Belladonna at Belstone (24 page)

“Baldwin? Can you hear me?” Simon said again, and when there was no reply, he took his friend’s hand, repeating his question and watching Baldwin’s face anxiously until he felt the knight’s hand grip his own. For Simon it was proof that his friend was not in immediate danger. Simon, like most men, had witnessed plenty of tournaments and mock battles, and had seen men in the ring fighting with clubs and swords. He knew as well as any man that, provided the injured man could hear and move after a few minutes, he was unlikely to die. The others, the ones who expired, were the men who could neither hear nor move after an hour or so. They seemed to pass from unconsciousness into catalepsy, and then died.

Simon leaned back, overcome with relief at the thought that his friend would probably recover. Not that there was any guarantee, of course. Locked-jaw always lingered after a cut no matter how small, and once that hideous disease had taken a man in its terrible grip, it would squeeze the life from him without compunction. Simon feared the locked-jaw more than the madness, the foaming at the mouth that a mad dog’s bite could give a man. Locked-jaw led to a slow, agonising starvation while the mind was left free to appreciate the complete indignity and horror of the death.

And someone had tried to inflict this on his friend. Simon felt blind fury rising again, and had to force it down. Such emotions were not seemly in a nunnery.

Seeing the prioress beckon, he went to her side.

“Bailiff, this is the infirmarer, Constance. She has had some experience of wounds like your friend’s.”

“The best cure for him is sleep, Bailiff,” Constance said earnestly. “But with that horrible wound, he’ll not be able to get it. I want to give him a draught that will let him rest.”

“What sort of draught?” Simon asked suspiciously.

The prioress laughed quietly. “I know your mind, Bailiff. Trust me, and trust my infirmarer. Constance here knows what is needful for your friend.”

So she might, Simon thought to himself, but if she was the murderer, she might also know what was needful for her own protection. He watched with worried eyes while the infirmarer poured a few drops of syrup from a bottle and mixed them with wine from a jug. Then, tenderly holding Baldwin by the nape of his neck, she held the cup to his lips. As soon as he had finished the draught, Simon saw his friend’s eyes wrinkle slightly at the corners as though he was smiling in gratitude. Constance carefully helped him to lie back on the pillows, his head turned sideways. Baldwin’s breathing became more even and less laboured as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Simon glanced enquiringly at the prioress. She gestured towards the door, and the bailiff nodded and followed her out. Once at the landing area above the stairs, he stopped, and beckoned Hugh, grasping his servant by the shoulder.

“Hugh, don’t let Baldwin out of your sight, all right? Someone might try to kill him in here, so keep your eyes open and your wits about you.”

Luke heard the canons talking about Katerine’s death when he was approaching the church for Terce and the Morrow Mass. He saw Jonathan and curled his lip, hurrying past. Luke knew perfectly well about Jonathan’s liking for young men and Luke had no wish to be the latest focus of his desires.

All the canons knew about Jonathan. He was a pleasant enough fellow when sober, but every now and again he would get drunk, and when he did, if a youthful or impressionable man was nearby, Jonathan could fix upon him to the embarrassment of the rest of the clergy.

Jonathan never intended to cause offence, but equally he knew that his interest in other men was viewed by most of his clerical brothers to be an abomination. He was convinced of it himself. That was why he went on his knees to pray, to try to expiate the sin of his lust.

Usually his - Luke could only think of them as infatuations -would wear out quickly, just as soon as the object of his desires became aware of the direction of his thoughts. Recently, Brother Paul had appeared to be humouring the older man, and Luke wondered whether he should bring the matter to the attention of the prioress - but only for a moment. He was too open to accusations of seducing novices himself.

When Jonathan saw Luke, he hurried over to him. Luke froze, but quickly forgot his revulsion as Jonathan told him what had happened to Sir Baldwin and the novice.

