Priscilla Royal - Justice for the Damned

She nodded in sympathy at her two attendants, now pink-faced with embarrassment from their not-so-secret thoughts, and resumed her walk to the priory gate. There were less innocent enjoyments here than the sight of a river, however. Had it been too cruel to send Brother Thomas to the inn, a place full of worldly temptations? She had good reason to be confident that he was true to his vows, but she knew from her own experience how quickly flesh joined Satan's games. If she, a woman who had no doubt about her vocation, had suffered lust, how much harder would it be for one who had less of a calling? She closed her eyes and prayed the monk had sinned little beyond taking more drink than might be wise.

The issue of religious vows turned Eleanor's mind back to the contentious debate within the woolmonger's family. Alys had no true calling to become a nun in any Order. That was quite clear. She was most suited to becoming a wife, and her mother had good reason for choosing a successful merchant as the girl's husband.

Although Eleanor had never met the glover, she had not found Master Herbert either ill-favored or insensitive. The match between the pair might not start out with mutual love, but that could grow if each treated the other with thoughtful respect. The marriage between her own father and mother had been arranged as a union of property, not hearts, yet Baron Adam still grieved over his wife's death some sixteen years later. Despite her sympathy for Alys, Eleanor knew it would be best if she found some way of getting the girl to make peace with her parents' choice of spouse.

That aside, what had she learned about this ghost? According to Jhone, there was a connection between Wulfstan's death and the vintner's dead wife, but Eleanor could see no logic in the supposition. Even assuming the soul of Eda was seeking vengeance for her place in the Devil's kingdom, why kill the father and not the son who led her there? And who, besides the vintner himself, would have reason to seek revenge?

She shook her head. That last thought was ridiculous. Why would Master Herbert kill the adulterer's father but pursue marriage with the cousin of the seducer? And why would any killer pointedly bring attention to a tie between his adulterous wife's death and Wulfstan's murder, a link that could well point back at him?

Stopping at the gate, Eleanor closed her eyes and forced her tired mind to see reason in any of this. Nay, the laborer must have been killed by someone who had a quarrel with him, not with Sayer.

"My lady!" The porter's tremulous voice broke through her jumbled thoughts. Although bowing out of respect for her rank, his expression resembled that of a loving father.

She greeted him with affection.

"Brother Thomas has begged an audience when you return."

"Please send him to Prioress Ida's lodging," she replied.

As she started to walk in that direction herself, she stopped, her mouth open in wondrous amazement. Had she not returned from the house of Mistress Jhone filled with deep weariness? Yet now her body had lost that exhaustion. God was most kind!

Brother Thomas accepted a mazer of wine and watered it well. "I fear I bring little news."

"May I ask if you slept well, Brother?" Anne teased.

The monk's face flushed. "I did oversleep all the Offices until now. For that, I will do penance.

"And drank more than you are accustomed to do?" The prioress' voice suggested no reproach.

He nodded. "Far more than any man ought, my lady. Brother Porter must have long been in his bed when I returned. I slept in the grass, quite near the priory walls. Today, I swear Satan has taken over Hell's smithy and is pounding an anvil in my head."

"That is penance enough," Eleanor replied. "You were toiling at God's work, and if that is the worst of your sinning…" His admission of drunkenness was frank enough. Surely he had committed no greater error than this one touch on Satan's hand. She exhaled with relief and quickly nodded for him to continue.

"There are no recent strangers in Amesbury, except ourselves, according to a young merchant I met at the inn. He knew of no one who might have a grudge against this priory." He hesitated.

The pause was not lost on the prioress. "No one?"

"The merchant said he was the only one who might, then swore he was jesting."

"Did he explain what he meant?"

"He is unmarried and grieved that the priory was able to win so many pretty girls to God's service when he could not gain the hand of any. Perhaps he feared he would be forced to marry some elderly widow."

"You spoke only to this merchant?" Anne offered more wine to Thomas.

He refused with an amiable wince. "He had much to say, including that many in the village believe demons have lurked for years near the mammoth stones that lie not far from here." He hesitated, as if waiting for his prioress to ask a question.

Imps so long in residence did not interest her. She gestured for him to go on.

"Some lawless men as well, he said, but they rarely trouble local folk and may be from the village itself. As for the priory, he told me it brought so much custom to the town that anyone would be hard-pressed to find any enemy. Standing as high as it does in the king's favor brings honor to Amesbury as well as coin."

"What had he to say about the ghost?" Eleanor asked.

Thomas lowered his eyes to a silent study of his mazer. "The merchant discounted the rumor that our ghost was Queen Elfrida since the priory has disciplined the wayward monks."

Eleanor saw his face turn red. Surely, she thought, he was not embarrassed by their particular sins. After all, he could not have come as a virgin to the tonsure. "Did he mention the other possible wandering spirit?"

"He denied that tale as well. According to him, Mistress Eda, the vintner's wife, was too charitable a soul on earth to be so cruel in death, even if she was in Hell for her sins. Sweet Eda, he called her."

"Was he kin to this woman?"

"I fear I did not think of that question, my lady."

"His words indicate some devotion. Perhaps he was in love with her before she married?"

"I do not know the lady's age, but the merchant is younger than I while the vintner is much older."

Eleanor turned pensive. "Disparate age does not always repel passion, even if the woman is the elder."

Thomas blinked.

"It is a question worth answering, I think. From what you have reported, your merchant seems doubtful that either alleged ghost truly drifts in the river fog. Did he suggest any source or basis for these rumors?"

"Nay."

"Did he mention the murder? In particular, was there any hint of rancor between Wulfstan and a family here? Perhaps Mistress Eda's?"

"He said that Wulfstan had no enemies and had had no part in the verdict condemning the woman's body to burial in unholy earth." A look of confusion spread over his face. "Forgive me, my lady, but I thought you did not want me to ask anything about the man's death."

"Nor did I, when I sent you out to seek gossip about phantoms, but now I have reason to be curious about any tales that are abroad. Did you not tell me that Mistress Jhone is related by marriage to Wulfstan?"

Thomas nodded.

"I had a most noteworthy conversation today with the woolmonger's widow and learned that the vintner's wife was her close friend. Although she seemed quite distressed by the idea, Mistress Jhone claims Mistress Eda was seduced by Wulfstan's son. As a consequence, she believes that the woman's damned soul must have murdered the father in revenge for her adultery with the son. Not a logical conclusion, I freely admit, but an interesting accusation."

"The son who works at the priory?" Anne asked as she passed a well-watered mazer of wine to the prioress.

"Sayer," she replied. "Did you see him last night, Brother?"