The Riddle Of St Leonard's

Twenty-one

Up on a ladder, nailing a loose shutter in place, Tom Merchet paused to watch a hunched, obviously weary man pushing an overloaded cart through St Helen’s Square. He wore a light tunic over his leggings, but even from Tom’s perch, circles of sweat were visible around the man’s neck and under his arms. Piled haphazardly in the cart were bedding, several chairs, pots — one of which was jarred loose as a wheel rode up on to a grave at the edge of St Helen’s cemetery. Someone fleeing a plague house? As the man lowered the cart handle to go after the rolling pot, a chair began to slip. Tom hurried down the ladder to assist. He caught the pot with his foot before it gained speed on Coney Street. As he handed it to the panting man, Tom recognised him. Julian Taverner’s former servant. ‘Nate! You would leave York without a farewell?’

With a half-hearted curse, Nate yanked the toppling chair from the cart, set it down on the square, sat down on it, took out a dirty cloth and wiped his sweaty, dusty brow. His hands were knobbly with swollen joints. ‘I am too old for this, Tom Merchet. I thought to die in my master’s service. Happy to do so. And now he is gone. What am I to do?’

A good question. ‘Did Julian leave you any money?’

Old Nate blew his nose, sat a moment catching his breath. ‘Oh, aye, the master gave me a fair sum. ’Course he did. He was a fair man, Master Taverner was. And he left me all his furnishings. But where am I to put them? I have nowhere to go. What am I to do now? Who would hire a man as bent as old Nate?’

Tom considered. They had no need for an extra pair of hands, nor had they accepted lodgers since the pestilence began. The tavern was open only to those the Merchets knew, and only those with no pestilence in their households. Which meant they had precious little business, certainly not enough to warrant hiring Nate.

And what of his having lived at St Leonard’s? Might he carry pestilence? No more likely than Bess herself, Tom thought. She had been with her uncle at the last and was still standing and able. It might even be true he had not died of pestilence.

‘You might rest a while with us, Nate. Long enough to think what you will do.’

The man’s large nose grew red and his sad eyes glistened. ‘You are sent by the merciful Lord, Tom Merchet. I’ll not forget this kindness.’

As Tom helped Nate pull the cart into the tavern yard he wondered what Bess would say about his kindness.

Hands on hips and foot tapping, Bess was not pleased. ‘’Tis not the pestilence worries me, Tom Merchet. Nate is old, that is what worries me. Not a man to find work easily. What then? Do we give him a room for life? Have him underfoot until he wastes away?’

‘Sweet Heaven, wife, I want but a few years to match his age. Am I wasting away?’

Bess peered out of the window of her parlour to where Simon was helping Nate unload the cart. ‘Look at his joints. See how he hobbles. You are healthy. Nate is not. ’Tis all the difference.’

‘You owe it to your uncle.’

‘I owe my uncle nothing. A soft heart is what you have, Tom Merchet.’ Bess sat back down at the table where she had been working on her books, picked up her quill.

Tom leaned on the table. ‘Which of us is to tell him then, wife?’

Bess snapped her head up, her eyes round as if he had just said a most ridiculous thing. ‘Tell him what? He is here now. Naught to do but make the best of it. You always make such a muddle of things.’

Leaning down, Tom gently kissed his wife’s hot forehead. ‘Rest easy. Nate seems a man wants something to do. He’ll not burden us.’

Bess patted her husband’s hand. ‘He reminds me of Uncle Julian is all. I’ve neglected him. He will not rest in his grave until his murderer has been brought to justice. I must get to work.’

‘I thought you had journeyed to Easingwold. That was not work?’

‘Precious little good it did.’

‘Have you told Owen about your journey?’

‘Aye. A chiding I received for it, and not a word of thanks.’

‘Owen’s not one to behave so. What did he say?’

‘That he could not undo the harm I did.’

Tom’s eyes grew round. ‘He said that?’

Bess sniffed and waited for sympathy.

‘Well, that should teach you to stay out of his business.’

The cur. ‘I came to that decision on my own, husband.’

Bess rose from her work as Owen entered the tavern in the late afternoon. ‘What brings you here so early?’

Owen glanced round the room. ‘I never thought to see it empty at this time of day.’

‘You have not come to see how we fare, friend,’ Tom said. ‘You have some news?’

‘I have come with more questions about Julian Taverner and Laurence de Warrene.’

‘Oh?’ Bess did not like Owen’s tone.

‘None of the servants can hear us?’

Bess shook her head. ‘They are all about their business.’ She leaned closer. ‘Tell me, for pity’s sake. What have you learned?’

