‘Dawn is challenge enough for me,’ said Golde, ‘but there is no need to haul you two out of your beds. That is why I came to take my leave of you now. Enjoy your sleep while you can.’
‘How can I when my only sister is riding away from me?’ said Aelgar with unusual vehemence. ‘I will be there to wave you all off and Forne will be with me.’
He grinned. ‘It is all part of my training.’
‘It would be lovely to see you,’ admitted Golde.
‘Then you shall,’ promised her sister. ‘It will give Forne a chance to make a better impression on Ralph. He has much ground to make up.’
‘Who does?’ asked her betrothed. ‘Ralph or me?’
‘Both,’ said Golde.
‘How long will this go on?’ wondered Aelgar.
‘What?’
‘This endless travelling you seem to do.’
‘I have no idea. If it were left to Ralph, it would end tomorrow and we would enjoy the simple pleasure of staying in our own home. But the King’s word must be obeyed.’
‘We know that!’ muttered Forne rebelliously.
‘We go where Ralph and Gervase are sent.’
‘Well, I hope you are sent in our direction again, Golde,’ said her sister, reaching out to squeeze her hands. ‘Short as it has been, this visit has brought us much joy. I am so glad that we made the effort to get to Gloucester while you were here.’
‘So am I, Aelgar.’
The two sisters embraced then looked expectantly towards Forne.
‘And so am I,’ he said willingly. He gave a vacuous grin. ‘You see, Aelgar? You have me trained already. I indulge your every whim.’
‘Good,’ she said sweetly. ‘For I have a lot of them.’
The final day at the shire hall was punctuated by the small irritations they had learned to take in their stride. One witness lied, another tried to pretend he had forgotten a vital document, and a third changed his evidence so many times that they had no idea which claimant he was really supporting. Under Ralph’s firm leadership, the last case was resolved and dispatched into history.
After thanking his colleagues, he gathered up his papers to put into his satchel.
‘A shorter visit than I anticipated,’ said Hubert airily. ‘Given the fact that we were distracted by other matters, I think that we showed exemplary efficiency.’
‘You always do that, Canon Hubert,’ said Brother Simon.
‘Thank you.’
‘Especially when leading a murder investigation,’ noted Ralph.
‘Do not mock,’ said Gervase. ‘Canon Hubert’s presence at the abbey was critical. We were the outsiders, Ralph. But for the fact that he and Brother Simon stayed there, we might never have been drawn into this whole business at all.’
‘I thank God that you were,’ said Simon. ‘The abbey was poisoned by those dreadful crimes. You and the lord Ralph helped to cleanse it.’ He saw Hubert’s grimace. ‘With the assistance of Canon Hubert, that is.’
‘Not to mention a little help from the Archdeacon of Gwent.’
‘True, Gervase,’ said Ralph, who had now come to appreciate to the full the Welshman’s contribution. ‘An extraordinary man.
Whether acting as a midwife or swimming to my rescue.’
‘He should restrict his activities to the pulpit,’ said Hubert sniffily.
‘You mean that all future babies should be delivered there?’
‘No, my lord!’
‘Can we leave this distressing subject?’ begged Simon.
‘Of course,’ said Gervase. ‘Ignore Ralph. He is being skittish now that our work is done here. But tell us this. How has the atmosphere been at the abbey since Strang and his accomplice were arrested?’
Simon smiled. ‘It is a different place altogether.’
‘It is as if a huge black cloud has been dispersed,’ said Hubert.
‘They know that you are leaving,’ said Ralph.
‘Abbot Serlo paid me the compliment of inviting me back at any time and Bishop Wulfstan was equally hospitable. Worcester Abbey is open to me whenever I happen to be in the county.’
‘They recognised your true worth,’ said Gervase without sarcasm. ‘It is a pity that they were not able to evaluate Brother Nicholas’s character more accurately. Had they done so, much pain and bloodshed would have been prevented.’
‘Abbot Serlo appreciates that, Gervase. He will scrutinise his monks with far more care from now on. He and Brother Frewine both.’
‘Yes,’ said Ralph. ‘The Precentor is worth his weight in gold. I liked him more than any of them. Kind, honest, decent, humble, but with a mind as sharp as the edge of my sword. No wonder the novices turn to him. He understands them.’
Hubert gave a flabby grin, forewarning them of a rare flight into humour. In a confidential whisper, he passed on information that caused none of them the slightest surprise.
‘They have a nickname for Brother Frewine,’ he said.
‘Do they?’ asked Simon obediently.
‘Brother Owl.’
Gervase gave a dutiful laugh. ‘Very appropriate.’
‘Wise, old and feathered.’
‘But not the only owl in Gloucester,’ observed Ralph. ‘Bishop Wulfstan could certainly lay claim to that nickname. So could Abbot Serlo. And there were moments when even Abraham the Priest showed the requisite wisdom. But there is only one owl of Gloucester for me.’
‘Which one is that?’ asked Gervase.
‘The one whose hoot woke me in time to save the King. At least, that is what I believed I was doing. Accident or design? I’ll never know. But that hoot outside my window helped me to catch Hamelin of Lisieux.’
‘And his wife,’ said Hubert grimly.
‘Both of them. What a fall from grace for the lord Hamelin! And for the lady Emma. Who would have believed that someone so beautiful on the outside could be so ugly on the inside? We were all at fault there.’
‘All of us, Ralph?’ said Gervase.
‘Yes,’ he explained. ‘We were vain enough to think that the lord Hamelin brought her here simply to dazzle us. Whereas she came on a much more pressing errand. The assassination of the King. The fact that she turned up at all should have alerted us to a darker purpose than tantalising three commissioners.’
‘I was never tantalised, my lord!’ howled Hubert.
‘What we lacked was a woman’s intuition.’
‘Intuition?’ repeated Simon.
‘Golde had it. When she met the lady Emma, she knew at once that there was something false about her, even though she could not discern exactly what it was. Golde felt that she was in the castle for other reasons than simply calling on the sheriff’s wife.
So it proved,’ he said. ‘The lady Emma was there to spy out the land for her husband.’
‘She will pay the ultimate penalty for it,’ said Hubert. ‘And rightly so. Well, I think we can make one proud boast,’ he continued airily. ‘Thanks to our enterprise, we will leave Gloucester in a far better condition than we found it.’
They all agreed. Chatting easily, they headed for the door. It was early evening and bright sun still gilded the shire hall when they stepped outside it. Ralph was sorry that Nigel the Reeve was not at hand for a final curt reprimand. The latter’s friendship with Hamelin of Lisieux was now a cause of deep embarrassment to the reeve, and Ralph had intended to compound that feeling.
That treat eluded him.
Canon Hubert blossomed in the sunshine and grew lyrical.
‘Brother Owl was a bird of peace in a war-torn world,’ he said.
‘He sat, watched and waited with the wisdom of ages shining from his eyes.’ He turned to Simon. ‘I fancy that I have something of the owl about me.’
‘Oh, yes, Canon Hubert,’ endorsed the other.
Ralph was less obsequious. ‘Does that mean you hunt at night and feed off vermin? Or that your feathers moult in summer? I know one thing, Hubert, if you are an owl, there is no bough you could perch on for there is not a tree which grows one big enough.’
Hubert was hurt. ‘I was speaking in metaphors, my lord.’
‘Oh, that is different.’
‘Long experience has given me a degree of wisdom.’