Kate Sedley - The Tintern Treasure

‘Because she’s my cousin and I’m fond of her, and because we parted from her this morning on bad terms. I don’t like that. She can be irritating and annoying, I know, but she’s been good to us and I couldn’t do without her help when you’re away. And I shall need that help even more now that there’s another child to look after.’

I grumbled and argued — in my role as head of the household I could hardly do less — but in the end I gave in.

‘Oh, very well,’ I agreed. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can. But,’ I warned her, ‘that may not be as quick as you would like.’

Adela gave me a look: the sort of look wives give their husbands when they know these gentlemen are being deliberately awkward.

I called to Hercules, intending to take him with me, but the fickle animal had suddenly found another object for his devotion. Luke was sitting up in his cradle, where Adela had left it next to the water barrel, gurgling, dribbling and clapping his little hands, while Hercules lay beside him watching his every move with adoring eyes. To my demand for the dog’s company he turned a deaf ear, the merest twitch of his tail acknowledging my presence.

Disgusted and more than a little put out, I left him to it.

The morning was overcast and dank as only a November day can be. A few rays of watery sunlight pierced the clouds and a wind-like thin steel flailed its way down Small Street. I shivered and drew my cloak more closely around me. I had not intended to hurry but the cold drove me on and in no time at all I had reached the wine merchant’s house in Wine Street.

He was not at home.

Mistress Callowhill was all apologies, insisting I come into the parlour for a beaker of mulled ale to ‘keep out the cold of this miserable morning.’

‘Henry will be sorry to have missed you, Master Chapman,’ she fussed, shooing the two younger children — a pretty girl of about nine years old and a boy a little older — out of the room and instructing the elder son, Martin, to pour the ale. ‘He’s gone to the warehouse and might be some time. But if you would care to wait. .’

I shook my head. ‘Thank you, but my business is not that important.’

Once again, I felt uncomfortable, as though I were masquerading under false pretences. There had been a time, not so very far distant, when the wife of one of Bristol’s wealthiest citizens would barely have acknowledged my existence, let alone invited me into her parlour and plied me with refreshment. And she herself seemed to find the situation odd. She was not at ease.

By contrast, young Martin Callowhill was as friendly as ever, chattering away in his casual, friendly fashion and accompanying me to the door when I left.

‘I’m sorry you can’t stay, Master Chapman,’ he said, giving a quaint little bow. ‘I enjoyed the last conversation we had together. About Saxons calling the Normans Orcs and about the Battle for Middle Earth,’ he added when he saw that I was at a loss.

I laughed, remembering. ‘I had a suspicion that Master Callowhill was none too pleased.’

The boy shrugged, somewhat impatiently I thought, then smiled. ‘Oh, Father prides himself on his Norman ancestry. His mother’s family name was de Broke and there was a tradition that they were descended from a bastard son of the Conqueror. I don’t put any store by that sort of nonsense myself, but I fancy Father is a little disappointed that he hasn’t risen any higher in life. He went to London last year and was introduced at court by one of my grandmother’s relatives. The late King Edward made much of him and I think. .’

He broke off suddenly, flushing to the roots of his hair, realizing that he had no business to be talking of his father in such a free and easy way to a comparative stranger. Or, in fact, to anyone.

‘You. . You won’t repeat. .’ he stammered.

‘You may rely entirely on my discretion,’ I assured him.

He smiled gratefully and wished me good-day.

I started the return journey home, considering whether or not I might run the gauntlet of Adela’s displeasure by a quick visit to the Green Lattis for a further beaker of ale. But she was almost certain to hear of it. The women of Bristol had their own ways of being kept informed of what their menfolk got up to, so, in the end, I decided against it; but only, I told myself, because of a sudden decision to call on Geoffrey Heathersett. He had as much interest in the affair as Master Callowhill, and as a lawyer might be able to advise me what to do next.

I walked down Broad Street and turned into Runnymede Court, conscious of various people hailing me or shouting a greeting, but preoccupied with my recent conversation with young Martin. The picture he had presented of his father did not quite tally with the easygoing, rather jolly man I had always assumed Henry Callowhill to be. Perhaps that was why he occasionally seemed to resent Gilbert Foliot’s somewhat patronizing air.

Edwin Pennyfeather received me in the outer room of the lawyer’s chambers with his usual cheerful grin, but pulled down the corners of his mouth when I expressed a wish to see his master.

‘I don’t know how he’ll be willing to spare you the time, Master Chapman. He’s very busy just at present. A new will he has to draw up for Alderman Stoner.’

I was just about to deny, for the second time that morning, that my business was of any importance, when the door to the inner sanctum opened and Lawyer Heathersett appeared, ushering the alderman out. He was none too pleased to see me, but when I begged for five minutes of his time, he grudgingly agreed.

He followed me into the musty-smelling inner chamber, where piles of law books were stacked on shelves and even in piles on the floor, and waved me to a chair in front of a large, ink-stained desk before seating himself behind it.

‘Well, Master Chapman, and what can I do for you?’ he asked impatiently.

So I told him of my trip to Glastonbury, of what I had learned from Brother Hilarion, of my theory concerning Edward II and even touched on my suspicions of both Sir Lionel Despenser and Gilbert Foliot.

Somewhat to my surprise, he didn’t fire up in defence of his friends, but gnawed on the end of a quill pen to the detriment of his remaining front teeth, several of which looked rotten enough to snap under such treatment. Finally, when I had finished, he demanded, ‘Have you proof of any of this?’

‘No,’ I admitted. ‘Not what you could call proof. But I have this very strong hunch. .’

The lawyer snorted. ‘Hunches are of no use in a court of law.’

‘I know that,’ I retorted irritably. ‘But what would you advise me to do?’

‘Nothing. There’s not a thing you can do.’ He nibbled even harder on the end of his pen. ‘All the same, what you’ve told me doesn’t surprise me. I’ve suspected for quite some time now that Gilbert has Lancastrian sympathies. As long as the late king was alive, they lay dormant. Edward was too popular with all kinds and conditions of men for there to be much opposition to his rule. Indeed, many people, wherever their loyalties secretly lay, were prepared not merely to tolerate him, but actively supported him. The Bishop of Ely is a case in point. But all that changed with Edward’s death. When Gloucester took the throne. .’ He broke off, shrugging his narrow shoulders.

‘Old loyalties reawakened?’ I suggested.

He nodded and leant forward across the desk, peering at me with his short-sighted, protuberant eyes.

‘Quite so. But they’ll be careful until they see which way the wind’s blowing. Until they see if King Richard remains as popular as he seems to be at present. These rumours we’ve been hearing about the two princes. .’ He smiled cynically. ‘Well, my advice to anyone would be to forget those. They’re probably untrue anyway. But southerners don’t like Richard. He’s a stranger to them. And he’s known to be priggish. Strait-laced. A good husband, father, friend, but intolerant of debauchery in any shape or form. That won’t appeal to a lot of people.’