Luke raised his brows and expressed astonishment. “But this is terrible! We’ll have to pray for the knight’s full and speedy recovery. Did anyone see the girl jump?”

“No one, unless the knight himself did,” Jonathan said.

“Apparently Sir Baldwin looked up just before he was struck, or so Paul says.”

“Oh?” said Luke. “Well, no doubt Sir Baldwin will have told the suffragan.”

“No, the knight was unconscious when they took him to the frater, and now he’s safe in the nuns’ infirmary, but still not talking, so I hear.”

Luke carried on, but at a slower pace. Troubling thoughts occupied his mind as he slowly dressed himself for the service. It was a great shame about Kate.

Hearing the shuffling of feet in the nave, Luke fitted a contemplative expression to his face and walked slowly to the altar. There he genuflected to the cross, and began the service.

Uttering the words he knew so well, Luke found his mind wandering. It was good to be here, safe in this little convent. Agnes was a very willing companion, and there would always be other novices when she lost her charm or became too demanding. That was the good thing about being in a convent; there was no need to be tied to any one girl.

Women were confusing. Luke had been so certain that Moll was giving him the eye. But when he got her on her own and she realised what he wanted, she’d gone frigid, then pious. Worst of all, she had started preaching, urging him to give up his life of debauchery. He told her of Agnes’s willingness, thinking to make her jealous, but the shot went wide of the mark. Moll said he must confess his sins, then she hinted that she would speak to Agnes.

Luke shook at the thought. Agnes was terribly jealous. If she heard that he’d tried it on with Moll, she would be furious.

Moll was not only pretty, she had the attraction of being a challenge. Agnes had the face of an angel but was a nervous type, always looking for praise. She could be boring - complaining about how others were putting her down.

In contrast Katerine had been assured and self-confident. Luke knew she was experienced with men the first time she kissed him. Like Agnes she hadn’t needed much persuading. The one who was different was Moll. She believed in her vocation; wouldn’t swallow his guff about a priest being able to take upon himself any sin. No, that kind of rubbish was only accepted by nuns who wanted an excuse. It wouldn’t work with Moll; just as it hadn’t worked with the worldly wise Katerine.

Katerine, when he had whispered to her in the few moments he had managed to snatch with her when no one - and especially not Agnes - was watching, had not reddened, but simply met his look with a measuring gaze. Luke had tried to use his arts of persuasion on her, but she had laughed, mocking his pseudo-religious arguments, saying, “If you want to bed me, say so and have done.”

And then, as if to demonstrate that she was worth his while, she had reached up and kissed him full on the lips, with a loose, lubricious lustiness that made him squirm just to remember it.

It was a shame she was dead, he sighed. But at least Agnes was still alive.

Chapter Sixteen

Hugh watched the infirmarer warily. There was no need for her to go quite so close to the knight, nor to stop and stand near Baldwin when she was walking past on her way to the chamber. He was about to demand what she was doing when she suddenly went off behind the curtain.

“Well? Did you expect her to stab him in front of you?” Joan asked, then cackled to herself.

Hugh glowered at the floor and shrugged his shoulders, evading her sharp eye. “I was told to keep a lookout on my master’s friend.“

“Course you were, young man, but there’s no need to act so oddly around Constance. She’s a good lass.”

“I am, am I?“ Constance said, reappearing in the doorway. ”And you’re a dreadful old woman, Joan.“

“Now then, Sister. Don’t forget, we nuns always maintain a polite distance in front of men,” Joan said disdainfully, and then laughed, slapping her thigh with delight at her witticism.

Joan gave Hugh a tolerant smile. It was easy to like Joan. She was known to all the nuns; for many her face was the first they would see on entering the cloister. Certainly she was fearsome, almost dragon-like to the younger entrants, but once the girls got to know her, they saw the warmth of her heart. Joan was a permanent fixture of the place, and she felt that she had the right to make jokes at the expense of any of the other sisters or of the institution itself, just as she saw fit.

