The Holy Innocents

The woman smiled broadly. ‘Lad, look over yonder. Wearing the blue gown. Grizelda. There, she’s seen you. She’s coming towards us.’

By the time the woman had finished speaking, Grizelda had skirted the crowd and was beside me, her handsome face, a moment ago so dark and brooding, transfigured by a welcoming smile.

‘Roger! What brings you here? Oh, I’m so glad to see you!’ She held out both her hands.

I took them in mine. ‘I came to see if you were safe,’ I told her, ‘only to learn that it is your holding which was attacked last night, and your cottage which is burned to the ground. And a body among the ruins! I was afraid …’ Unable to finish, I took a tighter grip on her fingers.

‘You thought me dead. And you cared.’ The smile faded and she drew a deep, shuddering breath, a tear trickling slowly down one cheek. ‘Forgive me,’ she went on, ‘but it’s so long since anyone had kindness enough for me to worry about my fate.’

I drew her into my arms, to the great interest of the elderly dame standing beside us, and kissed her gently between the eyes.

‘Tell me exactly what’s happened,’ I urged her.

Grizelda rested her head against my shoulder.

‘There’s little to tell. Last night, I slept yet again at my friends’ holding, as you advised. But in the late afternoon, just as I was leaving the cottage, Innes Woodsman waylaid me and begged me, if I were not sleeping there myself to let him use it for the night. He must have kept watch on it the previous evening and taken note of my absence.’

‘Begged you or threatened you?’ I interrupted.

‘Oh, his manner was sufficiently humble for me to agree to his request. And he had a deep-seated cough which was tearing at his throat. Dear sweet Saviour! Why did I not follow my inclination and refuse him! He would still be alive!’

‘He was burned to death, then, not murdered?’

Grizelda indignantly tore herself free of my arms. ‘He was murdered by those devils just as surely as if they had stabbed him with a knife. Indeed, a knife would have been quicker and cleaner, I have no doubt.’

I frowned. ‘But why would the outlaws burn down your cottage? What could it possibly avail them?’

‘Revenge,’ she answered simply. ‘They returned for my pig and my cow. But, as I told you yesterday, I have lodged Snouter and Betsy in my friends’ byre and sty, along with their own beasts. When the outlaws found them gone, they grew angry and set fire to the house. I was the one they intended as their victim.’

Yet could Innes Woodsman not have escaped in time? I wondered. But the thatch would blaze fiercely, as, too, would the building’s wattle framework. A man sleeping soundly might well find himself trapped before he had time to come fully to his senses. And even had he managed to avoid the furnace, he would have run full tilt into the murdering hands of his oppressors. It might so easily have been Grizelda had she not heeded my warning that the outlaws would probably return, and followed my advice to stay with friends.

As though reading my thoughts, she smiled suddenly and once more clasped my hands.

‘I have you to thank for preserving my life. You urged me to caution. I cannot express my gratitude enough.’

‘You have no need to be grateful,’ I told her, stroking her right cheek and feeling the faint, thin line of the scar which ran from her eyebrow halfway down her face. ‘You did what your own common sense dictated. But what will you do now? Will you remain with your friends?’

The crowd was dispersing, the villagers returning to their homes, the day’s work still all to do. The sergeant prepared to depart and report back to the captain of the castle garrison.

Later, he would no doubt be summoned to wait upon the Sheriff, whenever his lordship arrived in Totnes. He glanced round until he saw Grizelda, then, riding towards her, leaned from the saddle to speak.

‘Mistress Harbourne, my condolences. Also, my heartfelt thanks for accompanying me to your holding and bearing witness as to the corpse. Not a pleasant charge to lay upon one of your sex. I must congratulate you on your courage. My lord Sheriff may wish to hear your testimony for himself. Where may he find you, if he needs you?’

Grizelda hesitated for a moment, before replying, ‘In Totnes. At the house belonging to Master Eudo Colet.’

The sergeant nodded briskly and rode away, leaving me stating stupidly at Grizelda.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, laying a conciliatory hand upon my arm. ‘I was just about to tell you. I have nowhere else to go now. My friends cannot keep me indefinitely. Their holding is small and they have growing children. They are willing to look after Betsy and Shouter for me, but for myself, I have now no means of earning my keep. I cannot and will not be a burden to them.’

‘And… Master Colet has agreed to this arrangement?’

She grimaced wryly. ‘Not yet. He knows nothing of it. But I am sure that even he will not say me nay in the circumstances. The Crouchback house was, after all, my home for the best part of my life, and where else should I go in my hour of need? And it will only be until I can find myself a place as housekeeper to some respectable household. That should not be difficult. I am known in Totnes.’