Bernard Knight - Figure of Hate

Though in the best circles in these times it was considered indelicate to curse in the presence of ladies, chivalry was not held at a premium in Sampford and neither of the women of the family turned a hair at coarse language. In fact, Avelina had been known to easily outswear the kitchen staff when something annoyed her.

Odo, though privately of the same opinion as his brother, felt obliged to contradict him as a matter of principle, to deny Ralph's bid for primacy.

'Walter was right in law. We could be censured for not complying with the new rules. Not that they are all that new — it's over a year since the Justiciar promulgated them at the Kentish eyre.'

The eldest son of William Peverel had spent a couple of years at the cathedral school in Salisbury, and as well as learning to read and write with moderate skill had harboured a frustrated yearning to become a lawyer until his disability ruled him out, just as it had disbarred him from his inheritance. He now followed the activities of the King's council and the politics of the day more closely than any of his brothers, who were concerned only with hunting and jousting. But Ralph was contemptuous of Odo's respect for the law.

'That damned fellow de Wolfe is an interfering nuisance! It was he who made the most trouble last week, when poor Hugo had that problem at the tournament. Anyone else would have let the matter rest, but de Wolfe had to make such a song and dance about it!' he ranted. 'And then at the feast afterwards, again it was he who interfered in a gentleman's dispute between Hugo and that slimy bastard de Charterai.' At the mention of the Frenchman, Avelina's head came up and she glared at her stepson.

'That's no way to speak of an honourable knight who is a guest in our country! He was the champion at that tournament and was a Crusader, so he deserves some respect.'

There were a few knowing glances exchanged around the table, including a few covert winks between the ladies' maids. It was common knowledge that Avelina, who had attended the tourney in Exeter along with Beatrice, had met de Charterai on the field at Bull Mead — though only her own handmaiden knew that she had given him one of her kerchiefs to tuck into his sleeve as a favour before he took the field with his lance.

Odo took the initiative again, his solemn face set stubbornly as he returned to the practicalities of the day.

'The coroner will come, whether we like it or not. If the bailiff had not sent for him, the news would still have reached him — the murder of one of the county's manor-lords is not something that goes unnoticed.' Ralph banged his ale jar on the table and snapped his fingers at the old bottler to get him to refill it.

'He'll get short shrift as far as I'm concerned. If he comes pestering me or the ladies for gossip, I'll tell him to clear off our land! We managed perfectly well for centuries without this new-fangled nonsense of a coroner.'

Odo was determined to contradict his brother at every opportunity. 'That's not quite true, Ralph. There was a coroner way back in Saxon times. The office just fell into disuse in Ethelred's time and Hubert Walter has revived it.'

'I don't give a fig for your history lessons, Odo!' shouted the younger man crossly. 'You've often heard what our good neighbour has said about coroners they are just another way of screwing more money out of the population. Amercements and fines and deodands and confiscations! The bastards are just bloody tax collectors under another name, according to Richard de Revelle.'

'And he should know, having been dismissed for being caught with his hand in the royal purse!' cut in Joel mischievously, but this merely served to inflame the volatile Ralph.

'Another vile injustice on the part of this Godforsaken John de Wolfe!' he snarled, glaring at his youngest brother, who in looks was a fresher-faced copy of himself. 'He's long had this hatred for de Revelle, even though he's married to his sister. He plotted his downfall out of sheer malice and what's happened? We've lost a good sheriff and had some old dodderer put in his place, who'll dance to de Wolfe's tune!' Avelina looked at Ralph with cold disdain.

'All this ranting is getting us nowhere. If you've nothing more useful to suggest, we may as well leave it to this coroner to investigate.'

Ralph bridled at her rebuke; he had never liked his stepmother and resented her taking his dead mother's place.

'Indeed I do have something useful to suggest, madam!' he snapped. 'We have a good neighbour not four miles away who knows more of the law than this swine of a coroner. I think we should prevail upon him to come over and advise us in our hour of need.'

'You mean Richard de Revelle?' asked Odo, for once not disagreeing with his main rival. 'It's true that as Devon's sheriff he was responsible for enforcing the law in the county, so he must know it backwards.'

'Backwards is probably right!' said Joel sarcastically. 'Don't forget that he was dismissed in disgrace for malpractice.'

Again Ralph slammed a fist angrily on the table, making the wine cups rattle. 'Watch your words, young man! He was a victim of a conspiracy, concocted by this de Wolfe, because of his leanings towards Prince John.'

'Which I hope none of us here shares,' observed Odo carefully. 'We are all staunch King's men. Let us not forget what happened in Nottingham and Tickhill last year!'

He was referring to the final rout of John's rebellion when the Lionheart returned home from his captivity in Germany, but again his sarcastic brother Joel felt obliged to cap his words.

'No need to go as far as Nottingham, brothers! Just remember that in our own county, down at Berry Castle, the traitor Henry de la Pomeroy had his surgeon cut open the veins of his wrists, rather than face the wrath of Coeur de Lion! We need to think carefully before climbing on to de Revelle's wagon.'

Avelina, whose social excursions obviously gave her more insight into the political scene than her stepsons, nodded her agreement.

'I hear that he still has ambitions which would be fulfilled if Prince John gained the upper hand,' she observed sagely. 'I wouldn't trust our neighbour very far. He was always badgering my William to sell him six carucates of that part of our manor which abutted on to his land — and for a trifling sum.'

Ralph jumped from the table to stride impatiently back and forth, cider slopping from his quart jug as he paced.

'This is foolishness! What in God's name has his politics to do with the former sheriff giving us some help over this tragedy? He knows about hunting miscreants and about the law that can be applied in the manor when they are caught. Let us send for him quickly, before this interfering knight arrives from Exeter.'

He omitted to mention that, being good friends with de Revelle, he also wanted this senior man's support in any contest with Odo over the succession to the manor, in exchange for selling him the land that Avelina had spoken of. Though no one was enthusiastic, there seemed no good reason why Richard's advice should not be sought. More by default, Ralph Peverel got his way and volunteered to go across to de Revelle's demesne immediately to explain the situation.

The sound of his gelding's hoofs had hardly died away when a figure hurried up the steps and, pulling off his woollen cap, advanced into the hall in a state of some excitement. It was the falconer, who, like the rest of the servants, had been out checking on who was missing. He approached the table where the family were gathered, looking apprehensively from one to the other, unsure as to which one was now the master, to whom he should deliver his news. Solving the dilemma by moving his head from side to side and speaking to no one in particular, he blurted out the news that Agnes, the fourteen-year-old daughter of one of the cottars, was missing.