Servants Hall

The servant’s quarters were rife with rumours; Sparrow struggled with the problem of sorting out the truth from wild allegations and speculation. Certainly the duchess seemed to be influenced by Count Vladislav, but the wilder rumours alleged that the Duke was being poisoned, Konrad was the Count’s son not the Duke’s and that the army was preparing for war. It was a matter of synthesis gathering all the stories and then trying to establish the facts behind them. The Count had certainly “seduced” several of the chambermaids, but there was no direct evidence that the Duchess was or had been romantically involved with him. Poisoning of the Duke was more serious, but without interrogating the doctor little evidence was to be found. As for the army, there was evidence from various orders, dispatches and muster reports to show that the Duchy was being gradually put on a war footing.

So nothing definitive to send back in the next report, but perhaps they might have other information that would make more sense of the rumours.