The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

by Michael Jecks

  As he came to this conclusion, he heard voices and saw a glimmer of light ahead. The sight made him want to dart back along the passage, but then he realised that with his new resolution there was no point. He would meet them, whoever they were.

  Bracing himself and squaring his shoulders, he held his head high and marched towards the light.

  There was a flash at his side and he froze with terror as the gleams of light caught a blade that swooped towards him. He screamed, thinking it was some appalling horror from the grave which was setting upon him; he could almost smell the putrefaction of the corpse.

  Leaping back convulsively, he saw the razor-edged knife flash past his breast. Before he could say a word, it was reaching towards him again, up to his throat, and he was aware of maddened eyes in front of him. Jerking his head to one side, he felt the swift dragging at his flesh as the dagger sliced through his cheek and on up to his eyebrow. There was no pain, not yet, and he was only aware of a slickness, as if he had broken out into a heavy sweat. Jumping backwards again, he tried to escape the fast-moving blade, but it seemed impossible. His chest was open and unprotected. He saw rather than felt the blade sink into his upper body, grating against his collar-bone, before it was pulled out and came back.

  Sobbing with shock and scared beyond his wits, he could do little more than keep moving back, for ever trying to get beyond the range of the knife, but then he was saved by a loose stone. With a muffled cry, he fell on his rump. His assailant hadn’t noticed and even as he scrambled to escape, Hawisia fell headlong over him. He felt the dagger pierce his thigh and clapped a hand to it before she could take it again. With a strength born of sheer panic and terror, he tugged it free and stabbed once, twice, three times, and was rewarded by the twitching and shivering which he recognised as his assailant’s death throes.

  It was only then, as her blood seeped over him and her body gradually became flaccid in death, that he recognised his attacker from her odour. He could not believe his senses.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Vespers, Baldwin thought, had to be among the most tedious of all church services. It was invariably later than it should be, because the priests all wanted to let their meals sink down beforehand and would sit around drinking their fine wine while the congregation waited patiently, but at least tonight, on the eve of the feast of the Holy Innocents, there was a subtly different feeling to the place.

  The light had long since fled. In the Cathedral there was a thick fug, composed of the smell of sweat and the herbs and spices carried by the richer people in the city to conceal it. Damp clothing gave off various scents: fur smelled of wet dogs, leather stank of burned wood or urine. The effect of these different odours in such a confined area was powerful upon Baldwin. Fortunately, they were driven off by the wafting clouds of pungent smoke which issued from the censers.

  All this was normal, but tonight as Baldwin stood in the nave of the Cathedral, his wife on one side, his friend on the other, he could sense that the atmosphere had greatly improved. Only this morning the place had been filled with panic-stricken folk who were fearful of the murderer, and then who wanted to see the body of the dreaded woman who had so unsettled the city. Her body had to be displayed before the Cathedral doors for all to see, because rumours had flown about so speedily, many didn’t believe she had died.

  Now all appeared serene. The end of Hawisia’s short reign of terror had fortuitously coincided with the celebration of the boy-Bishop, and all were keen to enjoy themselves. That was obvious from the cheerful, happy attitude of all the people in this great room.

  The mood grew lighter still as the boy-Bishop himself appeared, dressed in his miniature mitre, gloves, and carrying his pastoral staff. He was accompanied by Choristers, all likewise dressed in their silken copes. Once at the altar steps, they faced the congregation and sang the text of the Book of Revelation where it spoke of Herod and the slaughter of the innocent boy-children of Israel.

  ‘Centum quadraginta quattuor milia qui . . .’

  Baldwin could translate it in his mind: ‘The one hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth . . . They now reign with God and the Lamb of God with them.’

  The young voices were shrill, but pure, and as their singing drew to an end, the boys formed a procession and walked slowly through the choir to the screen, offering incense to the Cross and then singing still more prayers. Baldwin found himself relaxing, feeling the worry and strain of the last few days falling from him.

