The Holy Innocents

Chapter Eleven

I wondered how often I had heard that same phrase in the past two days. Completely vanished. The words mocked my impotence to see through them to the truth. How had the Skelton children left the house? Why had they left the house? When I knew the answers to those two questions, it maybe that the mystery would be solved.

The second question was easier of solution than the first, the explanation having already been presented to me on more than one occasion. Andrew and Mary had intended to stay out until curfew in order to teach their stepfather a lesson, and had managed to pass beyond the town walls without being noticed. As the keeper on the West Gate had said, not an impossibility, given the amount of traffic in and out of Totnes. The first question, however, posed greater difficulties unless I could shake the testimony of either Bridget Praule or Agatha Tenter.

‘Are you sure,’ I asked Bridget gently, ‘that there was no moment, no one single instant, when you left the downstairs parlour for any reason, or your attention was so distracted, that the younglings could have crept down the stairs, through the room into the passage and thence into the street?’ But before she spoke, I already knew what her reply would be.

‘None at all!’ She gave a vigorous shake of her head. ‘I was in the parlour for the whole time the master was absent, and did not stir outside of it. I must have seen the children had they descended. Master Colet was not gone much above an hour. He liked his dinner promptly at half past ten o’clock and would not have been late returning.’

She had grown agitated, afraid that she was being accused of lying, and again I patted her hand.

‘I’m not questioning your word, Mistress Praule, only clearing the last shreds of doubt from my mind. When did Master Colet decide to close up the house and look for new accommodation?’

‘After the children’s bodies were discovered. Until then, you see, we all hoped and prayed that they would be found alive and well. And if they had made their own way home, they would have come straight to the house, so we had to be there in case that happened.’

‘And how did your master seem to you throughout that time of waiting?’

‘Oh, he was very upset. Wouldn’t eat much. Left half his meals, even though Agatha tried to tempt him with all his favourite dishes. He couldn’t sleep, either. I remember, several times, looking out from my room in the loft and seeing, across the courtyard, a chink of light between his bedchamber shutters, which meant his candle must still have been burning. And once, when he shouted at me for some silly mistake I’d made, he apologized and told me to take no notice: he wasn’t himself, he said. He said, too, that if anything had happened to the children, people would blame him because he was the only person to gain by their deaths. I told him Agatha and I both knew he could have had nothing to do with it, and if need be, so we’d tell the Crowner.’

‘What did he answer?’

‘He thanked me, but said that people would still try to blame him by accusing him of evil practices. Which is just what they did do. After it was known that the children had been murdered, even though it was plain to anyone of sense that the outlaws must have killed them, poor little lambs, the neighbours began to shun him, and make the sign to ward off evil if they passed him in the street. It didn’t seem to matter that the Crowner decided he was innocent, people still believed him guilty, including Mistress Harbourne. She was one of the ones who stirred up most hatred against him.’

‘You sound sorry for Master Colet, in spite of not really liking him.’

‘I am,’ Bridget retorted warmly. ‘I don’t care to see anyone wrongly accused. Liking or not liking has nothing to do with it.’

I smiled and squeezed her hand before releasing it. ‘You’ve a gentle heart, Mistress Praule, and a sense of justice. So, when Master Colet decided to shut up the house, you returned here to live with your grandmother, and he went to lodge with Mistress Tenter and her mother?’

‘Yes. It’s not easy to find new berths in a town this size, though I’m hopeful of a fresh place before the summer’s out. And the master needed a billet while he cast about him for a new home and sold the old one. He’d no friends in Totnes to turn to, and had no wish, he said, to stay at an inn. But neither did he want to quit the district altogether, so when Agatha offered to take him home with her, he agreed most readily.’

‘But surely Mistress Tenter and her mother – although I speak as one knowing nothing about them – surely they are unable to offer Master Colet any of the comforts he has been accustomed to?’

Bridget rubbed the tip of her nose with a forefinger stained brown from the constant peeling and preparation of vegetables.

‘I don’t think that would worry him. It’s… Well, I think it’s more what he was used to before Lady Skelton married him. He might even prefer it.’

She was far shrewder than her innocent, childish face suggested. Eudo Colet had very probably found solace in adversity in being with his own kind, as many another man had done before him.

I thanked her and stood up, glad to stretch my legs properly at last, but almost banging my head against the cottage roof.

Bridget giggled, and a voice from the far corner cackled, ‘Dang me, if you ain’t one of the tallest fellows I ever laid eyes on, chapman! What was your father? One o’ they Dartmoor giants?’

‘No, a small man, and dark with it if my mother was to be believed. Of Celtic stock. It was the men of her family who were tall and fair-haired.’

Granny Praule snorted. ‘I’d accuse no woman of playing her man false, but I’m willing to swear there’s no Celtic blood in you. Saxon, you are, m’lad, through and through.’ She added peevishly, ‘You’re not going already? Bridget, have you given the lad a cup of my damson wine?’

