And as I stood there among the Avebury circles, I could feel the strangeness of the place seeping into my bones, could feel the prickling of the hairs along my arms and was aware of an inability to control my thoughts. Visions of Druids and blood sacrifice filled my mind and I found that I was sweating profusely in spite of the evening chill. For a moment or two I felt unable to move, as if some unseen force had me in its thrall; as though if I fell sideways I might find myself in some fairy world peopled by elves and demons. .
I fought back, struggling to recite the words of St Patrick’s Breastplate. ‘I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, the power of Heaven, the light of the sun, the whiteness of snow, the force of fire, the power of the Resurrection with the Ascension, the power of the coming to the sentence of judgement. I have set around me all these powers against the incantations of false prophets, against all knowledge which blinds the soul of man.’ And suddenly I was free of the miasma of weird fears which had beset me, whole and sane once more.
But I decided not to linger amongst the stones but to return to the village to see if I could beg a bed for the night.
I arrived home some eleven days later, three weeks by my reckoning since leaving London. I had deliberately taken my time, even, on one occasion, refusing a lift from a carter who was heading towards Bath with a load of peat, preferring my own company to the trial of making small talk. Besides, the man had only come from Chippenham and would have had no knowledge of what might be going on in the wider world, beyond the boundary between Wiltshire and Somerset. So I made up my mind to let Adela think that her cousins’ business had taken longer to solve than was actually the case, and that I had subsequently made all speed back to Bristol.
Fortunately, she was so pleased to see me, and so anxious to be told the outcome of my investigation into the Godsloves’ affairs, that her enquiries concerning my journey were perfunctory and easily satisfied. The children, as usual, wanted only to know what I had brought them and were perfectly happy with the sweetmeats and stuffed figs I had managed to buy in Bath market; although Elizabeth did give me a hug and Adam punched me in the belly, which recently had become his chosen method of greeting. All the same, I sensed that everyone was happy to have me at home once more, and reconciled myself to a prolonged period of domesticity, peddling my wares amongst the town’s citizens and the surrounding countryside. And, of course, drinking with my friends in the Green Lattis.
‘You’re back, then,’ Jack Nym observed when I sought him out to thank him for his care of Adela and the children during their journey from London to Bristol.
‘No, I’m still on my way,’ I replied with a grin. ‘This is my ghost you’re talking to.’
‘There’s no need for sarcasm,’ he grumbled, but waved aside all my attempts to express my gratitude. ‘It were business,’ he disclaimed. ‘You paid me and they weren’t ’ny trouble. Leastways, not the humans, but that dog o’ yours, he’s another matter. He’ll chase anything what moves. There weren’t a sheep between here and Lunnon what were safe from him. On and off the cart he was until I came very near to strangling him with me bare hands.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘He usually does what he’s told.’
‘By you, yes. But you weren’t there, were you?’ He sniffed. ‘So, how did things go in Lunnon then, after we left? Solved the problem, did you?’
‘Yes.’ I answered briefly, but I wasn’t really interested in going over events yet again. I had spent my entire first two evenings at home satisfying Adela’s curiosity and was tired of the subject. Besides, I had questions of my own that wanted answering. ‘Is there anyone here,’ I went on, glancing around the usual throng that packed the ale-room, ‘who has recently returned from London? Within the last two or three days?’
‘What are you up to now?’ Jack asked with a leery look, but being the obliging chap that he was, peered around at our fellow drinkers until suddenly he nodded and pointed a bony finger at a man sitting alone in a corner. ‘Over there. Joshua Bullman. A carter like meself, but transports animals mainly. I know he was taking some sheep up near Lunnon. . oh. . week afore last, maybe.’ He raised his voice above the general hubbub and called, ‘Josh! Josh Bullman!’ And when, finally, the man looked our way indicated that the carter should join us.
I ordered fresh cups of ale all round as Master Bullman wedged himself alongside me on the bench.
‘You’ve not long returned from London Jack tells me.’
‘Yesterday as it happens.’ He finished the ale that remained in his beaker as the pot-boy scurried off to execute my order. ‘Left there a week ago. Why d’you want to know?’
‘I was there three weeks back myself. I wondered what’s been happening in the meantime.’
Joshua Bullman shrugged his powerful shoulders. ‘Nothing much. They’re beginning to put up the street decorations for the young king’s coronation. He — the king that is — is in the royal apartments in the Tower, but the queen — well her that was queen — and the rest of the children, they’re still in sanctuary at Westminster and refusing to come out.’ He shrugged again. ‘That’s about all there is to tell.’
‘And the Duke of Gloucester?’ I queried.
‘Governing the country, I suppose.’ The man laughed. ‘How should I know? I’m only a poor carter.’ He added with heavy humour, ‘No doubt His Grace would like to consult me, but I’m a busy man. He’ll just have to manage without my advice as best he can.’
I forced a smile, but Jack, a more appreciative audience, roared with laughter and continued chuckling to himself long after the time warranted by such a feeble joke. I kicked him hard on the ankle, but it didn’t stop him.
I turned back to my informant. ‘There hasn’t been any. . any trouble then in the capital?’
Our ale arrived, plonked down in front of us by the harassed pot-boy with more haste than ceremony. He held out a grubby hand for the money before hurrying away in response to a shout from the landlord.
‘What do you mean by trouble?’ Joshua Bullman asked, his small, round eyes peering at me enquiringly over the rim of his beaker.
‘Roger knows something,’ Jack said with conviction. ‘I never met such a man for gettin’ tangled up in things he shouldn’t. Go on, then, lad! Tell us what trouble you’re expecting.’
‘I’m not expecting anything,’ I retorted irritably. ‘But the Queen Dowager’s family aren’t any friends of the duke, and there was that plot by the Woodvilles to either arrest or quietly despatch him at Northampton. And if it hadn’t been for the Duke of Buckingham it might well have succeeded. And also Sir Edward Woodville has put to sea with half the royal treasure.’
Joshua Bullman nodded. ‘Oh ay! I heard men’d been sent to waylay him before he reached Calais. But that’s all. What the outcome was, or is, I’ve no more notion than you.’
‘And Lord Chamberlain Hastings?’ I persisted. ‘He hasn’t been stirring things up?’
‘Not that I heard. Why should he?’
I hesitated, picking my words carefully. ‘Oh. . I just thought. . I thought he might resent Buckingham’s growing influence with my lord Gloucester. After all, right-hand man to the Protector is the position he’d probably decided upon for himself. Indeed, the position he had every reason to expect would be his. To be usurped in such a fashion could make him discontented, to say the least.’
Again came the shrug. ‘I know nothing of that. There were no rumours in any of the alehouses and taverns that I heard tell. London seemed peaceful enough when I left it. Everything going forward for the king’s coronation as it should. The place’ll be heaving by now, I shouldn’t wonder, with folk arriving for the ceremony and the Parliament that’s been called. There won’t be a decent bed to be had for love nor money. My advice is, if you’re thinking of going there, wait until after the crowning and thing’s have settled down a bit.’
‘Oh, I’m not thinking of returning to London,’ I said forcefully. ‘That’s the last thing on my mind. It’s my intention not to stir much beyond the Bristol pale for the next few months.’