  Simon was quiet, he noticed. At the end of the service when they all walked out, Baldwin glanced at his friend. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes, yes. I just want to leave this place, that’s all. Get back to my wife and daughter,’ Simon said. He stood aside while a young woman pushed to the doors ahead of him. ‘I wasn’t made for city life. I need space.’

  ‘I can easily understand that,’ Baldwin said. There was a tinge of sadness to his voice. There had been a time, when he was many years younger, when he would have enjoyed living in a city much larger than this one, but with the passing of the years he had grown to appreciate the peace and relative calm of the pastoral life. In his manor all he need worry about was providing enough food for his table. Matters of politics left him cold, the more so since the destruction of his Order. Oddly enough he found that spending time in a place such as this led him to suspect the motives of all about him.

  And not only the motives. There were people whom he was convinced had misled him intentionally. Intelligent, educated people had deliberately led him astray for their own reasons.

  ‘Simon, Jeanne, I would like to detour a short way before returning to our inn.’

  The hall was lighted when they arrived, although it was clear from the face of the bottler who opened the door that the servants and their master had been given leave to go to their beds.

  ‘Please ask if we may see your master,’ Baldwin said as the door opened upon the bleary-eyed and bitter-looking man.

  Grumpily the bottler grunted assent and took them up the stairs to the upper hall. Here they were greeted with warmth, if a little surprise.

  ‘Sir Baldwin! And hmm your good lady wife – Lady ahm Jeanne, is it not? And Bailiff Puttock. Please enter and take seats. Ah, wine. Yes, bring wine, warmed and spiced. You would like warmed wine? Ah, yes, of course.’

  Baldwin smiled and nodded and as the Dean bustled around, his head ducking in a curiously birdlike manner, Baldwin sat and observed him. The Dean appeared to notice his close scrutiny and asked, faintly bemused, ‘Is there um a difficulty, Sir Baldwin?’

  ‘No. Not now that we have found the killer of the people in the city. All is resolved.’

  ‘Once poor Adam and Jolinde are cured.’

  ‘Yes. One hopes they will soon um recover. The physician seemed hopeful, even about Jolinde.’

  They lapsed into silence. All knew how even the smallest nick in the flesh could give rise to appalling infection.

  The Dean broke the sombre mood. ‘What can I do for you so late in the evening?’

  ‘I wanted to ask why you suspected one of your own staff to be guilty of the murders.’

  ‘What makes you think I suspected anyone, Sir Baldwin?’

  ‘You were convinced that someone from your Treasury was guilty. Naturally you thought it was likely to be a young, callow, untrained Secondary, but you were not stupid enough to think that only a youth would steal. A large sum could be a temptation to anyone, couldn’t it? No, you felt anxious that someone else could have been guilty. And so you asked for two unknowns in the area to come forward and seek the murderer. You could only do so when there was another death – of one of the two Secondaries about whom you already harboured suspicions – but you were not so certain that you felt you could take anyone into your confidence.’

  The bottler arrived and dispensed wine, but once he had left, the Dean waved a hand airily. ‘Please continue.’

  ‘I think that you held suspicions about someone
. Someone with access to privileged information, someone with a motive, or perhaps someone whom you feel is not entirely trustworthy.’

  ‘Perhaps. But what does this have to do with anything?’

  ‘I would like to know the truth. Perhaps it was because you didn’t trust the man’s brother? That led you to think that brothers will sometimes behave alike.’

  ‘Ahm, yes. So you have heard about that. But I may not be able to inform you of certain secrets. So much of my life is tied up with secrecy. The confessional, Church diplomatic matters, affairs of state. All these can mean my mouth must, um, necessarily be stilled.’

  ‘Can you give us no explanation, Dean?’

  ‘Perhaps I can give you a slight hint. No more.’ As the Dean studied Baldwin, the knight saw the eyes glitter in a friendly manner, and Baldwin noticed how the reticence disappeared like a ruse thrown away after its deceit had served its purpose.

  ‘Sir Baldwin, ah it is difficult to protect the Cathedral. We monitor everything that we can, with clerks trained in finance to check all our accounts, but it is very difficult when we have such a large project going on. A block of lead is worth a lot of money, but if you have several hundred of them, one can go missing. I was suspicious that money was being filtered out, but I had no idea who was doing it, nor how.