‘You know of the thefts at the hospital?’

‘Of course I do.’

‘Did you know that many of the missing items were originally given to the hospital by Julian and Laurence? A gold chalice inlaid with precious stones, a silver filigree missal cover with gems, a saddle inlaid with gold leaf …’

‘Uncle Julian?’ Bess sat down. ‘He had such things to give away?’ He had never given her any evidence of such wealth. ‘Was it these things bought his corrody?’

‘No. The gifts were an additional payment. “For our sins”, the deed read.’

Bess pressed her eyelids, forced down her disappointment. He might have left her such treasures and instead he had given them to St Leonard’s. Had he ever thought what Bess and Tom might have done with such wealth? ‘Ungrateful old man.’ A deep breath. ‘Tom, pour four ales. Owen might profit from a word with Nate.’

Owen glanced from one to the other. ‘Your uncle’s servant?’

‘He is lodging here until he finds work.’ Bess found Owen’s obvious pleasure a nice reward for her trouble with old Nate. ‘Tom will fetch him for you.’

‘I feel a servant myself,’ Tom muttered as he put the four tankards on the table. ‘Shall I assist Simon with Nate’s things, wife?’

Bess shook her head at him. ‘And who else will do it?’

It was a sweaty, breathless Nate who sank down at the bench and greedily gulped at his ale.

‘You will have a head feels it has been pressed for wine if you drink so,’ Bess warned.

Nate set his tankard down, eyed the pitcher with interest. ‘I’m that thirsty, Mistress Merchet. I loaded the cart myself. Pulled it all the way from St Leonard’s. You cannot imagine how hot that sun is.’

‘Precious little sun reaches Blake Street,’ Bess muttered. Pray God he did not drink them into debt while he was here. ‘This is Captain Owen Archer. He is helping the Master of St Leonard’s with a problem.’

The old man turned his attention to Owen. ‘Thieving and such, eh?’ A knowing wink. ‘My master and his friend dying so suddenly. And poor Walter de Hotter.’ Nate nodded. ‘Things are not as they should be at spital, ’tis plain. I know about you, Captain. There are many at spital glad to hear you will put an end to the troubles.’

‘I confess I am a long way from doing that, Nate.’

Bess chuckled into her cup at Owen’s modesty.

‘I cannot think what I know that might help,’ Nate said.

‘You were with him when he became ill. Who helped you with him?’

‘Honoria, though she could not stay. She had other chores. She sent for Anneys when she saw how quickly he was failing. And then we sent for Mistress Merchet.’

‘Did Honoria or Anneys give him any physicks?’

‘Nay. Well, naught but what he was taking already.’

Bess interrupted the muddled old man. ‘His headache had gone, Nate. He took no more physick after the first day home.’

Nate shook his head. ‘He was drinking sommat for quick healing and strength, Mistress Merchet. It smelled most foul. I would not forget such a thing.’

Owen turned to Bess. ‘You had taken him physicks from the apothecary?’

Bess stared at Owen as she realised what he was about. ‘I did. But none of them foul-smelling, I am certain of that.’ He believed her uncle had been poisoned. Holy Mary, Mother of God.

But Owen, with a grim sigh, changed the subject. ‘Your master had money and treasures when he came to St Leonard’s, Nate. Too much to have made it all at the tavern.’

‘Aye, that he did. He made a goodly sum outside the tavern, as do many who live on the North Sea. Were a fool otherwise, eh?’

Bess did not like this turn.

‘So he was a smuggler,’ Owen said.

Nate wrinkled his nose. ‘Now where would he find the time to go to sea? Nay. He waited for the goods to land, the master did.’

‘He emptied ships foundered on the rocks?’

‘To be sure. Not a soul along the coast did not take advantage of others’ misfortunes, Captain. But among so many the rewards are small. The master and his friends, they thought of something better. Looted the caves of the smugglers, they did. And who could bring them to justice? Thief blaming thief.’ Nate chuckled.

Bess groaned.

‘Dangerous business,’ Owen said.

‘Oh, aye. One of their partners paid for it with his life, he did. They did not risk so much after that. And when Master Taverner’s wife and child died at sea …’ Nate shook his head. ‘The master could not be persuaded it was not God’s vengeance. But why would the Lord punish the innocent, is what I want to know?’

‘Did your master sire any other children?’

Nate snorted. ‘Bastards, you mean? Is it bastards you seek? Now, that I cannot say, Captain. He was a man for the ladies, truth be told, even at the end. But I did not ask and he did not say, eh?’ The old man chuckled and shook his head.

Bess wondered why her uncle had trusted the man.

‘What made him choose St Leonard’s?’

