Michael JECKS - The Traitor of St Giles

‘Perhaps it was fortunate,’ Sir Peregrine continued when the three were once more outside, ‘that Sir Gilbert died, if he was a messenger.’

‘Fortunate?’ Baldwin enquired casually. The callousness of the bannaret’s attitude shocked him, but he wanted to discover all he could from the man. ‘Ho, Aylmer! Leave that man alone.’

He watched smiling as the great dog padded gently away from Perkin, trotting to Baldwin’s side. Baldwin tickled his ears while they spoke.

Sir Peregrine eyed the dog warily. ‘At least as an excommunicate he wasn’t anyone to be mourned. And the felon dying with him was more or less a proof of God’s justice. Others deserve more grief, don’t you think?’

‘If he was a messenger, couldn’t he have carried a message from the King?’

‘I would doubt it, Sir Baldwin. The King has his own men – why should he use a renegade Templar?’

Baldwin gave a brittle smile. ‘I suppose not.’

‘But of course Despenser would have wanted to bring Lord de Courtenay to his camp if possible.’

‘You think so?’

Sir Peregrine shot him a look. ‘There’s no need to try to sound disinterested, Sir Baldwin. You and Bailiff Puttock here are friends of Walter Stapledon. He’s mentioned you both in my presence and a friend of the good bishop’s will know his views, won’t he?’

‘He rarely conceals them,’ admitted Baldwin.

‘ “Trenchant”, I have heard them described. I think he became disgusted with court politics earlier this year, and I can’t blame him, but that doesn’t mean he’s right now.’

‘You mean he is wrong to declare the banishment of the Despensers to be illegal?’ Baldwin wanted to know.

Sir Peregrine made a gesture of irritation. ‘Of course he is! The bastards had to go. Look at them! Greedy, vain, never satisfied, the pair of them. Always looking out for more advantage.’

‘Yet if they were wrongly exiled…?’

‘The pair are a danger to the realm. If they stayed in power, putting whoever they wanted into every official position, stealing any lands they fancied, throwing honest men into prison on their whim – aye, and poisoning the King’s ear with stories about other men – the country would soon have gone to war.’

‘They had to go, then?’

‘It was inevitable.’

‘And what now?’ Baldwin asked quietly.

‘We must ensure that the Despensers never return. That would be a disaster.’

‘I see.’

‘No, Sir Baldwin, I don’t think you do.’ Sir Peregrine halted. They were at the well and Sir Peregrine sat on the low wall that surrounded it, gazing up at Baldwin with the air of a teacher instructing a wayward pupil. ‘If Hugh Despenser, the young one, comes back to England, there will be war. It may be Lancaster who precipitates it, it may be the Marcher Lords, it may even be the King himself – I don’t know – but if the Despensers come back, there will inevitably be civil war.

‘If the Despensers win that war, the whole realm will become subject to Hugh and then no man will be safe. Can you imagine the country under his boot? He steals what he wants. Power is the only authority he understands. That is why we have to support the Marcher Lords and Earl Thomas of Lancaster.’

‘If the King himself supports the Despensers, my choice is made,’ Baldwin said steadily.

‘Sir Baldwin, I beg you to consider whether it is better that the King should be supported by a council of wise advisers, with decisions agreed by all for the fair government of the land, or that the King should be led by the nose by an avaricious devil like Despenser!’

Baldwin smiled. ‘Is it better that a man should forget his oaths of loyalty to his King or abide by them?’

‘In this case we should be upholding the King’s power and authority, protecting him from advisers who would destroy the peace of his realm. By defending him against the evil advice of the Despensers, we should–’

‘Yes, I understand the drift of your argument. I shall have to consider your words.’

‘And you, Bailiff – what would you do?’

‘Me?’ Simon asked with surprise. ‘I have no idea. After all, I am no knight.’

‘Ah, but you could be! There are fines for those who can afford to take up their knighthood and who do not. Perhaps you ought to be a knight.’

‘If I were a knight, I would obey the man to whom I owed allegiance,’ Simon said. ‘To do otherwise would be to earn the title “Traitor”.’

Sir Peregrine smiled thinly. ‘Is that what the Despensers have led us to already? A man who wishes to save the realm is now to be termed a traitor to his King?’

Baldwin met his gaze. ‘Someone who has given his oath to his King would certainly be a traitor if he went over to another man.’

Sir Peregrine appeared irritated by his coolness. ‘I hope you aren’t implying that I have broken my vow?’

‘Certainly not.’

Sir Peregrine’s face did not reflect satisfaction with Baldwin’s response. ‘Do you think I killed Sir Gilbert then? That was what you implied in the hall.’

‘I implied nothing, Sir Peregrine,’ Baldwin said soothingly. ‘I was speculating on what could have happened, nothing more.’

‘You can stop speculating about me at once!’ Sir Peregrine said, colouring. He realised straightaway that he had over-reacted but couldn’t stop himself. He had lost the sense of ease and calmness which lying with Felicity had given him and the knowledge that Emily was dead was a rasp across his sore nerves. He tapped his foot, avoiding Baldwin’s eye. ‘What’s that blasted dog doing?’

Aylmer had crossed to the door to the tack-room and now stood growling. Baldwin shrugged. ‘Maybe he’s hungry.’

‘Well, if it keeps up this row, it’ll get his fill – of steel,’ Sir Peregrine said impatiently, fingering his sword hilt. Then he turned on his heel and stormed off to the stairs that led to the gatehouse.

Baldwin slowly walked over to the hound. The animal seemed nervous, not angry. He put out his hand to pat Aylmer’s head. ‘What is troubling you, old friend?’ He opened the door and Aylmer walked in stiffly, full of menace, crossing the room to a door at the far end, which he sniffed at carefully. Then he went to Sir Gilbert’s pile of clothes.

‘Is that it? You wanted to be close to your master’s things?’ Baldwin laughed.

Aylmer sat and watched the two men.

Simon glanced at Baldwin. ‘I fear you’ve succeeded in antagonising Sir Peregrine.’

‘I think we have learned quite a deal. Especially from Lord Hugh.’

‘What did we learn from him ?’

Baldwin smiled at his disbelieving tone. ‘Simon, a man like Lord Hugh is trained to conceal much, but he did confirm that he had been expecting a messenger. And he did not reject my reasoning that pointed to Sir Gilbert being a messenger from Despenser.’

‘You think that takes us further?’

‘I am convinced that there has been a crime, that a murderer is free, and that Sir Gilbert died for a reason which has something to do with politics. Yes, I think that takes us further.’

He laughed, walking from the room. Simon shook his head, but followed him, closing the door behind him.

Aylmer sat a while longer, frowning suspiciously at the door. When he was sure that all was quiet, he stood, circled round his dead master’s belongings two or three times, then lay down with his head on his paws as if to sleep, but at every noise from the yard his eyes snapped open.

Later, Jeanne and Baldwin were leaving the hall with Simon after their meal when Jeanne saw Edgar at the far side of the court. She thought little of it at the time; she was too full of good humour to consider why her husband’s man should wave at her. In any case, it was late, she was weary and her bed was calling to her. Baldwin and she had to share their room with another couple but the thought of resting on her mattress was enormously appealing. She thrust her arm through her husband’s and smiled up at him.