Paul Doherty - The Midnight Man

They reached The Oil of Gladness in Gutter Lane. From the outside it looked like a small, prosperous tavern with smartly-painted red woodwork and mullioned glass windows in all three stories. The door was guarded by two well-known water-pads: thieves who stole from barges on the river. Anselm greeted both like old friends. ‘This is my companion, a novice,’ Anselm declared.

The two monsters stepped fully into the pool of light created by the torches flaring either side of the doorway. ‘Stephen, this is Stubface. You can see why. He had the pox which pitted his face while the other,’ Anselm gestured at the smaller of the two, ‘is Wintersday, called so because, allegedly, he is short and very nasty. Well, my beloveds?’

The two oafs muffled in their cloaks shuffled even further forward, their bewhiskered, ugly faces furrowed in puzzlement. Both reeked heavily of ale. Stephen was wary of the nail-studded maces they carried. Wintersday was the first to regain whatever wits he had, his misshapen, grey features cracking into a broken-toothed smile. ‘Why, God bless us all, Brother Anselm! What in heaven’s name are you doing here? Surely you are not looking for a mort, a doxy?’

‘No, my brother in the Lord, just words with your mistress.’

‘You mean the Lady Abbess?’ Stubface barked.

‘You can call her that,’ Anselm retorted, ‘I don’t.’ He strode between both men and gripped their shoulders. ‘Let us proceed in God’s name.’ Anselm turned both men by the shoulder and marched them up the steps. Wintersday lifted the iron clasp on the door, carved in the form of a penis, and clattered it against the wood. The door swung open and a young woman dressed in white like a novice nun invited them in. She looked both Carmelites from head to toe, pulled a face and muttered something about everyone being welcome. She then ushered them into a small, very comfortable antechamber, its walls decorated with frescoes which immediately intrigued Anselm but made Stephen blush. The novice nun stood in the doorway a little longer, grinning at Stephen until the two burly guards, left standing in the hall, insisted she let them out. She closed the door behind her. Stephen, in his embarrassment, continued to stare down at the soft turkey cloths which covered the floor, now and again darting glances around the comfortable chamber with its elegantly carved dressers for wine and goblets, the quilted stools and leather-backed chairs.

‘Interesting,’ said Anselm as he turned away from the fresco depicting the god Pan playing with two fauns. ‘Stephen, don’t be embarrassed. I saw worse at a house in Paris. It is just wonderful,’ he sighed, ‘how humans are fascinated by love in all its many aspects. It constantly intrigues me.’

‘Magister,’ Stephen asked, eager to change the subject, ‘how do you know those two guards outside?’

‘Oh, Stubface and Wintersday? Once, for my many sins, I served as chaplain to the prisons of Newgate, Fleet and Marshalsea, and those two beloveds were regular members of my parish. God knows how they’ve escaped hanging at the Elms at Smithfield or the Forks near Tyburn stream. Of course, they have a powerful patron, our so-called Lady Abbess, proprietor of this house. Indeed, someone I also consider a former member of my parish, Lady Rohesia Clamath, self-styled Irish princess, a famous whore and former courtesan, probably knows more about the human heart than a whole convent of Carmelites.’

The door opened and a stately woman dressed completely in a dark blue veil and gown swept into the chamber, her long, unpainted, severe face framed by a starched white wimple. A gold cord circled her slender waist while the buskins she wore were of silver satin and decorated with small roses of red damask. She glared disapprovingly at Stephen but her face broke into a brilliant smile as Anselm, who’d decided to study the fresco once more, turned and walked over to her, grasping her hands to kiss them gently.

‘Anselm,’ she murmured, clutching his fingers, ‘you have not come. .?’

‘No.’ The exorcist shook his head and ushered her to a seat. He drew up a stool, beckoning at Stephen to do likewise. ‘There will be no Lady Abbess nonsense here, Rohesia Clamath. Bardolph the gravedigger?’

‘Blunt as usual.’ Rohesia grinned. ‘Still, good to see you. I will never forget. .’

‘Please,’ Anselm tapped her knee, ‘leave the dead to bury their dead. The past is gone. Bardolph the gravedigger from Saint Michael’s, Candlewick?’

‘Bardolph was a frequent visitor, like so many of his parish.’

‘Mistress?’

‘Almaric the curate, Simon the sexton. .’ Rohesia was enjoying herself, using her long, delicate fingers to list more names, ‘. . and Bardolph the gravedigger.’ She smiled.

‘Parson Smollat?’

‘Never but, there again, Anselm, why should he? His woman Isolda once worked here and, by all accounts, was very popular.’

‘Sir Miles Beauchamp?’

‘Oh, our mysterious clerk who slinks like a shadow? No, he has never graced my house with his presence, but you never know.’

Anselm sat with his fingers to his lips.

‘Don’t be surprised,’ Rohesia caressed his cheek softly, ‘that so many of Saint Michael’s parish come here. Welcome to the world of men, Brother Anselm, where fornication and swiving are as natural and common as eating and drinking. You all eventually come here,’ she added, softly pausing at a laugh which echoed from deep in the house. ‘I am breaking confidence, Anselm, because I trust you, I like you. I am in your debt. And,’ she made a moue with her mouth, ‘I have also heard about the commotion at Saint Michael’s — the news, the gossip, the chatter which runs through these alleyways swifter than a colony of rats. Even more so now that Bardolph has flown from his church tower, poor man.’ Rohesia bowed her head, fingers picking at a thread in her beautiful gown.

Stephen sat, fascinated. He had never met anyone like Rohesia — so serene, so confident. She talked about the world of men; what, Stephen reflected, would it be like to enter the world of women? This chamber, so delicately painted, elegantly furnished, its air sweet with the most alluring of fragrances.

Rohesia stared at Stephen, her face more gentle. ‘Another man of visions,’ she murmured. ‘Bardolph,’ she turned back, her tone brisker, ‘often came here. He was infatuated with one of my nuns.’

‘Girls,’ Anselm corrected. ‘Edith Swan-neck?’

‘Or so he called her,’ Rohesia replied. ‘Infatuated with her. Bardolph could not do enough: presents, trinkets, ribbons, gowns, even a furred hood.’

‘And?’

‘Now I will tell you, Anselm. Edith disappeared,’ she drew a deep breath, ‘along with others.’

‘What others?’

‘Brother, I talked of the world of men where we women are regarded as chattels no better than cattle. Young women, Anselm, are disappearing here in Dowgate and beyond. I know,’ her voice grew forceful, ‘girls disappear in London every day, but that is not strictly true. They disappear but their corpses are found, plucked from the reed beds along the Thames, or beneath some filthy laystall or out in the heathland beyond Cripplegate. This is different. Young women like Edith are disappearing without trace, never to be found again.’

Stephen glanced to his right. He glimpsed something fluttering like a bird which swoops then disappears. This comfortable chamber had grown darker. Voices whispered then faded. He shivered from the fear which coursed coldly around the nape of his neck.

‘Magister,’ he murmured, ‘remember the girl from The Unicorn?’

‘What girl?’

Stephen told Rohesia, trying to hide his blush. She smiled sweetly.

‘And the others,’ Stephen added. ‘Do you remember, Magister? The same day we were returning to White Friars? The market beadle, bawling out the description of two missing whores? I mean,’ Stephen hastily corrected himself, ‘two young women.’