by S. J. Parris
I walked back past the Divinity School and turned left into St. Mildred's Lane; the gatehouse tower of Lincoln College loomed up on my left, squat and pale against the sky. As I passed through the main gate and under the tower arch, I heard a knocking on the window of the porter's lodge and looked around to see Cobbett waving for me to come in.
"Feller come looking for you just now, Doctor Bruno," he said, wheezing furiously, as if he had been the one carrying the urgent message. "Servant from Christ Church, wanted to know if you're going hunting at Shotover this afternoon."
I cursed quietly; in all the excitement of my discovery of the Catherine Wheel, I had completely forgotten my promise to Sidney and my intention of excusing myself in person. At least now, with any luck, I would be too late to join them.
"I can't," I said, half to myself. "I suppose I had better go and leave a message for my friend."
"No," said Cobbett, sympathetically. "I didn't think you looked the hunting sort. Bit short for a longbow, if you don't mind my saying."
I only nodded and turned to leave. Then I suddenly remembered Sidney's advice about the college porters and their storehouse of information, and the bottle of ale we had bought to encourage Cobbett to talk freely, which was still sitting in my room.
"Would you like a drink, Cobbett?" I asked.
"Why, it's almost as if you read my own thoughts, Doctor Bruno." He flashed his knowing, gummy grin. "I was just thinking I'm parched near to the death. Almost witchcraft, that is."
"No witchcraft, I assure you. I know a thirsty man when I see one. Wait for me here a moment," I said, smiling, and he sat back heavily on his chair.
"Oh, I won't go nowhere, don't you worry. Might even see if I have a clean cup. Not used to guests, are we, Bess?" he said, gently scratching the old dog behind her ears. She made a small gurgling noise from the back of her throat.
When I returned with the bottle, Cobbett pulled out the stopper eagerly and poured a generous amount into two wooden cups placed on his table for the occasion. I tried not to look too closely at the state of the cup he passed me, his round face creased into a smile of satisfaction as he indicated to me to pull up a low stool tucked into the corner of his small room.
"Good ale and good company," he said, when he had taken a long draught from his cup and swilled it around his mouth before swallowing noisily. "Now then. I sense you have a question. I can read minds too, you know." He winked.
With Cobbett, I had decided, my best course would be to match his frankness; he would see straight through any pretence.
"Have you ever come across a bookbinder in Catte Street by the name of Jenkes?" I asked.
Cobbett threw back his head and launched into one of those fits of guffaws that made me fear for his health. When he had recovered from the wheezing he turned an incredulous look on and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Holy God and all his saints, Doctor Bruno, what have we done to you?" He shook his head, still laughing. "You arrive in Oxford in the company of the highest men in the land, and in a matter of days you're consorting with the most notorious rogue in the city! Stay well away from Rowland Jenkes, that's all I have to tell you."
"How, notorious? A mere bookbinder?"
"Not a mere anything, Rowland Jenkes. A papist and a sorcerer."
"Really?" My interest was piqued now; Cobbett knew an eager audience when he saw one.
"Have you never heard of the Black Assize?" he said, adopting a portentous tone.
I shook my head.
Cobbett leaned forward with all the relish of a grandfather preparing a tale to frighten small children.
"Well, now," he said, and a frustrating extended pause followed while he drained his cup and generously poured himself another. "Six years ago, summer of 1577 it was, and cursedly hot, Rowland Jenkes was arrested for sedition and imprisoned in Oxford castle, where they keep prisoners until the local Assizes are held."
"What manner of sedition?"
"I'm coming to that, hold your horses," Cobbett grumbled. "Well, on this occasion he'd been found to be distributing seditious books-you know, papist books, ones they don't allow to be printed here. Shipping them in illegally from France and the Low Countries-they say he has some Flemish blood, but that might just be gossip and I never pay any mind to gossip."
"No," I said, nodding sincerely.
