The Holy Innocents

I rose swiftly to my feet, making obeisance.

‘I am Roger the chapman, Your Honour. Master Oliver Cozin may have mentioned me to you. I am your tenant, pro tempore.’

The full lips, set in their hedge of dark brown beard, curled into a sneer.

‘Oh, yes. The lawyer mentioned some pedlar who had been granted free lodging in my house. So why aren’t you there, protecting it? That, I thought, was the agreement. It’s nearly sundown and the town gates will soon be shut against you. These outlaws are dangerous men, and grow bolder by the night. Any time now, they’ll breach the Totnes stockade, and an empty house will be a godsend to them. What are you doing here anyway?’

‘I came to make myself known to your honour, and to inquire if you had any instructions for me. I thought you might have entertained some misgivings concerning Master Cozin’s decision to install me without first consulting your wishes.’

‘I trust Oliver’s judgement in most things,’ Eudo Colet rasped, seating himself in a carved armchair, made comfortable by a velvet cushion, which had plainly been brought with him from the Crouchback house. ‘I have no interest in the matter, nor anything to say to you. You are free to leave here as soon as you please.’ He gave a blustering laugh.

I regarded him thoughtfully. Most surely, this was someone elevated above his natural station in life, who felt in duty bound to wield an authority which did not sit easily upon his shoulders. He was not a man of Wessex, of that I was certain.

There were none of the broad vowels or Saxon diphthongs in his speech, and it was probable that he came from the east or north of the kingdom, where, centuries ago, the Danes had imposed upon the English a fashion for pronouncing words alien to those parts of the land where their writ had never run.

I could not see the chin beneath the bush of beard, but I suspected that it had no strength. A weak man, I guessed, open to the influence of others and whose vanity was easily fed, but, for all that, lacking in confidence, as bullies generally are. I did not like Eudo Colet, yet in some strange way, he aroused my pity, as he had done Bridget Praule’s. There was a kind of doom about him, as though Fate had marked him down at birth as one of her victims.

‘Then if your honour has nothing further to say to me, I shall be going,’ I promised, stooping to retrieve my cudgel from where I had laid it, on the floor. I turned to take my leave of Agatha Tenter.

Her eyes were fixed worshipfully upon Master Colet. I had not been mistaken. She was besotted by him, and I had to admit that he was both young enough, and sufficiently goodlooking, to be found attractive by many women. Rosamund Skelton had obviously been willing to cast aside all scruples about marrying beneath her, in order to make him her husband. What Eudo Colet’s feelings were for Agatha, I had no means of knowing, but few men are above taking advantage of a woman’s love if it can serve their own ends, myself included. Myself, perhaps, most of all when I remember Lillis.

‘God be with you, Mistress Tenter, and with your good mother.’ I smiled at the old lady in her corner, but she made no response. ‘Thank you for your hospitality. And now, I’ll be on my way. Master Colet, God be with your honour.’

‘And don’t come nosing around here again,’ Agatha said, suddenly vicious. She added for Eudo Colet’s benefit, ‘He’s been talking to Grizelda. She’s still bent on making trouble for you, isn’t she, chapman?’

I answered steadily, ‘Mistress Harbourne is anxious to find out the truth about her charges. She grieves for them, as is only natural.’

Eudo Colet flushed angrily, the colour rising from beneath his beard in an unbecoming tide.

‘She maligns me, if she speaks ill of me,’ he answered, with an air of injured innocence. ‘She knows it, as do most others who try to smear my good name. Ask Agatha, here, or Bridget Praule. Or Master Thomas Cozin. They will all tell you that I could have had no hand in my stepchildren’s disappearance. Furthermore, my argument with Mary and Andrew was stormy, but brief, and would have been quickly over had it not been for Grizelda’s interference. Their sulks never lasted long, believe you me.’

‘Oh, I do, your honour. Jack Carter told me that he heard one of the younglings singing while he was taking Mistress Harbourne’s belongings downstairs. A lullaby, or some such. He had no reason to lie, as far as I can see.’

‘You seem to have been busy quizzing half the town, Master Chapman,’ Agatha Tenter interrupted nastily. ‘People who stick their noses into other people’s affairs, may find themselves in trouble. I should be careful, if I were you.’

‘Indeed, I shall, Mistress Tenter! Once again, I bid you all goodnight.’

But as, in the final rays of the dying sun, I made my way back across the bridge, and as I climbed the Foregate into the town, I had much to think about, not least that last remark of Agatha Tenter’s. Had it been intended as a threat? Who could say?