Bridget started guiltily and began to apologize for her oversight. I hastened to her rescue.

‘Granny, I need to keep a clear head on my shoulders at the moment, and I’m sure your damson wine is too potent to allow any such thing. In fact, I’ll wager yesterday’s takings against anything anyone likes to name, that you make the best and strongest damson wine this side of the Tamar.’

She gave a toothless grin which split her wrinkled face from ear to ear. ‘You’re not wrong. It’s a recipe I had of my mother and she of hers, and she again of hers. You’ll taste none better anywhere in the kingdom. So bide awhile,’ she wheedled, ‘and try a drop.’

I refused, however, thanked Bridget Praule for her help, asked for more exact directions to Dame Tenter’s dwelling than Ursula Cozin had been able to give me, and took my leave, stepping into the roadway and breathing deeply to clear my stuffy head of the rancid smells of the cottage. The Priory bells were ringing for Vespers, and I judged, therefore, that I still had an hour of daylight in which to visit Agatha Tenter and regain the town before sundown and the closing of the gates.

But here I was confronted by a problem. Eudo Colet lodged with the Tenters, and his presence could prove a hindrance to my mission. Indeed, as mother and daughter had taken him in, it was to be presumed that they championed him against all comers, and would resent as greatly as he would himself, any questioning on my part. Both Sheriff and Coroner had exonerated him of any blame for the children’s deaths, and here was I, a stranger, once again muddying the waters. I should be lucky to escape without the handle of a broom broken across my back. If I had foreseen this difficulty earlier, and I took myself severely to task for not having done so, I could have brought my pack and knocked on Dame Tenter’s door with good, if not honest, reason. Yet if I toiled back up the hill and then down again, much precious time would be lost. I could, I supposed, wait until the morrow, but I had made up my mind to speak to Agatha that day and was set on doing so, against all rhyme or reason. I therefore turned my feet towards the bridge and trusted that God would send me inspiration.

He did not fail me. Halfway across the narrow, uneven span of arches which linked the west and east banks of the Dart, I realized that I could, with a clear conscience, introduce myself to Eudo Colet as his tenant. What might lead on from that, I once more trusted in God to reveal. He had surely brought me to Totnes in order to uncover the truth of this matter, and therefore He could not disappoint me.

On the opposite bank of the river was the township which both Ursula Cozin and Bridget Praule had referred to as the Brigg, its cottages stretching away on either side of a dusty track, towards the forest and the castle built by Henry de Pomeroy two centuries earlier. Bridget had told me that Dame Tenter occupied a dwelling close to the river, downstream a little, beyond the ford used by all horse-drawn traffic, which the bridge was too dangerous to bear. So I turned my feet along a narrow path edging the bank, until I came to an isolated cottage, its pink clay walls glowing in the late afternoon sunshine. It stood in the middle of a neatly fenced garden, where a bed of herbs gave forth a heady, aromatic scent. A patch of stitchwort, growing by the gate, was already in flower, the white-starred petals beginning to furl against the waning of the light the lance-shaped leaves and fragile stems supported by the woven slats of the wattle. In the clear April evening, the whole place looked warm and welcoming, unlike Sir Jasper Crouchback’s house, which seemed perpetually in shadow, as though happiness and laughter had been little known within its walls.

I was being fanciful. I pushed open the gate, walked up the short path to the door and knocked. After a moment or two, it was opened by an elderly woman, who I guessed to be Dame Tenter.

A voice from within called, ‘Who is it, Mother?’

I raised my own voice a little. ‘I’ve come to see Master Colet, if he’s here.’

The woman who came to the door, wiping her hands in her apron, fitted Grizelda’s description of Agatha Tenter, something more than thirty summers, buxom, with rosy apple cheeks and a fringe of dark red hair showing beneath her white linen hood. Her eyes were the bright blue of speedwells, her chin delicately pointed, and only her nose, sitting squatly in the centre of her face, marred what could otherwise be described as a handsome countenance.

‘Who are you?’ she demanded. ‘And what do you want with Master Colet?’

Her manner was abrasive, but I gave her as admiring a glance as I could conjure up, removed my hat and bowed.

‘My name is Roger and I am by trade a chapman. Master Oliver Cozin, the lawyer, has, however, seen fit to install me as tenant in Master Colet’s house, in the hope that I may afford it some protection should the outlaws penetrate the town’s defences. I am engaged to remain there until Saturday, and longer if it is possible for me to do so. I felt, therefore, that I should make myself known to Master Colet, so that he can see for himself what sort of fellow I am, and ask me any questions he deems necessary.’

Agatha eyed me suspiciously for several seconds, then mellowed a little. She moved back and held the door wide for me to enter.

‘Master Colet is not here at present, but we expect him back very soon.’ She nodded towards a stool near the central hearth and added, ‘You may be seated.’ And she began turning the spit over the fire where she had a rabbit roasting.