"No. Well, he was arrested for the books and some witnesses popped up to say they'd heard him speak treasonable words against the queen. But it was during his trial the terrible business happened. He was brought to the Shire Hall, just outside the prison wall, with all the other prisoners to be tried before the lord high sheriff and the lord chief baron. Naturally he was found guilty, and just at the moment his sentence was pronounced, the courtroom was filled by the most foul stench you could imagine, such that everyone in the room thought as how they might choke or faint with it."
He paused again for refreshment, and I found myself jigging impatiently on the edge of my stool.
"And then?"
"Well, now, you will hardly credit this but I know folk who saw it with their own eyes, Doctor Bruno," Cobbett whispered, his own eyes growing wide with the momentum of his story. "Every man on that jury died within a few days. Not only them, but every man jack in that courtroom, all of them, stone dead before a week was out. The sheriff, the baron, the serjeants-all of them. Three hundred men died in Oxford in the course of a month. Then it was all over as quick as it come. But, here's the thing." He leaned in even closer, so that his chin was almost in his beer. "Not a one of the prisoners who was in the Assize that day died, nor any woman nor child. Now you can't tell me that was any natural plague."
"A curse, then?"
"The curse of Rowland Jenkes," Cobbett said, reverently. "While he was locked up, awaiting the Assize, he was permitted to walk out with a keeper, you understand. Well, the story goes Jenkes visited an apothecary with a list of ingredients. The apothecary noted they were all mightily poisonous, and asked why he had need of them-Jenkes replied it was on account of the rats gnawing at his books in the shop while he was incarcerated, see? Anyhow, he procured these ingredients and it's thought he made a wick covered in this filthy potion, and fired it up the moment he was condemned."
"Where would a condemned prisoner hide a tinderbox and flint about his person in a courtroom?" I asked. "Is it not more likely it was some gaol fever brought in by the prisoners?"
Cobbett looked disappointed that I had not entered into the spirit of the legend.
"Well, I don't know about that, sir. All I know is good Christian folk cross the road if they see Rowland Jenkes in this town, and if you know what's good for you, you'll do the same."
"What about the seditious books? Is he still in that trade?"
"Who knows what he does, sir-I told you, everyone leaves him alone now. I dare say he gets up to all sorts, but what jury would dare bring him to trial now?"
He refilled his cup and made a show of offering to pour some for me, but was clearly pleased at my refusal.
"What was his punishment?" I asked.
"Nailed by the ears to the pillory," Cobbett said with relish. "And you know what he did?"
I had already guessed, but didn't want to deprive him of this part of the story, so I shook my head and looked expectant.
"Stayed there an hour, he did. Then one of his acquaintance brought a knife, and calm as you like, he cut his own ears off in front of all the gathered townsfolk and walked free. They said he didn't even cry out. Left his ears still hanging on the post, if you can imagine."
I winced; Cobbett nodded sagely.
"That's the kind of man Rowland Jenkes is. Don't get mixed up with that lot, Doctor Bruno."
"Which lot? Do you mean the Catherine Wheel Inn?"
Cobbett stared at me as if I had cursed his entire family to his face. "Christ alive-what have you been up to, Doctor Bruno? Seriously, sir, even mentioning the name of that place will bring you trouble."
"Ho
w do you mean?" I said, thinking that to play the ignorant foreigner might serve me best here.
"Listen." Cobbett dropped his voice to a whisper and beckoned me closer. "Folk that go to the Catherine Wheel don't go there for the food or the beer, if you take my meaning."
"I have learned that much for myself," I said, with feeling. "But do you know if any of the Fellows or students of Lincoln might ever go there?"
Cobbett narrowed his eyes, sucked in his jowly cheeks, and considered me for a moment, as if weighing up how much he should reveal to this funny, nosy outsider. He seemed about to answer, when the door to the lodge was flung open and Rector Underhill strode in, his gown billowing about him. Surprise flickered briefly over his face at the sight of his guest drinking beer with the porter, but he composed himself quickly and smiled.
