Nesah wanted to warn him of the danger of some of the smaller accommodation, but the edge of town did not sound too bad. It was the center with its endless maze of yards and lanes and flights of stairs that one had to watch out for.

Nesah had gotten lost there once. The smell of it was enough to make one sick. There were barefooted, dirty children everywhere, open sewers, shared smelly privies, gaunt, worn down tenements evidently shared by too many people, judging from the fact that most of them took their work outside into the yards. All those haggard faces had stared at her when she had passed them, and when one of them had addressed her, she had run. It was a miracle that she hadn't been mugged and stabbed, or assaulted in other ways, and every time she coughed, she was still terrified that she might have caught the consumption.

But the dwellings at the edge of town were generally better. He might just survive his stay in Whitby.

"Good servants are hard to find in this town. Half the time the maids are just fishing girls who barely know how to keep themselves clean, let alone a house. And their morals are... loose..."

Okay, so she had figured out by now that the maid was not sleeping with her brother after all - the Almighty be praised - but she was certain the little harlot had followers. And the male staff was hardly any better. Her brother had sacked the butler on her very first day in town for running around the garden in his bare buttocks after making use of the oldest profession.

"I suppose you could put out an advertisement in the local newspaper, but be prepared for the worst..."