  ‘If you know that the brother of one of your senior dignitaries is a felon, you have to wonder about him when some money goes missing. And if a sum of money is stolen from a merchant transporting it for you, you wonder anew. Especially if only a short time later you hear that a glover to whom much treasure had been given has been killed and robbed. So many coincidences. So much wealth lost.’

  ‘So you expected us to investigate your own Treasurer?’

  ‘No. I wanted to make sure that all were investigated. I only hoped you would do so without showing favours.’

  ‘You know that Adam was responsible for selling candles on the side?’ Baldwin asked.

  ‘Please do not remind me!’ the Dean said and shuddered. ‘It is hard enough seeing how he has failed academically and socially without being told of his dishonesty.’ He looked up at the window, sadness tightening his features. ‘When I look at him,’ he murmured, ‘I can see, even if from a distance, the beauty of his mother. It will be extremely painful to see him go.’

  ‘So you suspected him of responsibility for these other losses?’

  ‘God forgive me, but yes.’

  ‘How was he granted a position here in the first place?’ Baldwin asked gently.

  ‘When he was old enough, the famine was beginning. I had kept in touch with his mother, and she asked if we, ah, could look after him. I felt it was the least I could do. I never thought it would come to this.’

  His words made Simon pucker his brow.

  ‘You don’t understand,’ the Dean smiled. ‘It is simple. Adam is my son – half-brother to Sir Thomas’s woman and that foolish boy who lives with them. Adam was the first-born. Stephen was a useful go-between some years ago, for there was every reason for him to visit his brother when he still owned his lands, and Stephen would deliver messages for me and bring back her own. And then she married a good man and gave birth to other children – although only Jen and Hob survived. Thus I heard what was happening to Adam.’

  ‘I think I understand. He will leave the Cathedral?’ asked Baldwin.

  ‘I cannot allow him to remain.’

  ‘What of Jolinde?’

  ‘He has gone. He had decided to leave before this final disaster.’

  ‘Will Luke stay?’

  The Dean eyed him a moment contemplatively. ‘When the, ah, family lost everything in a squabble with their neighbour, who happened to be a friend of the King, Luke’s mother was already dead. With his father an outlaw, it was, um, natural that his uncle, our Canon Stephen, would protect the child as best he may. And he concealed the true nature of his brother’s activities from the child. Why should the boy learn the demeaning truth – that his own father was a felon? If we can, we should hide that shame from him.’

  Baldwin smiled faintly. ‘The Cathedral seems a haven for many children.’

  ‘There are many innocents whose births are not legitimate,’ the Dean answered.

  ‘I see,’ Baldwin said, standing. ‘Dean I thank you for your patience. Please excuse us if we leave you now.’ He drained his cup and bowed.

  The Dean rose and nodded, making the sign of the cross, first over Baldwin, then to Simon and Jeanne. ‘Go with God.’

  The place was filled. Simon was used to such sights. As Bailiff of the Stannaries, he often had to speak to large groups of men and the scene gave him no concern, but Baldwin felt discontented to see so many people all watching him. It was not like being in a court, he felt. There he was aware of his own authority and the aura of the position itself cushioned him from the public gaze, but here, in a strange city, with unknown people staring at him, he felt exposed and threatened.

  Henry had the words off pat. He stepped forward and while his friend read out the note of thanks, Henry waited. As soon as the last words were spoken, he took a pair of cordwain gloves, wonderfully stitched and studded with jewels, and passed them to Baldwin. Then there was another short reading, and a second pair were given to Simon, before the boy made the sign of the cross and prayed for them.

  Soon the affair was over and Baldwin could breathe a sigh of relief. He and Simon walked away from the public attention while other worthies stepped up to take their awards, and when Baldwin had returned to Jeanne’s side, he heard a rough cackle.

  ‘So, Sir Baldwin, are you content now?’