"Good afternoon, Doctor Bruno," he said, warily polite. "Cobbett, I wondered if you might have seen anything of Doctor Coverdale today? It seems he is not to be found anywhere, but he gave me no warning that he would be away."
"I've not seen hide nor hair of him, sir, not since last night," Cobbett said, moving the bottle and cups to the floor under his chair, rather too late to hide them from the rector's notice.
Underhill flared his nostrils in irritation.
"Well, the moment you see him pass through that gate, would you kindly tell him to come straight to my room, I wish to speak to him urgently."
"Will do, sir," Cobbett said dutifully.
"Might I have a brief word with you outside, Doctor Bruno?" Underhill said, turning to me with a pointed glare.
"Certainly." I rose with some effort from the rickety stool, nodded to Cobbett, who sent me a broad wink in return, and followed the rector into the tower archway.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't encourage the servants to drink while they are at work. That one in particular needs no help." He pursed his lips. I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand to forestall me. "I hope you will join us for supper in hall tonight? We are all rather subdued since the death of poor Roger and your presence would certainly enliven high table."
"Thank you, I would be delighted," I replied, matching his tone of polite insincerity.
"Good. We dine at half past six, but you will hear the bell, I'm sure."
Before he disappeared into the archway by the hall that led to his lodgings, I called him back.
"Rector Underhill? I was wondering-I went for a walk this morning, after chapel, to get some air and admire your beautiful city better."
He folded his hands and watched me warily. "I hope you found the experience gratifying?"
"Oh, yes. But I went outside the city wall and got myself a little lost, I'm afraid. I passed through the gate by the lady chapel and took a right turn, and after a short distance of passing fields and orchards, the road turned to the left and I saw a fine manor house beside a little church that appeared very ancient. I only wondered what the place might be?"
The rector thought for a moment, then appeared to judge this question innocent enough to merit a straight answer.
"By the Smythgate? I believe you must mean the church of St. Cross, which is indeed of great antiquity. The house would be Holywell Manor, it is the only residence of any size in that direction. The well itself is supposed to be Saxon. It used to be a place of pilgrimage, but obviously that papist custom is discontinued."
"Ah. Well, thank you for satisfying a tourist's curiosity. A seat of the local gentry, I suppose?"
Underhill pursed his lips. "Well. They are gentry of sorts, I suppose, but they are hardly well regarded in Oxford society. It is owned by the Napper family-the father was once a Fellow of All Souls, but he is long dead, and the younger son, George, lies in prison at the Wood Street Counter in Cheapside."
"Really? For what crime?"
He frowned, perhaps now suspicious of my interest. "For refusing to attend church, I believe. But really, I cannot stand here gossiping like a laundress, I must prepare to take Evensong at All Saints." At the archway to his lodgings, he turned back to me. "Oh, and-Doctor Bruno? I shall see Magistrate Barnes this evening at church, so I hope we shall know by tomorrow when to expect the inquest into poor Doctor Mercer's accident. Let us pray it is soon," he added, smiling thinly. "I should not wish to detain you in Oxford any longer than is necessary."
"Nor should I wish to impose on your hospitality," I said, equally coldly. "And please do convey my respects to Mistress Underhill and your daughter."
"Indeed," he said, touching his fingertips together for a moment as he considered whether to follow this up, but instead he turned on his heels and disappeared into the shadows of the archway.
