The Library - 10.15 to 1.00 am
As quickly as he'd opened the text, he snapped it shut again, the soft thud of age-softened pages echoing in the silence that stretched between them (for Rodolphus did not immediately speak). He'd meant to seek Evan out, to discuss with him current events and discuss with him ways he might improve himself in the eyes of their Lord - but avoiding his wife's mother (he could not bear to think of her as his mother-in-law) and his own mother had driven him to distraction. He scolded himself internally for such inattentiveness, but now was not the time for self-critique.
"Evan." It both interested and irritated him that the young man, unlike so many of his peers, dared call upon him with such familiarity. A generational difference, perhaps, but, though Rodolphus was not an egotistical man, he could not help the line of displeasure that tightened across his lips. They were not equals.
"You're wondering about my carelessness in returning your owl."