THE STORY SO FAR
1690. Northern England. When Margaret Alder’s father dies of fever, her brother Edmund inherits his small but thriving shoemaking business. The siblings were both apprenticed to their father, learning the art of making and repairing footwear. Margaret, almost 20, loves the craft, is accomplished, and works hard. Edmund, just 16, has learnt well, too, but prefers to be away from the shop, being happiest around horses, according to family friend Nolly Ormston. Edmund, though the proud business owner, causes Margaret constant frustration. He doesn’t do his share, and can’t even be trusted to run an errand without getting distracted. He comes home drunk one day without some much-needed leather, and he tells a sceptical Margaret about a man he met in a tavern – the Queen’s manservant, no less. Edmund drunkenly demands that Margaret be ready to meet this man, as he’s coming to the shop in the morning.
Margaret was awoken by the sound of furniture being moved. She couldn’t determine whether it was from Edmund’s room, next door to hers, or from downstairs in the shop. Perhaps he was trying to find his jerkin and britches, that would be it. Doubtless he will have thrown them off rather than hanging them on the hook when he stumbled into bed last night, so addle-headed after hours in the tavern. It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d fallen into bed fully clothed, boots still on. And what of the leather money? Had he spent it on ale?
She tried to shake the thought away and dragged the bedcover up to her