Chapter 10
The bell tolled for dinner no less mournfully than it had for Matins, jolting me out of my distracted thoughts, jotted on the notes now scattered across the table in my chamber. After my exchange with the rector I had walked to Christ Church to find, with some relief, that I had indeed missed Sidney's hunting party. After leaving him a note apologising and explaining that I had been detained by other pressing business, I had retired to my room, where I had spent an hour or so lying on the bed trying to make the new pieces fit the puzzle. If the unguarded words of Humphrey Pritchard and Cobbett's dark warning implied that the Catherine Wheel was the focal point for Oxford's secret Catholic fraternity, the obvious conclusion must be that Roger Mercer knew something about that group-the days in the almanac marked with the wheel could signify meetings at the inn. Could Mercer have been planning to expose them, just as he had testified against his former friend and colleague Edmund Allen, which meant that he had to be silenced? If that were the case, then whoever had ransacked his room could have been searching for evidence that they knew he intended to use against them. Then there was Richard Godwyn, the mild-mannered librarian; he was apparently involved in receiving contraband Catholic books, but did that connect him to Rowland Jenkes and thereby to the Catherine Wheel? Could Mercer have found him out?
Determined to watch the students and Fellows closer than a hawk at dinner, I pulled on my doublet and was about to open the door when a furious knocking on it made me jump almost out of my skin. Cautiously I opened it a sliver and through the crack I saw the anxious face of Sophia Underhill, glancing fearfully over her shoulder.
"Let me in, Bruno, quickly, before anyone sees me-I need to speak to you!" she hissed, looking again down the stairwell.
"Of course," I said, thrown, pulling the door wider to admit her. She slammed it quickly behind her and leaned against it heavily, her cheeks flushed. I saw with concern that her usual composure was in tatters; in place of her faintly cynical smile, her lip trembled though she fought hard to control it, and her eyes shone as if she might at any moment burst into tears.
"Forgive me, Bruno," she began, her voice barely a whisper. "My father has forbidden me to speak to you, but I must disobey-there is no one else I can tell." She stopped, her breath coming in jagged gasps as if she had been running or weeping. "Forgive me," she repeated, then seemed to stumble as if she might faint, as she had the night before. This time I stepped forward in time to catch her and she fell gratefully against my shoulder as a sudden sob shuddered through her thin rib cage; I held my arms around her and stroked her hair as she tried to master this outburst of emotion. I could not begin to guess what she had come to tell me, but Sophia did not strike me as the sort of woman to fall prey to such distress for frivolous reasons. I could only suppose that what she wanted to say was a matter of some gravity.
When she had recovered enough to lift her head from my shoulder, she leaned back and looked me full in the face with an expression of such fearful intensity that I felt she wanted to search the depths of my soul through my eyes, and before I was even conscious of making the decision to move, almost by instinct I leaned forward and kissed her. For a brief moment, I felt her respond, her warm body softening and moulding itself to mine in my arms, her palms pressed flat against my chest, but just as suddenly she jerked back, pushin
g my arms away and staring at me now with a look of confused horror.
"No-oh, no, I can't-you don't understand," she blurted, flapping her hands helplessly at her sides as if her distress had increased a hundredfold.
"I am sorry-" I began, but she shook her head frantically.
"No, it is I who am sorry, Bruno-I should never have-but I did not know who else I could come to." She twisted her hands and looked at me, her eyes pleading. "I think I may be in danger."
My heart froze. Tentatively I reached out a hand and gestured to the chair by the desk, quickly sweeping Roger Mercer's calendar and my notes on his death under a book.
"You must tell me everything," I said. "What kind of danger? Is it to do with Doctor Mercer?"
She hesitated, took a deep breath, and seemed about to speak when there came another urgent knock on the door. Sophia whipped around and stared at the door in fear, a hand clasped to her mouth. I waited, afraid that perhaps her father had seen her coming to my staircase and followed. After a moment, the knocking came again.
"Doctor Bruno? Are you there?"
It was a young man's voice, not the rector's; all the same, it would not be prudent for anyone to see Sophia in my chamber and I could not very well pretend to be out, as I would need to leave in the next few minutes for dinner in hall.
"One moment, please, I am just dressing," I called, ushering Sophia behind one of the floor-length window drapes. The situation was so absurd it brought a weak smile to her lips. I squeezed her arm and when she was sufficiently concealed, I crossed to the door and opened it to find John Florio on the threshold, his face alert with curiosity.