Woe betide the fool who tried to join her in belittling the convent, however. That was tantamount to a felony in Joan’s view. She would tolerate making fun of the other sisters, but the place itself was sacrosanct. Joan had earned the right to have digs at the priory, but only as the reward for her life of service. There was no excuse, she felt, for youngsters taking the rise out of the place, and she would be quick to snap at them.

“Why in front of men?” Hugh said, glancing doubtfully from one to the other.

“Who knows what you men would make of us if you knew what truly went on in our minds, young fellow?” Joan chuckled.

Constance felt her face redden, and she busied herself with cleaning some pots and carefully drying them.

“People think nuns are religious and spend their whole time walking about with their hands in their sleeves, heads down, daydreaming about the life to come, don’t they? Or they think all women in convents are so starved of sex that any man who cuts a well-shaped thigh and ankle in hose would be exhausted after two seconds flat in a place housing so many lusty young women. That’s right, isn’t it?” she said, her voice suddenly louder.

Hugh was startled into a partial reply. “I doubt it. Most men think women in the cloisters are already part of the way to heaven, so they don’t figure much in our thoughts.“

“Ah, but why? Because the women are the Brides of Christ, or because it’s too much bother to walk all the way to their convents, and too much like hard work to go to the effort of climbing the claustral wall to get at them, especially when the precinct might have guards to defend the women’s innocence?”

Hugh was flustered by her questioning and shrugged again, his face growing darker with his suspicion that Joan’s conversation had a point, and that point was to belittle Hugh.

Joan watched him like a viper staring at a mouse, bolt upright, her watery blue eyes intent, but then she suddenly sank back. “I know what men are like, young fellow; after living here for more than fifty years, I have a good idea what goes on in the mind of the average villein or freeman, because I meet them when they come here, and always it’s the same. Nuns are either mad because they can’t cope with “real men” in the “real world” and run away from the smelly and rather foolish acrobatics which go hand in glove with sex - and if they don’t think that, they assume that all nuns are lusty wenches who will fulfil every erotic dream of the most pox-ridden and pox-marked bastard born to a serf.“

“I’m sorry,” Hugh said and his head was hanging now, recalling his thoughts in the tavern on his way to this place. He had been persuaded that the only reason why his hose would stay resolutely tied to his tunic was the fact that he was too low-born for a wealthy nun, he recalled and now, listening to the bitter, tired old woman, he felt guilty.

“Don’t be so silly, fellow! What sort of a churl are you?” Joan said. “You forget that women here are the same as women outside, except we have taken the vow of chastity. We have the same dreams and desires as any woman who lives outside. Often nuns will fail in their oaths, but they can be forgiven that, because to fail is human. Such women can regain their position in God’s love, because He understands our frailty, and while many will enter His kingdom after a life of unremitting effort and good works, I always like to think that He would prefer one or two darker horses up there with Him, just to protect Him from the utter tedium of dealing with the most perfect people.” She suddenly shot him a sharp glance. “Don’t you think He would soon be bored with only do-gooders to talk to?”

Hugh mumbled, but Constance gave a short laugh. “Joan, you are cruel to tease the fellow. He knows he shouldn’t answer: if he agrees with you, you’ll tell him he’s no better than a heathen, and if he disagrees you’ll tell him he’s a fool. Leave him be.”

Joan cast her a sly look, and Constance lifted an eyebrow sardonically. At the sight Joan grinned and settled herself back in her chair.

Constance mixed spices with wine in a jug and set it near the fire. As she passed, she touched Joan’s hand with gratitude, for the older woman’s meaning was all too clear to her: all nuns failed occasionally, and there was always mercy and forgiveness. A moment later, Joan rose and went from the room. Constance returned to her bench; she felt little desire for forgiveness. She would trade it for an hour in Elias’s arms any day, and no matter how many kindly words dear Joan gave her, she would always remember her lover’s strong embrace.

