he began, and then changed his mind. He was up off his chair and had crossed the room to Thomas the Merchant’s desk and swept the ledger out from under his long thin nose before the Merchant could do no more than take in a gasp of surprise. Carey flipped quickly through the pages, squinting at the crabbed Secretary hand, lighted on a few names and laughed. “I’d be in noble company, I see. I wonder, does her Majesty know you have the Wardens of the West and Middle Marches in your pay?”“Er…?” began Thomas the Merchant.It was tempting to throw the ledger in the greasy skinny man’s face and march out, but Carey saw a better way of continuing to call his own tune. He shut the ledger and tapped it.“I want information, Mr Hetherington, much more than I want money. And it’s not my way to enter into this kind of…business arrangement.” His servant made a desperate little whimper. “And so, I’ll thank you to tell me all you know about the horse that Janet Dodd bought, the one that came from Jock of the Peartree’s stable.
