But then he considered that Lord Stewart was undoubtedly related to His Majesty and was probably being sent on an errand for his master. Thinking no more about it, he hurried on his way through the rainy morning.
The men-at-arms in the lane dismounted, one of them pounding on the door to the house. Archie answered the summons with a few pithy words. “Is this how ye ask to enter the dwelling of the king’s cousin?” he demanded of them. “Wipe yer booted feet, my lads. Come into the hall and warm yourselves. His Lordship is waiting for ye.”