Nate grew serious. ‘In truth, I cannot say. My master had the habit of secrecy, Captain. We travelled round, he spoke with the wardens and masters, and at last chose St Leonard’s. ’Tis all I know.’

‘From whom did he steal in Scarborough?’

‘The big smuggling families. Ones who would not miss the income, you see. He was honest in his own way.’

Bess held out her tankard to Tom, who had just settled beside her.

He grinned as he reached for the pitcher behind him. ‘You are learning much about your Uncle Julian.’

‘Stealing from his neighbours. I would not have believed it of him. I don’t know as I do yet.’

‘His partner,’ Owen said to Nate, ‘the one who died. What was his name?’

Nate closed his eyes, pressed a knotty fist to his forehead, whistled through his broken teeth. ‘So long ago. Sometimes they called him “that bastard”. I recall that.’ The old man grinned, wagged his head. ‘They were not always gentlemen.’

Well, that did not surprise Bess.

‘Was Laurence de Warrene involved?’

‘You can be sure. ’Twas his idea to do it. Always a clever one, Master Warrene. Mistress Taverner never liked it much. Nor Mistress Warrene.’

‘They are all dead now. Who else might remember those times?’ Owen asked.

Nate stared into his empty tankard. ‘I cannot say as I know which of them might still be alive.’

Tom refilled the man’s cup. ‘One of his women?’ he suggested. ‘A man oft confides to a woman what he tells no one else.’

‘Oh, aye. The master might have done.’ Nate tilted back his head and drank down his ale as quickly as the last.

‘He had women here?’

‘That he did, I can say. Who they were, I cannot.’

Owen drained his cup, stood up. ‘I thank you. You will be silent about what we have discussed?’

‘Aye, Captain.’

Bess straightened up as Owen turned his hawk-eye on her. What must he think of her now? To have had a thieving uncle.

‘I must search the hospital and go out to the Ffulford farm,’ Owen said. ‘I’ve no time to sift through your uncle’s lemans. Have you the time?’

Bess’s heart leapt. ‘Are you asking for my help?’

‘I have always said you were the one should spy for the archbishop.’

‘You do not know how right you are,’ Tom muttered.

But Bess paid her husband no heed. ‘Would you step without?’ she asked Owen. ‘I have a matter to discuss.’ She led him out into the yard just beyond the kitchen. ‘You believe Uncle Julian was poisoned.’ She could tell by the set to his jaw that he was sorry she had realised his intent. ‘Do you think me an idiot? Do you ask for my help to keep me out of your way?’

‘Bess, for pity’s sake. I hoped to spare you the pain until I knew for certain. I do think it likely, but I do not know. And as for your help, I need it. I can trust few people with such business.’

Well, he looked sincere, he sounded sincere … ‘Lucie thought all along it was poison, eh?’

‘She did.’

‘You would use me now? After my failure in Easingwold?’

‘I regret my words to you.’

Bess patted his hand. ‘No matter. But I shall help you only if you swear you will keep no more from me.’

‘I swear, Bess.’

He almost choked on the words, but Bess could ask for no less.

*

Later in the evening, as Owen helped Lucie hang a new crop of mint sprigs from the rafters of the workroom to dry, she asked whether he had told Bess about the riddle.

‘Do you think it important?’

Lucie handed him a bunch. ‘Does it not fit with his smuggling activities? “If none suffer but the guilty, has a wrong been done?” He stole from the guilty.’

‘But what of the first part? “How might one unwittingly commit a sin?”’

‘By neglect? I find that part puzzling. But you might tell Bess. Now you have asked her to help, you must tell her what you know.’

‘Am I a fool to involve her?’

‘You would be a fool not to. Bess would take part whether you wished it or no — you have seen that. Far better to give her tasks than have her surprise you.’ Lucie shook out the basket. ‘Finished. You might have a last ale with Bess tonight. Perhaps she already has a plan.’

St Helen’s Square was quiet as Owen stepped from the shop. No bells tolled, no mourners knelt by fresh graves in the cemetery. Pray God it meant the pestilence had run its course. He would have his children safely home.

The York Tavern was not as crowded as in better times, a dozen folk, no more. And they were oddly quiet, watching the door with uneasy eyes as Owen came through. Then they resumed whispering among themselves, shoulders hunched forward towards their tankards.

The innkeeper stood near the door, his face red and glistening with sweat, his legs firmly planted, muscular arms, bare to the elbow, crossed over his stomach, his eyes wary.

‘What’s amiss, Tom?’

‘A bit of trouble. Wife’s in kitchen seeing to Simon’s eye.’

