Mel Starr - A Trail of Ink

"You sought the gentleman this morning?" Kate asked.

"Aye. Few gentlemen wearing any color were about."

Caxton grimaced. "True enough; nor scholars. We saw little trade."

"Custom seems unlikely to improve, father, so I will find my cloak and accompany Hugh. Four eyes will serve better than two." Where had I heard this before?

That may be so, but if a thing is invisible to two eyes it will also be to four. The afternoon was not a total loss. No time spent in Kate's company could be so. Indeed, I found myself gazing upon her more than upon those we met on the streets. But I think I had yet enough wit about me that a green surcoat or red beard trimmed short would have arrested my attention.

I delivered Kate to her father's shop as the grey day darkened to night. Snow no longer drifted from the sky, but the snow had brought cold with it. Or had the cold brought the snow? I decided to ignore the question. I had enough on my mind.

Arthur was at the guest chamber before me. "Lots of folk about the castle forecourt this day," he said by way of greeting. "None of 'em with red beard or green surcoat."

"If the fellow we seek is a companion of Sir Simon, as seems so, he'll not venture where he no longer has friends."

"So I should pay no heed to doin's at the castle tomorrow?"

"Do not ignore the place, but spend your time in the town and across the Castle Mill Stream. I think we must do more than watch. Visit some taverns. Give the landlord a ha'penny and ask has he a customer who resembles this wayward knight."

I did not linger over a supper of warmed pottage but sought my bed. I fell to sleep with thoughts of Kate. I was become accustomed to Arthur's snores, and visions of Kate can drive other cares far from me.

Kate had bid me call for her next day so she might seek our green-clad prey with me. I crawled from my bed as a bell rang for matins from the tower of St Frideswide's Priory. This was not a thing I was eager to do. This day was colder than the day before. But no snowflakes appeared to remind me of the chill.

Kate was not pleased when I told her she might not accompany me this morning. I intended to visit taverns and did not want Kate either to stand on the street before such places or to enter and suffer the ogling and comments her appearance was sure to produce.

So I circled Oxford from Northgate and Fish Streets east to Longwall Street, and spent three pence at five taverns and an inn. All for naught. Perhaps the fellow wore another cloak when he sought wine. I was eager for dinner, to learn if Arthur had been more successful than me. He had.

I saw Arthur striding around the corner of St Fridewide's Lane as I approached Canterbury Hall. I knew from forty paces he had found success. There was joy in his step and in the grin which split his face when he saw me.

"What news?" I asked when he drew near.

"Our friend frequents an inn across the Castle Mill Stream, on a lane just off the road to Oseney Abbey. We have passed it by often. 'Tis called the Fox's Lair."

I knew the place; I had spent some nights there in years past. Its guests ranked above those who frequented the Stag and Hounds. When I became bailiff for Lord Gilbert I thought my new station entitled me to a softer bed and better wine when duties called me to Oxford. But the inn was not so conveniently located as the Stag and Hounds.

"Did you learn a name?"

"Aye; Sir Jocelin Hawkwode."

I had not before heard of this knight. "Did you discover where he lives?"

"Nay. Innkeeper knew not. Thought the man new to Oxford. Only been a customer since Lammas Day or thereabouts."

Sir John Trillowe had taken office in July. Sir Simon might have gathered friends about him soon after. I wondered if Sir Jocelin might soon leave Oxford if Sir Simon's position — now dissolved — was the reason he had come. If so, it was important to find the fellow soon.

We ate our pottage and maslin loaf hastily and set out for the Castle Mill Stream Bridge. It was my plan that Arthur and I would alternate visiting the Fox's Lair and circling about the place. I was some worried that Sir Jocelin might recognize us, so told Arthur that when he entered the inn he should take his wine to some dark corner of the place where a new patron, his eyes accustomed to daylight, would not see him.

The precaution was unnecessary. Hawkwode did not appear at the inn. I was annoyed at the failure, but Arthur seemed pleased that we might perform the same duty on the morrow. He spoke several times of the quality of the claret while we made our return to Canterbury Hall.

I was surprised to see Robert Caxton standing before the gatehouse. When he saw us appear he immediately hurried to meet us.

"Good evening," I greeted my future father-in-law. "What news?" It was clear from his pace and expression that he had tidings to relate.

"The man you seek… Kate has found him."

"Kate?"

"Aye. You did not return after dinner, so Kate thought to venture out and watch for the fellow you seek."

"She found him? The red-bearded knight wearing a green surcoat?"

"Aye, she did."

"Where?"

"You sought the man in taverns and inns. Kate thought of another place a young gentleman might frequent."

My wit was slow. Caxton saw and when I made no reply he continued. "She went off to the Church of St Mary the Virgin, an' sat where she might see those who pass up an' down Grope Lane."

Then I understood. Kate had risked her reputation to aid my search. Most of the whores of Oxford reside in and work their trade on Grope Lane.

"The man I seek is Sir Jocelin Hawkwode," I replied. "Arthur learned his name this day, and we watched for him this afternoon at an inn he is known to frequent."

"He sought his pleasures elsewhere this day," Caxton chuckled. "Kate saw the man you seek leave a house on Grope Lane just before the ninth hour. She followed him."

"To a house? Was she seen?"

"Yes… and no, she thinks not."

"She can take me to the house where Hawkwode resides?"

"Aye. You are to call in the morning and she will take you there. 'Tis a grand house on Great Bailey Street."

I ate my pottage that evening in silence, pondering how best to approach a man who had tried twice to do me harm. Would he seek a third opportunity did he know I pursued him? Master John noted my pensive demeanor and when the meal was done invited me to his chamber.

"Have you sought Sir Roger yet?" he asked.

"Not yet. I have been seeking a man who has some part in the matter."

"The knight of the green surcoat?"

"Aye. His name is Sir Jocelin Hawkwode. He lives, I am told, in a house on Great Bailey Street."

"Hawkwode?"

"Aye. You know the name?"

"There was a youth by that name some years past at Queen's College. I think it was Jocelin. I have told students that when I see them some years in the future, if I remember them well, they may assume 'tis because they were excellent scholars, or poor ones. I will allow them to decide which they might have been. The mediocrities I am unlikely to remember many years hence."

When I called upon him two years past Master John remembered me well, or said he did. I did not wish to pursue the matter further.

"You have little memory of a Jocelin Hawkwode?"

"The name is familiar, but nothing more."

"I wonder what interest the fellow can have in your books?"

"Perhaps none," Wyclif mused. "He is a companion of Sir Simon. You saw them together on the road. 'Tis Sir Simon's interest in books and your search which must be the key to this mystery."

"I think time has come to seek Sir Roger's mind on this business," I said. "It was Kate who found where Hawkwode resides. She has promised to show me the place on the morrow. I will leave Arthur to watch the house while I seek the sheriff. I would like to know more of Sir Jocelin Hawkwode. Perhaps Sir Roger knows him well enough to know how he might respond when pressed."