Elias - whom she had told only the previous night that Katerine had threatened to expose them…

“I am deeply sorry that this has happened to your friend,” Lady Elizabeth said when she and Simon arrived in the cloister. “Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.”

“Thank you. Of course the matter is in Bishop Bertrand’s hands…‘

“Let’s not try to fool each other, eh, Bailiff? The good bishop loathes me, and the feeling is mutual. If he can, he will see me thrown from here, while you have a perfectly natural desire to avenge your friend. As far as I am concerned, that makes you much more likely to catch the murderer.”

Simon grinned. “Very well - but Bertrand carries the responsibility. Do you mind if I speak to your nuns here?”

She set her head to one side. “No,” she said at last. “But do treat them gently. Some of the women here are not used to meeting men at all, let alone being interrogated.”

Simon promised to be careful and left her to return to her desk while he walked to the nuns’ frater. He wanted to see if he could learn anything from the women about the dead novice.

There were only two in the room: one nun and a novice, sitting on a bench up near the screens. Recognising the sacrist, Denise, he considered a moment, then approached.

“Ah, the bailiff!” Denise raised her pot in salutation. She was drunk, although not yet incapable. Wine had trailed down her chin to puddle on her breast, and her eyes were too bright. “So you haven’t been harmed yet?”

Simon stiffened, but forced his tone to remain easy. “Denise, you know that Katerine is dead and my friend hurt. Did you see anything?”

She fixed upon him a face filled with the vacuity of drunkenness. Lifting her pot, she drank, spilling more of the drink down her tunic. At last she took the pot away and grunted with pleasure. “Bailiff, this has been a terrible shock. I was sitting in here when I heard someone cry out, and a few minutes later I saw poor Katerine being carried out from the church and taken to rest with Moll. Poor Katerine! Awful! I’m not used to bloodshed, you know,” she declared, peering once more into her cup and taking a deep draught.

“Was anyone here with you?”

“Oh, yes. Agnes here was with me all the time. I don’t know if she noticed anything.”

“I saw nothing. I heard noises from the canons’ cloister, but that’s all.”

“You heard nothing apart from that?” Simon asked. “And you were both in here?”

Agnes wouldn’t meet his look, leaving it to Denise to say, “What else could we have seen, Bailiff? We were here. It’s not as if we would have had any reason to wander in the canons’ side, is it?”

Jeanne was in the hall when she heard them. Immediately she dropped the tapestry she had been stitching and ran to the door.

When she was young, her parents had both been murdered by trail bastons, the foul club-men who had wandered the land in the last years of King Edward I - this king’s father. These sounded like another band of men-at-arms marching. It was a distinctive noise: the tinny clattering of many pots and griddles knocking together where they were hooked on the outside of the wagons, the dull, hollow squeaking of ill-greased axles, the rattle and thump of heavy wheels striking ruts, the tramp, tramp of feet, the occasional shout and jeering laugh. All these noises could be from a large entourage, one with which the King had surrounded himself, and when she fearfully stared out, she saw a procession of men, wagons and carts, all well-covered against the cold, all faceless under their hats.

Since the visit of Stapledon’s messenger, Jeanne had been worried that trail bastons could come here. Furnshill was almost on the road from Tiverton to Exeter. Seeing them now, she was suddenly convinced it was the army of the Despensers.

She was aware of a thickening sensation in her throat, and the hairs on her scalp tingled; her legs felt as if they couldn’t support her. There was a growing muzziness in her head, an inability to think. She wanted to escape - but she couldn’t. Her duty was to her husband’s manor and house; Jeanne was the wife of a knight.

The recollection cured her. By God’s good grace, she would acquit herself like the lady she was. Striding to the door she shouted, “Edgar!” and ran to the yard behind the house. Here, normality prevailed. Men exercised horses, others idled between jobs, passing the time of day with dairymaids and house-servants.