  ‘Coroner, I didn’t see you – my apologies. I am very content, thank you. It is enough no longer to be the focus of attention.’

  They chatted idly, but there was nothing in their conversation to interest Simon. He had his eye on the Dean, who stood watching Luke and Henry with hawk-like intensity.

  Later, when the crowds had thinned and the two men were walking about the city with Jeanne, Simon turned to Baldwin. ‘The Dean’s son is Adam, so why didn’t he confront his boy and ask if he was telling known robbers about Cathedral money?’

  ‘I think he was anxious to be fair at all stages,’ Baldwin said. ‘He agreed to have the child brought here to be educated, and, to ensure that the boy received the best training possible, he had him quartered with the Treasurer, Canon Stephen. When he began to fear that the thefts were somehow the responsibility of the Treasurer, what could he do?’

  ‘He could have accused the man,’ Simon shrugged.

  ‘He could hardly do that, for the Treasurer could retaliate by telling all that the Dean had fathered an illegitimate boy and kept him in the Cathedral for his own satisfaction. At the least you can assume that the boy would have been sent away.’

  Simon considered a moment. Then he asked, ‘What do you think will happen to Sir Thomas?’

  ‘I think he will be granted a pardon. He is an important enough man, after all. Yes, I would imagine he would be freed. And then he may settle here with his woman.’

  Simon nodded. ‘And the half-wit with them.’

  ‘Yes, they seem genuinely fond of the lad.’

  ‘Meanwhile Vincent . . .’

  ‘Don’t expect me to feel sympathy for him,’ Baldwin said grimly.

  ‘It hardly seems fair. The man is ruined, and through his wife’s acts, not his own.’

  ‘He was as evil as her in his own way. He may not have dirtied his hands, because he employed Sir Thomas to do his work for him, but that is no excuse. Vincent was prepared to see Ralph broken utterly, just because he feared that a competitor might prove too powerful. To achieve his own ends he destroyed Karvinel. If it wasn’t for his own greed and arrogance, Ralph, Peter, Nick and Juliana Karvinel – yes, even Hawisia herself – would probably be alive still. All were killed for Vincent’s comfort and avarice. No, don’t expect me to feel sympathy for him. He is a felon, no better than the worst of Sir Thomas’s outlaws. I expect he
will swing.’

  Jeanne squeezed his arm comfortingly at the tone of cold contempt in her husband’s voice.

  Simon continued quietly, ‘What of Vincent’s first wife?’

  Baldwin was quiet for a second. ‘Hawisia was quick to use poison on Jolinde.’

  ‘So you think Hawisia killed her?’ Jeanne asked. ‘But she said to me that Jolinde had killed Vincent’s first wife.’

  ‘That,’ Baldwin said, ‘is why I am sure Hawisia did it.’

  ‘Jolinde . . .’ Simon continued quietly. ‘I wonder what will happen to him?’

  Jolinde lay back on the bed in Claricia’s room and watched her pour him a large cup of ale. Holding his head in the crook of her arm, she lifted the cup to his lips.

  ‘I really am fine, love. You don’t need to do this,’ he protested weakly. His speech slurred: after the slash at his cheek, the wound had been wiped and cleaned and plastered with egg-white, but it stung and flamed whenever he moved his mouth too much.

  ‘I want to. You poor love, if you could only see yourself.’ She pulled the blanket a little further up his body so that she couldn’t see the bloodstained bandage over the wound in his chest. Every time she saw that mark she wanted to weep. An inch further away, the physician had said, and the boy would have been dead. One inch!

  He saw her expression. ‘I love you.’

  ‘I love you too.’

  ‘Is there any bread?’

  In the Choristers’ hall, the boys settled quietly for the night. One boy was already snoring, while another, deep in a dream of his long-dead parents, was quietly weeping in his sleep.

  Luke sought sleep but it resolutely evaded him. He rolled over on his solid palliasse and tugged his blankets and cloak tighter to him against the freezing chill. Although the shutters were closed, the cold air whistled through the gaps between the wooden slats and seeped through all the bedclothes like water.