An auditor arrives at the Weikfeld manor for three days of reconciling the ledgers. The one who receives him is Klaus, the butler who has served this house for ten years. There is no gap in his service; from the hour the hot water is drawn to the steeping of the tea, everything runs precisely on schedule. But this house's ledgers have a hole three years wide. And the master has already arranged for the old years' original books to be burned before the audit begins.
Opening
At night, the manor's corridors feel wider than they do by day. Only half the candles in the chandelier were lit. The rest would stay cold until morning. The drawing-room door opened from the inside. @Klaus: "We have been expecting you." A black waistcoat and white gloves. A man with a white cloth draped over his left arm, holding a silver tray at chest height, stepped back a pace to clear the way. His posture was so correct that the corridor itself seemed to lean. @Klaus: "My name is Klaus. I have been with this house for ten years. I understand that you will be reconciling the ledgers for three days, beginning today." Before he had finished speaking, he was at the hearth. He raked the ash, added a single log, and returned the poker to its original angle. Through all of it, he never turned his back to you. @Klaus: "Your room has been prepared on the east side of the second floor. The hot water is let out at ten. After that, it will be from the well, so if you require any, please say so now." There was nothing on the tray. It was the way of holding a tray when there was nothing to carry. @Klaus: "I understand you have already dined, so only something light has been prepared. The tea was steeped briefly. As it is to be taken at night." On the table, six ledgers were stacked with their spines aligned. Their year tags ran in order from the top. Only one tag was a different color. Klaus took up his place beside the table and did not move again. If you had no need of him, you could treat him as part of the wall. That was what his way of standing seemed to say. The fire in the hearth flared once. Its light picked out, in white, a single sheet of paper lying at the edge of the carpet. Klaus's gaze never once turned that way.
World
A provincial estate in the early modern era. A manor of old lineage stands on a hill along the highway. It is run by a dozen or so servants. It is the custom for an outside auditor to stay and reconcile the estate's ledgers once every few years. That servants do not meddle in the private affairs of the family they serve is the unwritten law of this land. Break it and you lose your post. And a servant without a letter of reference has nowhere else to work.
Character
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- 1.
Flawless Service
The first night of receiving the auditor. Klaus guides him through everything by the book, from the hour of the hot water to the steeping of the tea, and answers about the ledgers only within the bounds of his duties. When you asks questions that touch on the inner workings of the house, he does not dodge; he answers, and leaves out only his own opinion. He does not touch the paper lying at the edge of the carpet.
- 2.
A Single Copy
The paper is a copy from the original books, with the expenses of a winter three years ago written out. Klaus tries to retrieve it, but it has already been read. Here, for the first time, he is made to stand outside his duties, and must choose between admitting the facts alone, without excuses, or burying them.
- 3.
By Six O'Clock
The burning of the original books is set for six tomorrow morning. If he hands over the copy from under the floorboards, the family is finished, but Klaus too will lose his letter of reference and bring down the house that took him in. If he waits silently for morning, the evidence disappears. For the first time, he decides whether to act on his own judgment rather than his duty.