Social Testing

Chapter Seven

The ‘Club’ that Lord Bromley brought Millicent and her servant too was not a club. It was the feline realized with hope rising from the ashes, the Foreign Office on Whitehall Street. ‘Could it be’ the feline asked herself, then she took hold of herself, it was best not to be too hopeful after all, this could be nothing more than a meeting to define what she could and could not tell people about her experiences. After all Lord Carlton’s letter had yet to arrive, that itself would be the final determination of her fate.

After the cab had stopped Lord Bromley exited on the sidewalk side, Monica and Millicent exiting on the traffic side as was their position. They quickly made their way to the sidewalk, avoiding the leavings of uncounted horses as they did so. ‘Another test’ Millicent thought though it meant nothing to her at the moment. With vixen in tow the housecat made to join her mentor, though doing her best not to appear rushed about it.

Lord Bromley led Millicent and Monica into the building, then deep into its bowls, taking her downstairs rather than upstairs. Finally they arrived at a door labeled simply INTAKE. Opening the door the bulldog walked in, his two charges following not too closely behind them. Millicent found herself surprised as it was not some small dingy office where she would be debriefed, then given a contract to sign that would silence her forever. Instead it was a normal office, there were two middle aged secretaries, both otters she noted, at their desks working. One looked up, smiling to Lord Bromley.

“This is the young Lady then My Lord?” she asked, her Border accent quite evident.

“tis the one and only” the bulldog answered in a fair approximation of that accent. “Is God available?”

“For you Lord Bromley, God just may be available today. If you will please wait I shall see.” She stood from her chair to walk to one of two widely separated doors, tapping lightly before entering, closing the door gently behind her.

“Now dear Millicent, we find out your true worth” Lord Bromley whispered into the felines ear.

A moment later the otter returned, “He will see you now My lord” she told the bulldog, “Your two guests as well.”

“Thank you Cartasia” Lord Bromley answered. “Come along you two, this is what Mrs. Wei has been working her entire life form. A chance, one chance.” He walked for the door, Millicent and Monica following a respectful distance behind.

They entered a massive office, fully thirty feet on a side with two walls covered in maps and the other two with overfilled bookshelves. A grey quilled hedgehog waited to see them, standing in the rooms center held up with two canes. “So Brian, this is the young girl you have been beating me over the head about. My my, they come younger every year. Well, sit down, sit down all. Cartasia, tea and scones please, then I am not to be disturbed until these three depart.”

“Of course sir” the otter agreed, and darn if she didn’t curtsy Millicent noted. At Lord Bromley’s signal she found a seat, tapping the chairs arm with one finger. In response Monica settled into the chair beside her. They waited then as the hedgehog worked his torturous way back to his own chair, an over stuffed leather thing behind an oak desk thick enough to stop a cannon round. Once he was settled he stared at Millicent a few minutes. “It will stop what young lady.”

“Uh.. Sir?” the housecat asked, taken by surprise.

“My desk, what in your mind did you believe that it would stop? Come come, everyone who first comes in here either thinks it will stop this, or stop that. What is it with you?”

“A cannon round sir” Millicent admitted in embarrassment.

“Ah, at least you think. And you little vixen, what was your thought?”

Shocked at being noticed Monica was speechless for a moment, then looked to Millicent for guidance. “Answer him Monica, it is only polite” Millicent instructed.

“Yes Mam. Sir? I thought that it might just slow down a third year dorm, but it would never stop them.”

“Third year dorm?” the hedgehog asked. “From where young lady. Eaton?”

“No sir. From Songmark” Monica answered.

“Ah, I have heard of that place, and its students. Bloody dangerous they are and you Mrs. Wei, married to a Russian NKVD agent and you want to enter the Diplomatic Office?”

Not caught off guard this time Millicent stared back into the mans eyes. “I believe that your information is quite dated sir” she answered. “Tatiana is ex-NKVD sir, she has broken completely with that mad bird Starling. Though it is true that she is a loyal Russian and always will be a loyal Russian, it is to her country not a faceless political party sir. As I am loyal to England, no matter who sits on the throne or leads Parliament.”