The older woman, a small, wizened creature who appeared to be of little account in her own home, retired to a corner and resumed her spinning without vouchsafing me a single word, seemingly indifferent to my presence. I held my hands to the small fire burning on the hearthstone, for the evening air had grown chill during the past half-hour. Now that I was here, I did not know quite how to begin. Agatha solved the dilemma for me.

‘You have no doubt been informed of the trouble surrounding Master Colet,’ she remarked abruptly. ‘Your free tenancy cannot have failed to arouse your curiosity, and, moreover, I should be surprised if the general gossip had not reached your ears by this time. But I’d be grateful if you would take care to say nothing of it in Master Colet’s hearing. He is extremely distressed by any mention of the subject.’

‘Understandably,’ I murmured, ‘if he is an innocent man.’

‘Of course he’s an innocent man,’ she snapped, the blue eyes sparkling with anger. ‘He has been found blameless by both Coroner and Sheriff on my testimony. And on that of Bridget Praule,’ she added as an afterthought.

I hesitated before saying, ‘Mistress Harbourne might not agree with their findings.’

‘You’ve not been talking to that woman, have you?’ Agatha’s face grew red, and not altogether because of the heat from the flames. ‘What does she know of anything? She wasn’t there when the children disappeared. She’d gone, and good riddance to her!’ The tone was scathing. ‘She never liked Master Colet from the moment she first set eyes on him. She saw him as a cuckoo in her nest, as coming between herself and Lady Skelton. She’d always preened herself on being my lady’s cousin, and so privileged in the household. A husband for my lady threatened her position. My lady had no further time for her. All her attention was for Master Colet, and Grizelda could not forgive him. She’s still intent on bringing him down with her lies and insinuations!’

‘You are certain, then,’ I inquired idly, as though having but small interest in the subject, ‘that your master could have had nothing to do with the Skelton children’s disappearance?’

‘Of course, I’m certain, you dolt! They were there, in the house, when he left, and not there when he returned. That I can vouch for.’

‘Then how did they get out? For it’s certain they did, or else they would not have come by their deaths.’

She resumed her task of turning and basting the rabbit whilst casting me a look of pity.

‘They went down the front stairs, of course, when that stupid wench, Bridget Praule, wasn’t looking. The girl’s a daydreamer. Whenever she helped me in the kitchen, I had to scold her for inattention: she was never thinking of what she was supposed to be doing. And afterwards she was too scared to admit that that was what must have happened. But I made my views plain, first to the Sheriff and, later, when the bodies were discovered, to the Coroner.’

I nodded as though satisfied, making no answer and continuing to warm my hands at the fire. Was this, then, the answer to the riddle? It made sense and had obviously appealed to the logical minds of Authority. I was back with William of Occam again, and his belief that the fewest possible assumptions are to be made when explaining anything.

Yet Bridget had not seemed to me to be a dreamer. Even more importantly, unless she were clever enough to pull the wool over my eyes, she had revealed herself as someone with a deep regard for the truth. I was convinced that had she thought for a moment the children could have escaped through the downstairs parlour without her seeing them, she would fearlessly have admitted as much. My suspicions began to turn towards Agatha Tenter, so anxious to maintain both her employer’s innocence and her own standing in his eyes.

If the children had gone through the kitchen to the outer courtyard, perhaps she had deliberately ignored, or even abetted, them.

Yet, what could have been her purpose in doing so? I was convinced that she was more than a little in love with Eudo Colet, and would therefore have done nothing to cause him anxiety or annoyance. On the other hand, if she were in league with him to get rid of the children, she could have eased their passage to the outside world, even suggesting to them how they might pass through the gates unseen. Perhaps their stepfather had picked a quarrel with them on purpose, adding fuel to the flames of their resentment until Grizelda returned, knowing that she would fly to the children’s defence and using it as an excuse to dismiss her. But what then? He could have had no sure knowledge that Andrew and Mary would leave the house, nor, if they did, that they would be captured and murdered by the outlaws. I stared into the heart of the fire, seeking for an answer to the puzzle, but none was forthcoming.

The cottage door opened and a man entered, instantly recognizable as my horseman of the previous day. He was even wearing the same clothes, but now the red leather riding boots were dusty with walking, his horse presumably having to be stabled some way away. Dame Tenter had no outbuilding where such a noble beast could be housed, but the cottage did, I noticed, boast a second bedchamber, now given over entirely to Master Colet’s use, if the makeshift bed in one corner of the living-room were anything to judge by.

He did not see me immediately, being intent on imparting his news to Agatha.

‘I have been with Lawyer Cozin again, and he’s sanguine, that my latest offer for the property near Dartington has satisfied its present owner. I can look forward, he thinks, to being settled in before Rogationtide. Nothing remains now but to sell …’ He broke off abruptly, becoming aware of my presence. ‘Who, in Jesu’s name, is this?’

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?

It was growing dark, and suddenly I shivered.