He shook his head. ‘I daren’t, my dear. We’ve been straitly charged by the mayor himself to discover what has happened to the knight as soon as possible. Roger, can you come? We need every able-bodied man we can muster.’
I nearly said, ‘And who asked you to call my wife “my dear”?’ but thought better of it. He did look exhausted and, besides, my curiosity was aroused. So I enquired instead about the horse.
‘Still in its stable,’ was the answer. ‘So he hasn’t left the city.’
‘He could have walked.’
Richard again shook his head. ‘None of the gatekeepers remember seeing him.’
That made me laugh. ‘There are half a dozen ways you can get in and out of this town at any hour of the day or night without being seen. You must know as well as I do that the walls are generally in a bad state of repair.’
Richard shrugged. ‘But why would he go anywhere on foot and in the middle of the night? It makes no sense. No, no! He must be somewhere near at hand. The fear is that he might have fallen into the river and drowned. In this weather the waters are freezing.’
I handed the basket of apples to Adela. ‘I’ll get my hat and cloak.’ Two minutes later we were striding up Small Street buffeted by an unpleasantly cold north wind. ‘What’s the family’s story?’
Richard grimaced. ‘They all tell the same tale. They wished Sir George goodnight at around his usual time for retiring and didn’t see him again. When one of the servants went in to wake him first thing this morning there was no sign of him and his bed hadn’t been slept in.’
‘Could he have left the house last night without being observed?’
‘Easily. At this time of year everyone — family and servants alike — goes to bed early on Sir George’s orders to save candles. If he’d waited an hour or so, he could have crept out and no one would have seen him.’
A large gathering of men was assembled by the High Cross, receiving instructions from Sergeant Merryweather. I recognized Burl Hodge and his sons, also Nick Brimble and Jack Nym, but foiled the latter’s attempts to attach himself to me by indicating that I was accompanying Richard Manifold. I wasn’t, but by giving Richard, in his turn, the impression that I was going with Jack and Nick, I managed to slip away on my own.
I made my way without hesitation to Marsh Street, to the Turk’s Head, and enquired for Humility Dyson. So high was my standing now in ‘Little Ireland’ since my appearance in Briant’s company, that someone offered to fetch the landlord for me. He arrived, cross and out of breath, a few minutes later from the Wayfarer’s Return.
‘What’s this all about?’ he panted angrily.
‘Where’s Briant?’
‘Gone.’
‘Gone where?’
‘None of your business.’
I gripped his arm and shook it. ‘It might be,’ I said. ‘Sir George Marvell is missing.’ And I told him about the incident on the bridge three nights previously.
The landlord called the Irishman a number of uncomplimentary names, some of which were new even to me. Then he ran a hand through his beard and drew me out of the ale-room into the street.
‘Word was brought late last night that the Clontarf was berthed at Rownham, near the ferry. Her captain wouldn’t bring her right up into the Backs: the river was too low. Said Briant could join the ship there at daybreak and they’d sail on the late-morning tide. But Briant announced he weren’t going to wait for morning and went straight away.’
‘On foot?’
‘They don’t come over here with horses, now do they?’ Humility scoffed. ‘Of course on foot. There’s plenty o’ways to get in and …’
‘Yes, yes! I know,’ I interrupted impatiently. ‘You don’t think …?’
‘No, I don’t!’ was the violent retort. ‘He’s a man of his word, is Briant. If he promised you he’d let Sir George Marvell be, then he will. The knight’ll turn up sometime, safe and sound. Mind you, it wouldn’t worry me if he didn’t. As nasty a piece of work as God ever made, and that’s the truth.’
‘Well, don’t go spreading that opinion abroad,’ I advised him, to which he demanded to know if I supposed he was a fool.
Having reassured him on that point, I took my leave and walked slowly back to the High Cross wrapped in thought. But the crowd had dispersed, each man now, presumably, busy searching every odd alleyway and corner of the city in the hope of running the knight to earth. This disappearance, coming as it did so soon after the murder of Alderman Trefusis, must be giving the sheriff and his men a collective headache that had nothing to do with the Christmas wine and ale.
I hesitated for several seconds, wondering where to start, before deciding on another course altogether and setting off across the bridge to Redcliffe.
I was shown into Drusilla Marvell’s presence by a servant almost as venerable as she was herself.
‘I’m sorry to disturb you, mistress,’ I said, careful to make my bow a deep one. ‘I was hoping to have a word with the other members of your family, but they are all out, looking for your brother. I understand he’s disappeared.’
The room, on an upper floor of the house, was plainly the old lady’s bedchamber, and although, today, she herself was dressed in funereal black, her surroundings fairly blazed with colour. What first drew the eye was a counterpane of scarlet silk covering an enormous bed draped with curtains of emerald velvet embellished with gold and silver thread. Even the woodwork of the bedstead itself was painted in shades of crimson and vermilion. There were no rushes on this floor, but the luxury of a carpet patterned in red and yellow, while the rest of the furniture, including the chair Drusilla sat in next to the window, was of the finest oak.
She regarded me balefully, striking an ivory-handled cane against the leg of her chair. ‘What is it you want? Who are you? I didn’t catch what my steward said.’
I realized she was deaf and raised my voice. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you, mistress …’
I was interrupted by another furious hammering. ‘You don’t need to shout! That’s the trouble with people. They think if you’re deaf you can’t hear anything! I’m able to hear you speaking perfectly well. I just find it hard to distinguish the words. The English are scared to death of moving their lips. For some reason we think it makes us look stupid. Use your mouth, young man! Use your mouth! Then I can see what it is you’re trying to say.’
Feeling much as I used to do when chastised by my mother or by my novice master at Glastonbury, I shuffled my feet, unhappily conscious of my dirty boots on the carpet, and repeated my message.
The dame snorted. ‘Disappeared, has he, my little brother? They needn’t worry. He’ll turn up again like a bad surprise. Those sort of people always do. There’s no getting away from them. They harass people, that’s what they do. Harass people! It wasn’t enough for George to stick his nose into what didn’t concern him and ruin my chances of happiness. Oh, no! He had to move himself into the house next to mine, instead of staying where he was in Clifton, so that he could spy on me some more. Said it was because he was concerned about me, the lying toad! Concerned about my money more like, and which of his precious sons I’m going to leave it to.’ She paused for breath, but before I could say anything in answer, resumed her tirade. ‘Mind you, it wouldn’t surprise me to know someone had dealt him his comeuppance. He’s made enough enemies in his life. And I’ll tell you this, young man!’ She thrust her stick at me and waved it about in the air. ‘It wouldn’t upset me if one of them had.’ She broke off suddenly and a beringed hand crept up to her mouth. ‘I wonder,’ she muttered, more to herself than to me. ‘Now, I wonder …’
She seemed momentarily to have forgotten my presence, plunged into some reverie of her own.
‘You wonder?’ I prompted after a moment or two, then repeated it more loudly.
Drusilla jumped, then treated me to a second diatribe about shouting at deaf people. Finally, however, she condescended to continue. ‘You say he went missing last night?’ No one, it seemed, had thought it necessary to inform her.