Hearing her shout, Edgar rushed from the stables, an expression of mild surprise on his face.

“There is a force in the road. We must arm the men and—‘

She was talking to the air. At her first words Edgar had bolted for the screens, and now he stood at the far side of the threshold, a stout pike hidden behind the door where he could grab it at need.

Feeling somewhat ridiculous, Jeanne trailed after him. “Shall I call the men to arms?”

Edgar surveyed the men who now marched up the lane to the manor, then shook his head. “They don’t look like outlaws, and if they were Despensers, we’d have heard. They’d have razed the land on their way here, and we’d have seen refugees passing for hours.”

“Then who are they?” she demanded, peering over his shoulder.

As she spoke, a man riding a pony near the front rode back to a man on a tall grey destrier. While Jeanne watched, the pony’s rider nodded, whirled around and set off towards the house at a canter. Soon he was at the door, a youngish man with a round face and angry features beneath a wide-brimmed felt hat. He sat hunched on his pony as if frozen.

“My Lord begs your kindness, and asks would it be possible to rest his horses and men here overnight?”

Edgar was about to answer when Jeanne spoke up, her hand on his sleeve. “Normally I’d be glad to offer comfort to weary travellers, but my husband isn’t here, and without his permission I cannot allow strangers to enter.”

The messenger hawked and spat, then tilted his hat back on his head. “Are you sure you couldn’t allow us just a couple of hours before your fire, my Lady? We’ve ridden far this day already, and the air has practically frozen our innards, we’ve been out in it so long.”

“The Lady of the house has spoken,” Edgar said, and although there was no curtness in his voice, his tone sufficed to demonstrate that he would ensure her will was obeyed.

“Oh, very well. I don’t even know why he wanted to come to such a miserable spot!” the young man said, staring at the house with evident distaste. He turned in his saddle to call back. “My Lord, they won’t let us in, not even to sit before the fire.”

“Really?”

And with that voice Jeanne felt her trepidation fall away.

“My Lord Bishop! I didn’t know it was you - of course you are welcome, and your men too!” She gasped with relief and delight.

It was at the door to the infirmary and dorter that Simon saw the old woman. Joan sat contentedly on a bench sipping at a large cup of wine, her legs stretched out before her. She opened her eyes as Simon approached.

“May I sit with you?” he asked.

She shrugged. “If by that you mean, can you ask me questions, say so!”

Simon grunted as he lowered himself, rubbing at his temples.

Joan gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. I get so used to being the first person anyone comes to for help that sometimes I make myself sound tetchy to grab a little peace.”

“The nuns all come to you?”

“Oh, yes. I am the oldest. They think I have a monopoly on commonsense and experience.”

“Where were you today when Katerine died?”

She gave a sad smile. “I was walking in the orchard, Bailiff. Alone. I wish I’d been here to pray for poor Katerine, falling like that.”

“She didn’t fall by accident. She was murdered.”

Joan’s eyes opened with horror. “But… How can you be sure? I thought she had slipped or something.”

Simon didn’t explain his theory. “Were you there for long?”

“Not very. I needed to clear my head a little. I am used to work, Bailiff, and spending all my days indoors before a fire seems strangely boring. I had thought sitting at a fire would be a delightful retirement - all pleasures can pale.”

“Did you see anyone here when you came back?”

“Only Denise.” Joan wrinkled her nose. “She was rather drunk again, I am afraid.”

“Where was she?”

“She’s the sacrist. Where would she be? I saw her leaving the church after cleaning up.”

“Alone?” he asked, and Joan nodded. “Everyone seems to have been alone,” he grumbled.

She chuckled. “It’s the duty of the contemplative life! But there is one thing in my favour.”

“And that is?”

“That I had no reason to want to hurt poor Katerine. I know not all the novices liked her - in fact, I think Agnes and she had fallen out over something - not that either confided in me.”

Simon motioned for her to continue.