“Very good. Very good answer Mrs. Wei. Now, exactly what good do you think you could bring to this department. No conjecture, you have been fighting to reach this point so long it is part of your soul so you know what you can do, want to do. Tell me.”

“Very well sir. I want nothing more than to serve my country in the best manner that I am able.”

“That is all” the hedgehog asked. “No greater glory, no eternal peace? Just serve to the best of our ability?”

Millicent nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

Laughter filled the room even as the otter returned with tea and scones. “Perfect, the perfect answer” the hedgehog yelled. “You finally got a good one Brian. After years of trying, you finally grabbed the prize.” Abruptly taking his mug of tea the hedgehog drank, allowing silence to fill the room again. When he finally set his mug down he fought to stand, eventually making it around his desk. “Come come girl, stand up and follow me. Your accepted, your in, you made the cut, you’re an apprentice but I want to see this amazing talent of yours now.”

“Talent sir” Millicent asked, rising from her chair.

“To duplicate anyone pawwriting in such a manner as it cannot be proven other than real of course, those signatures on your slaves contracts are amazing. I though have a test for you.”

“Sir, please” Millicent begged. “I do not wish to spend my life in intelligence.”

“No, you won’t be doing that girl. Anyone with the ability to turn the Chinese Consulates daughter to her, and the Germans is to important to spend her life creating false documents. Oh you will, never fear that, but they will be English documents as much as any other countries, and only when we honestly need them. Now come here, there is a test for you. First, can you tell your own work from another?”

“Always sir” Millicent answered as she joined him an ornate writing desk. “As well as those created by others that are false.”

“Excellent, now you must swear upon your soul that you will tell no one oh what you discover here.”

“As you wish sir, upon my soul and my loyalty to England I will go to my grave never speaking of what I may see. Will that do sir?”

“Perfectly.” Opening a drawer in the desk he removed an envelope, a very very old envelope. “Tell me which of these are real, and which are false young woman. Experts over the centuries have made their decision, I want to hear yours. Can you honestly tell the forgeries from the true text?” He carefully opened the envelope, taking out a stack of ancient papers. “The top two dear I am absolutely certain are real. The bottom eleven are what are in question.” Laying the papers down in front of the housecat he waited.

Very carefully Millicent read the letters, for letters they were. One was from Elizabeth the First, the other from Mary Stuart. For some time she read, page after page of letters. Finally, her eyes tearing from the ancient pages fumes Millicent looked up. “Either they are all real, or they are all false” she announced.

“You are certain? You are betting your talent, your reputation upon being right” the hedgehog warned her.

 “I have given you my answer sir” Millicent answered. “Either they are all true, or they are all false. My preference would be that they are false, for the information that they contain is horrifying.”

“They are all true. Come now” He gathered up the letters, sliding them carefully back into their protective envelope, then back into the desk drawer. “We must find a posting for you young Millicent.” Leading the shaken housecat away from the desk, and those shocking letters he led her towards a giant map of the world. “Chose where you best feel your talents would be kept ready for need, but not be abused.”

While Millicent studied the map he turned back to the rooms other occupants. “Twenty-seven minutes. Twenty seven, and the best expert took seven days. Amazing, If only she were interested in that career. Well Brian, you have most certainly struck gold this time. You could ask for no better apprentice.”

“I am to be reactivated sir” the bulldog asked in surprise.

“Of course, how else do you expect to train her?”

“Ah, yes, of course.” Standing the bulldog walked over to where Millicent was studying the map. “Oh please, surely not three” he begged when he saw where his student was looking.

“My lord?” Millicent asked. “What is wrong with Nuna Hale?”

Lord Bromley shivered. “First, they hate us, second it is cold there and third... They truly hate us.”

“Then that is the perfect place for my training sir. If not a place where we are despised, then why bother at all?”