I had to concede that there was much sense in his argument, but had no opportunity to counter it with the fact that Eudo Colet had benefited from the children’s timely disappearance and subsequent murder. At that moment, a party of men who had been hocking in the surrounding districts, entered the gatehouse and claimed the immediate attention of the gatekeeper. He knew all of them well, and was concerned to know what success they had had that morning. There was much chuckling, winking, nudging and grinning, while the leader of the group held up a leather pouch, jingling with coins, given as recompense by those women who were unwilling, or too maidenly, to pay the forfeits demanded of them.
‘A good haul for the Priory coffers,’ he said, ‘although not all, by any means, found it necessary to be parted from their money.’
Again, there was a deal of chaff and self-congratulatory laughter, and I could see that it was time to move on. I could no longer hope for the gatekeeper’s undivided attention, now that his friends had arrived with their list of triumphs and failures – their catalogue of who had and who had not been game to pay the price demanded of them. I walked on along the High Street, pausing momentarily to cast a glance at Eudo Colet’s front door as I passed, then followed the curve of the road round by the pillory until I came to Thomas Cozin’s house, in the lee of St Mary’s Priory. I raised my hand and knocked.
As on my visit of the previous day, the door was answered by the little maid, Jenny, but the youngest daughter of the house was not far behind, anxious to discover the identity, and interest to herself of any visitor. She emerged from the downstairs parlour and smiled cheekily when she saw me.
‘It’s that handsome pedlar you fancied, Joan! And you, Elizabeth!’ she shouted up the stairs.
I blushed and the maid remonstrated, ‘You’d best watch that tongue of yours, Mistress Ursula! Your sisters’ll have your hide for garters, if you go on provoking them like you do.’
‘I– I’ve come to see Master Oliver Cozin,’ I stammered. ‘He– He might be expecting me. Is he within?’
‘I’ll see, if you’ll step inside a moment.’
Jenny vanished into the parlour and I heard her run upstairs. Ursula Cozin and I were left confronting one another, with me shuffling my feet, while she compressed her lips to stop herself giggling aloud at my embarrassment. The gatekeeper had been right, about this one, at least. This youngest daughter of Thomas Cozin was most certainly a minx.
‘I wasn’t telling a lie, you know,’ she remarked pertly. ‘Joan and Elizabeth both admired your looks. My mother did, too, I could tell, though of course she didn’t say anything. Papa would have been so hurt, for he’s not the handsomest of men, as you must have noticed, but we all love him dearly.’ The candid grey eyes gave me renewed appraisal. ‘I think you’re quite nice, as well.’
‘Ursula, go upstairs. Your mother wants you.’ Oliver Cozin’s dry voice preceded him, as he stepped into the passage. He waited silently until his niece, dropping him a primly obedient curtsey, had disappeared from view, before letting his somewhat forbidding features relax into a smile. He gave an indulgent shake of his head, but made no comment, merely asking, ‘Why did you wish to see me, Master Chapman?’
‘I have come to say, Your Honour, that I am willing to remain in Master Colet’s house for a day or two yet, if that arrangement is still to your liking. Certainly until Saturday, when you leave for Exeter, and maybe a day or so longer.’
‘Ah!’ He looked relieved. ‘Yes, I should be pleased if you would do so. I am going, this afternoon, to visit Master Colet and he will be happy to know that his property is being cared for. The outlaws were out and about again last night, it seems, in the vicinity of Berry Pomeroy, so you have my blessing to lodge in the house for as long as you wish. The longer the better as far as I and my client are concerned.’
I gathered up my courage. ‘On one condition,’ I said.
The lawyer was startled. ‘Condition? What condition?’ he demanded stiffly, but his eyes were wary.
‘That you permit me to ask you some questions,’ I answered.
Chapter Nine
‘Questions? What questions?’
Oliver Cozin’s manner was terse. He was not a man used to being interrogated, particularly by the likes of such as me.
Normally, he did the asking and others gave the answers. I was determined, however, not to be intimidated. I had promised Grizelda to try and uncover the truth, and that was what I intended to do.
‘I know why Master Colet can find no one willing to rent or buy that house,’ I said. ‘There is still a lingering fear that Andrew and Mary Skelton were somehow spirited away by witchcraft before they were murdered by the outlaws.’
There was silence, then the lawyer sniffed. ‘You seem to have been very busy, chapman,’ he said, echoing the gatekeeper’s words. ‘I didn’t take you for a gossip. I’m disappointed.’
I felt the anger rise in my chest and steadied myself to speak without choler.
‘You must admit,’ I reproved him, but calmly, ‘that the circumstances of my tenancy were unusual. Did you expect me to be lacking in curiosity? I’m as nosy as my neighbour, as nosy as you, too, would have been, I suspect, in similar circumstances.’
He looked affronted, but before he could reply to this direct attack, there came the patter of feet, and Mistress Joan, the eldest of Thomas Cozin’s three daughters, rounded the bend of the stairs and descended to the parlour. She sketched a curtsey and sent me an upward glance from green-flecked hazel eyes, beneath long, sweeping lashes.
‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Uncle, but Mother wishes a message delivered to Mag, in the kitchen.’
‘Very well.’ Oliver courteously held open the door until his niece had passed through, then shut it firmly and turned again to me.
‘I suppose,’ he conceded, ‘it was always possible that you might discover the reason behind my request. But, having done so, I should have hoped that there the matter would have ended. What further interest in the story can there be? My client, Master Colet, was fully exonerated of any complicity in the children’s disappearance, either natural or… supernatural. So why do you raise the subject?’
‘I have promised Mistress Harbourne to find out, if I can, the truth of her charges’ murder. If, that is, there is anything more to be discovered.’
The lawyer was now seriously displeased. The narrow face froze into immobility, and the chilly grey eyes grew even colder as he stared down his finely chiselled nose. But yet again, before be had time to speak, there was another diversion as Mistress Elizabeth, the second daughter, came tripping lightly down the stairs on small, scarlet-leather-shod feet, her green woollen gown hoisted in one hand to display a neatly turned ankle.
‘Well, Miss?’ her uncle barked. ‘And what do you want?’
‘I… I have a message for Mag, in the kitchen.’
‘Your mother has already sent one message by Joan, not two minutes since.’
‘Ah…!’ Mistress Elizabeth thought swiftly. ‘Mother forgot something she particularly wished to say concerning the eel pie for supper. I am charged with the additional message.’
‘Oh, very well!’ For the second time, Oliver Cozin held wide the door until his niece had departed, which she did with a provocative swing of the hips. Fortunately, I was the only one to notice it. Much put out, the lawyer resumed his seat beside the table, while I stood awkwardly, twisting my hat between my hands.