Edward Marston - The Foxes of Warwick

‘Is it a trick, then?’

‘No trick. Be there tomorrow. You will see.’

‘Ursa and I will be after an audience of our own.’

‘Keep him away from fish barrels this time.’

‘I will!’

The bear had now curled up in the straw and his master lay back to use him as a pillow, nestling into the crisp fur. Propped up against a wall, the old man could just see them in the gloom.

He was struck by the sense of companionship between man and beast.

‘Are you not afraid he will hurt you?’ he said.

‘Ursa? No, we are friends. I look after him.’

‘But he was so fierce when he crushed that barrel.’

‘He is not fierce with me,’ said the dwarf, patting the animal.

‘He is as gentle as a lamb. When you get used to his stink, a bear is as good a bedfellow as anyone else. His claws have been trimmed and the muzzle keeps his jaws together. But that is only for the safety of the spectators.’ He gave a yawn. ‘Even if he had the use of his claws and his teeth, he would never turn on me.’

‘What about me?’

‘Sleep easy, old man.’

‘Can I?’

‘Ursa does not like the taste of miracle workers.’

He cackled in the darkness. The old man liked him. The dwarf was a survivor, born an outcast and doomed to wander, pointed at as a freak, wherever he went, yet he was strangely free from bitterness or complaint. In spite of his unprepossessing appearance, the bearward was a pleasant character with an inner optimism which sustained both him and his beast. A traveller was at the mercy of the weather, the geography of the terrain and the temper of the people he encountered. More than one village had driven the old man out because they suspected him of black arts. He knew that the dwarf and his bear must have endured plenty of ill treatment themselves along the way.

‘Why did it happen?’ he said.

‘What?’

‘In the marketplace. When your bear picked up that barrel you say you lost control. Why was that?’

‘He is getting old and wilful.’

‘Yet the two of you work so well together.’

‘Ursa resents that sometimes,’ said the other. ‘He gets fed up with doing the same tricks. If I turn my back he gets into mischief.’

‘Why?’

‘To strike back at me. To show me that he can do what he wants from time to time. I could have flayed him for what happened out there in the marketplace today.’

‘At least it was only a barrel of fish.’

‘That was bad enough.’

‘He crushed that big barrel as if it was made of straw. Just think what he would have done if he’d held a man in his arms. Or a child.’

‘Ursa would never do that.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘He only grabbed that barrel to annoy me.’

‘I see.’

‘It is a game he plays. Causing mischief.’

‘And what other kind of mischief has he caused?’

‘Oh, all kinds,’ said the dwarf, giving the bear an affectionate slap. ‘In Worcester he kicked over a pail of milk. In a village nearby he climbed on the roof of a barn. When we went through a wood he chased the pigs and we had the swineherd after us with a stick.’ The old man laughed. ‘Hold fast to your donkey, my friend. They can be stubborn animals but they will not get you into trouble the way a bear can.’

‘What is the worst trouble he has given you?’

‘That is easily told. It was this very week, not long after we came into Warwickshire. We spent a night in the Forest of Arden,’

said the dwarf with a shiver, ‘sleeping in a ditch, shielded from the wind. When I woke up, Ursa was not there. He had wandered off in the dark. It took me an hour to find him. I was going to beat him soundly for giving me such a fright but I was so pleased to see him that I cried my eyes out. I thought I had lost him for ever,’ he whispered, caressing the bear’s arm. ‘Why did he run away from me like that?’

‘And where did he go?’ asked the old man. ‘A powerful animal, on the loose for an hour or more. He might have caused all manner of damage. I am glad that I did not bump into him. He might have hugged me to death.’

As they lay entwined in each other’s arms, Ralph and Golde talked at length about Philippe Trouville and his wife. The pair were unwelcome additions to the party. Ralph had his reservations about Canon Hubert but he far preferred the latter’s pomposity to Trouville’s boisterous self-assertion and the lady Marguerite’s haughtiness. The fact that the couple were now estranged gave Ralph a perverse satisfaction. Golde was more interested in what happened to the man’s first wife.

‘We know what happened,’ said Ralph.

‘Do we?’

‘The lady Marguerite. When she came into his life, the lord Philippe went astray. She would turn the head of any husband.’

‘Does she turn yours?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘We have been through this before.’

‘Tell me again.’

‘You are only fishing for compliments.’

‘Have you none to spare?’

He gave her a warm hug. ‘It seems that you and the lady Adela got on much better alone together.’

‘We did. She is a remarkable lady.’

‘A tolerant one too, with a husband such as hers.’

‘She worships the lord Henry.’

‘I fear that he would not settle for anything less than adoration.’

‘They are very close.’

‘That is what I was hoping to hear.’

‘There is no scandal in their marriage, Ralph,’ she warned. ‘They met, they fell in love, they married. There was no more to it than that. The lady Adela dedicates her whole life to being a good wife.’

‘Good wives are attentive to their husbands.’

‘Is that a veiled complaint against me?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Then what?’

‘I am simply saying that the lady Adela may be able to help us.

If you can charm the information out of her, that is.’ He pulled her close. ‘My thinking is this. The lord Henry seems very anxious to make the wheels of the law turn swiftly. Why? Does he have a reason to want Boio out of the way so quickly?’

‘I can hardly put that question to his wife.’

‘Put one that is linked to it, Golde.’

‘What is that?’

‘Why did Martin Reynard quit his household?’

‘Has the lord Henry not told you?’

‘He has merely hinted,’ said Ralph. ‘The lady Adela may be able to furnish more detail. From what I hear, Reynard was a ladies’

man. He would never have dared to flirt with the lady Adela but he was certain to have courted her favour. Find out what she knows about him.’

‘I do not see how this will help.’

‘Gervase and I have only been looking at the alleged murderer so far. It is time to examine the victim more clearly. The lord Henry wants this whole matter dispatched with indecent haste so that it can be forgotten. Martin Reynard may be the key to our understanding.’

‘How?’

‘The reason he left the household here may be the same reason which got him killed. Will you do this for me, Golde?’

‘I will try.’

‘It will have to be tomorrow. As early as possible.’

‘Let me see what I can do.’

‘Thank you, my love. We must try everything.’

‘Is it so important to save this man?’

Ralph took Golde in his arms and looked seriously into her puzzled eyes.

‘What would you do if I was wrongfully accused?’

‘Anything in my power,’ she answered warmly.

‘The principle is the same here.’

When midnight came the guards in the dungeons were relieved by two of their colleagues. The newcomers did not look forward to their term of duty in the dank corridor. Before they settled down, they checked on their solitary prisoner, unlocking his door and thrusting a torch into the cell to cast a dancing light on him.