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Where would a stolen apple lead?
Harry, an orphan, starving on the streets of London, has prospects beyond his wildest dreams. He steals an apple and finds a chance of a better life. He only has to make the right decisions.
This short story is yours for free as a welcome gift when you join the Readers' Club.
Harry Watkins is an important character in The Sixteenth Earl, Book Two in The Aucourte Chronicles due out later in 2026. A fragment of Harry's backstory and also an introduction to the earl from The Earl's Daughter and a fleeting hello to one of the earl's other children.
SAMPLE
HARRY WATKINS — FIRST DAY AT EATON SQUARE
Covent Garden Market 14 August 1884
Harry ran. The man chasing him was furious, looming up on him like a bull in a temper. Not that Harry had ever seen a bull, angry or otherwise, but he had seen the carcass of one at Smithfield, the meat market where his father had worked and died.
‘Ere you!’ the man shouted, closing the gap, already stretching his arms to seize Harry by the neck. The Covent Garden cobbles were hard and cold through the boy’s thin worn shoes and the stolen apple, stuffed inside his shirt, thumped against Harry’s ribs as he dodged between people and barrows, breath rasping in his throat. He’d only taken one. Just one apple from a sack full.
‘Watch out!’ another man yelled, as Harry collided with him.
He jinked to his left, crossed another wider cobbled roadway and shot down an alley at the side of the Theatre Royal where work was underway converting it into a circus.
Too late. He remembered his chosen route led to Bow Street, and the alley came out opposite the magistrates’ court and police station. In one direction the law awaited him. Behind a beast of a man was gaining on him. No choice, except stopping meant a certain beating while running still offered the slim chance of escape.
Committed to the route, he raced on, the owner of the apple panting behind him, while he assessed the possibility that a swift left turn would take him towards Long Acre and a wealth of alleyways in which to get lost.
He didn’t make it. Want to read on?