Chapter 19: Past Ten

"The Hall regrets the hour," said Rhyd's secretary. He shut the pen gate with two fingers and went off along the stand wall, the slate pencil riding behind his ear. It was past the sixth bell. The closing bout was called for the second night bell, and an entrant who left the pen after the card's opening bell was struck, so the Hall had Kael until then: a yard of packed earth, a bucket, and a bare patch of wall where a stool had stood on the twenty-fourth. The steward in the sash read the day's order from a half sheet in the passage mouth. The opposing entrant's plate was to be inspected at this gate before the closing bout. Refreshment was not provided for. He folded the sheet and went. The Ring had reposted the bill to put the closing bout on the surge. A fixture dip at the…