‘An unwelcome customer?’

‘Aye. A stranger with a bad look and smell to him. Sickening, I would say. Sent him to spital.’

‘And he blackened Simon’s eye?’ The groom was tall and strong, a good fighter. ‘A sick man with such energy?’

‘His friend gave Simon trouble.’ Tom relaxed his stance. ‘They are gone from here. Did you come to drink?’

‘I came to talk to Bess.’

‘You will need drink, then.’ Tom turned, pulled Owen’s mazer off the shelf, filled it with foamy ale. ‘That should keep you a while. She is in kitchen, as I said.’

‘You will call out to me if they return?’

‘Oh aye. But my gut tells me they will not be back. ’Tis a queer time when an innkeeper sends a man with coin on his way.’

‘No bells tonight. A good sign, I think.’

‘Pray God it is so.’

Simon sat slumped against the wall holding a compress to his eye. Bess invited Owen back into her little room off the kitchen.

‘It will be quiet here. I see Tom has already seen you have something to drink.’

‘I forgot to tell you something. A riddle your uncle wanted Laurence to keep to himself.’

‘A riddle? What good is a riddle if you keep it to yourself?’

‘Fortunately, Sir Richard also heard it.’

‘Will it help us?’

Owen drooped over his cup. ‘I cannot think what it means. Lucie thinks it has to do with their smuggling.’ He recited the riddle.

Pouring herself a small brandywine, Bess held it up to her nose while she considered. ‘“How might one unwittingly commit a sin?” Sounds like clever words to me, showing off. Laurence thought himself a bit of a wit, you know.’

‘Ah well. It might come to you.’

‘I am off to see Nell, the laundress, in the morning.’

That brightened Owen’s mood. ‘Lucie said you would already have a plan.’

*

Alisoun had made a mistake coming here. No one cared for her. The children were herded like sheep, constantly shushed, as if their voices disturbed the sisters, disturbed God. Why had her mother told her to come here if she ever needed help? Why had she spoken of the spital with affection? Alisoun felt she had been better off in hiding. She had been hungry and lonely, and that would have become worse as winter approached and she had no crops, no livestock — her uncle had taken it all, for safekeeping, he had assured her — but she could practise shooting, watch the birds, sit by the river and listen to the cries of the boatmen, eat when she wished, sleep when she wished, and never be scolded. All her own choices …

So once again she plotted her escape. She would go by night. It frightened her a little that the watcher might be somewhere in the shadows, but it was worse to lie on her pallet and wait for attack. She had attempted to walk out of the spital in the middle of the day, casually, but the gatekeeper had sent her back — with a promise that he would say naught to Dame Beatrice, a kindness Alisoun had not expected, but still he had sent her back. So the night was her best chance. She had noticed that the gate had a small door with a latch on the inside, but not without, and therefore the gatekeeper might not see the need to lock it. She hoped to sneak through, just barely opening the door, while he was drowsing.

Alisoun tiptoed through the rows of sleeping children. Lord, how some of them snored. And stank. If she could only reach the blessed night air and get out of this midden where no one wanted her. She yearned for the clean stench of horse sweat. But she would not enjoy that by escaping. She had given the horse to the spital. For safekeeping, they had said. How would she get the nag now?

She tripped as a voice whispered from the shadows. ‘Who goes there?’ A woman’s voice.

Alisoun kept walking.

The woman grabbed her arm. She had a strong grasp. Alisoun could not pull away.

‘You would leave the Barnhous?’ the woman asked.

She must be one of the sisters. She would be satisfied with an untroublesome reply. ‘I must relieve myself.’

The woman stepped into the moonlight, pulling Alisoun with her. It was the lay sister, Anneys. ‘Ah. Young Alisoun. You mean to escape?’

Alisoun hesitated. She had made note of the woman, thought her different from the others. Was it possible she might help Alisoun?

‘Why would I escape?’

‘I have watched you. You are unhappy here.’

‘I was wrong to come here,’ Alisoun said. ‘I have kin. This place is for children with no one.’

‘You would sneak from the gate with your horse?’

‘I must leave him here.’

‘I might bring him to you at the Water Gate.’

‘Why would you help me?’

‘Of what use is it to us to force you to stay?’

‘They stopped me when I tried to walk out.’

‘Not all of us feel the same.’

‘The Water Gate is locked.’

‘I have borrowed a key.’

Anneys offered too much, too readily. Alisoun did not trust her. ‘What do you want from me?’

‘Mayhap God gave me a sign to watch over you. Come. We cannot stay here. Someone will hear us.’

‘You will go with me?’

‘I, too, tire of this place.’