Read The Sphere: A Journey In Time for Free Online Page A

transcribed journal. "Open." I settled down to read through the account of my time in Stratford. Most of the journal entries were fairly banal. My first few weeks I worked as a maid at an inn near the center of town, while working to build up trust with Mary, and arranging a convenient absence of her other maid. Most of the entries were about me complaining of my treatment and my gradual befriending of Mary, but one in particular caught my attention.
     
    Wednesday, July 8th, 1598
    Another interesting sighting today. Henry Wriothesley, the number one man of interest on my scout’s list came to the inn today and is spending the night. He was accompanied by another man also on my list, but further down, Byron Goodfell. I tried eavesdropping on their conversations but there were so many people about today it was difficult. It mostly sounded like they were talking politics anyway. Henry, like William, largely ignored me but Byron kept giving me queer looks. I wonder if he thought I might be of service in other ways. Something about him seemed off, it was kind of creepy. Maybe I’ll try to talk to him tomorrow, see what he can tell me about Henry.
     
    I hadn’t paid that much attention to Byron since he wasn’t that high on my list of potential sonnet subjects. But I remembered the feeling he gave me the few times I did see him. It was like he knew something wasn’t right with me. I had shrugged him off as being eccentric at the time. “Search Byron.”
     
    A list of four more entries popped out to the side of my journal. Each of them had a mention of Byron in them. I focused on the top one first, “Open.”
     
    Thursday, July 9th, 1598
    Well no luck today. Henry and Byron left rather early to head to William’s house. I asked the innkeeper if they often come through town to visit Shakespeare and he told me to get my head out of the clouds. He said that an Earl would have no interest in a simple maid like myself and I should remember my place. I wanted to smack him, but demurred to his intolerable wisdom. Definitely don’t need to be attracting more attention to myself.
     
    I didn’t think that entry very interesting, and focused on the next. “Open.”
     
    Saturday, July 11th, 1598
    I can’t wait to get to the point where I can write about something other than the innkeeper’s daily tortures. Today was a fun one-he found me-
     
    Nevermind that. Byron just came back. The innkeeper brought him up to my room and told me I had to show him a good time or risk being thrown out in the streets. When the innkeeper left I told him that I hadn’t agreed to this when I was hired. Byron said something about me having nice teeth for such a lowly maid. I pleaded with him to leave me be and he said he would enjoy my company for a few more minutes then tell the innkeeper I had been well worth it.
     
    I never thought to prepare for this in my training. Perhaps I should step up the timeline. I got lucky with Byron, but who knows who else the innkeeper will bring up to my room. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that could get him trouble with the authorities. Probably not, it would probably just bring them around more often.
     
    I hadn’t given much thought to the few weeks I had spent at the inn before moving to work for Shakespeare. Frankly, I had wanted to forget most of it since it was largely unpleasant. This entry was the only occasion where the innkeeper had tried to sell me off as more than just a maid. I had forgotten about it almost immediately after leaving the place and wasn’t very keen on reliving it now. Perhaps I would leave this part out of my rewrite. I glanced at the last entry in the search list. “Open.”
     
    August 1st, 1598
    Byron and Henry came by the house today. Byron gave me a funny look and mentioned how fortuitous it was that I happened to be picked up by William Shakespeare as a maid. I agreed that he was a much better employer than the innkeeper. The smile he gave me betrayed something,