‘A choice not approved by his great-uncle, I assume.’
‘Of course the Master didn’t approve!’ The ex-housekeeper was scathing in her condemnation. ‘A common serving girl with neither money nor breeding to recommend her! What future is there in such an alliance for a young man without any fortune of his own?’
‘What happened next?’
‘When he’d calmed down a little, Master Capstick told Beric to go away and think about it. He also told him that if he didn’t return the following day to say that he’d changed his mind and was willing to do his great-uncle’s bidding, then he, Master Capstick that is, would alter his will. “At present,” he said, “my money, when I die, is to be shared equally between you and your sister. But if you persist in refusing to marry Jenny Haygarth, I shall rewrite my will and leave everything to Berenice. She, at least, has had the good sense to betroth herself to a Champernowne.”’
‘And then?’ I prompted, as Mistress Trenowth once again drew breath.
‘And then,’ she said, pressing a hand to her heart as she recalled the fright she had experienced at the time, ‘there was this terrible scream and a gurgling sound. I ran into the parlour, hardly daring to imagine what I should find, to see the Master pinned against the wall with Beric’s hands locked around his throat and his face beginning to turn a bluish colour.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I seized Beric around the waist with both arms, trying to drag him away and yelling at him that he was killing his great-uncle. At first, I don’t think he was even aware of me, he was so furious; but then, suddenly, he dropped his hands to his sides and stood back, just staring at the Master with such malevolence that my blood ran cold.’
‘“Make a new will, and be damned to you,” he said. “I love Katherine and she loves me. We can live without your money.” Of course they can’t, and Beric thought they wouldn’t have to. I’ve no doubt, and nor, I’m sure, had he, that Berenice would have shared everything with him once the money was hers.’
‘What was Master Capstick’s response?’
‘As soon as he’d recovered sufficiently to be able to speak, he told me to go for Master Horner — that’s his lawyer who lives down near the Blackfriars — immediately. “I’ll draw up a new will this very afternoon,” he said to Beric. “And I’ll make it a condition of Berenice’s inheriting my money that she settles none of it on you, so that you’ll have to ask her for every last penny that you need. And once your sister’s married, and her husband holds the purse strings, I doubt if you’ll find it easy to get your hands on any of it. The Champernownes are a high-stomached race. There’s not one of them who’d relish having a serving maid as a sister-in-law.”’
‘And did this threat give Beric second thoughts?’
Mistress Trenowth shook her head. ‘“Do as you please, Uncle,” he answered. “You won’t stop me marrying Katherine. We love one another.” He’d got as far as the parlour door when he turned round and added, “I just hope you won’t live to regret this highhanded attitude of yours.” Next minute, he’d gone and we heard the sound of his horse’s hoofs on the cobbles outside. “Good riddance,” the Master said. But he looked very white and shaken, and his legs were trembling so much that he had to sit down for a while. Beric had spoken with such vindictiveness it had plainly unnerved him.
‘And did Master Capstick alter his will as he had threatened to do?’ I asked.
‘Oh, yes. I was sent for the lawyer as soon as Beric had gone, and the new will was drawn up that very afternoon, with myself and Master Horner’s clerk as witnesses. Everything, including the house, was left to Berenice on the condition that Master Capstick had stated, and it was signed and dated the 30th of April. The next day was May Day, and the young people were clattering through the streets and disturbing everyone’s rest very early in the morning, bringing in the may to crown the May Queen. That’s why I remember the date of the quarrel and the making of the new will so clearly.’
I hesitated for a moment before asking as casually as I could, ‘Did Master Capstick leave you anything in his will, Mistress Trenowth?’
‘Oh, no!’ She appeared genuinely shocked at the idea. ‘The Master paid me generously while he was alive. I expected nothing further. Master Capstick was a great believer in the blood tie, and while there was a member of his own family living to inherit his money and property, he wouldn’t have dreamt of leaving anything to anyone who wasn’t kin.’
There didn’t seem to be any underlying resentment in her tone, but I couldn’t help wondering if Mistress Trenowth was simply disguising her true feelings. After more than fifteen years’ faithful service, she might have expected to be left something, however small. I stored away the thought at the back of my mind to be considered later.
‘When did the murder take place?’ I asked. ‘I know it was sometime in May. Mistress Cobbold told me.’
‘Why, the very next day! May Day! I should have thought Joanna would have remembered that.’
‘Maybe she mentioned it, but if she did, then I’ve forgotten. So! Beric returned the following morning, did he? Can you tell me about the murder — if, that is, it doesn’t distress you too much?’
‘No, it doesn’t distress me, not now. I was upset greatly at the time, but after all these months, I find it easier to talk about.’ Mistress Trenowth settled herself more comfortably in her chair, and I got the impression that she was, if anything, rather enjoying herself. ‘That morning, I’d gone downstairs to prepare the Master’s breakfast a bit earlier than usual. As I said, the May Day revellers had woken me and I hadn’t been able to get back to sleep again. I wasn’t the only one who’d been disturbed by them either. It turned out that both Mistress Cobbold and her neighbour on the other side, Mistress Hannaford, were also up and about betimes. Joanna had done her washing and was spreading it out on the fence and the grass to dry when she heard me scream and came rushing in to find out what was the matter …
‘But I’m getting ahead of myself. I went into the kitchen and cooked the Master’s breakfast. He was very partial to a herring fried in oatmeal, and I’d bought some nice fresh, plump ones only the day before. When they were ready, I put them on a plate and the plate on a tray, along with a mazer of ale and the heel of a loaf, and carried it all along the passageway, ready to go upstairs. Imagine my astonishment when I met Beric coming down. I nearly jumped out of my shoes, for I hadn’t heard anyone come in.’
‘How did Beric enter the house?’ I asked. ‘Wasn’t the street door still bolted at that hour of the morning? You said that it was early.’
‘I’d unbolted it as soon as I got downstairs. I always did.’ She shrugged. ‘There was nothing worth stealing in that house. All Master Capstick’s money and bonds and papers and things were kept in a padlocked chest in Lawyer Horner’s cellar. The Master told me so himself.’ She added indignantly, ‘I don’t think anyone in Bilbury Street keeps their door bolted much after sunrise.’
Her manner had grown hostile. Mistress Trenowth obviously thought that I was accusing her of dereliction of duty, and so I hastened to reassure her.
‘Of course!’ I said. ‘Of course! I wasn’t reproaching you; you mustn’t think that. Beric, then, wouldn’t have expected to find the street door locked?’
‘Probably not.’ She was still a trifle antagonistic, so I gave her my most ingratiating smile and she visibly thawed. ‘I don’t really know. Perhaps if he had found it bolted, he would have thought better of his intentions and gone away again, and this terrible murder would never have happened. But trying the latch and finding it open, he just went in and ran upstairs to his uncle’s bedchamber, where … where…’ Her voice began to quaver, then faltered and died.
‘Where he killed him,’ I finished gently. She nodded mutely, her eyes full of tears, and I went on, ‘Do you think Master Capstick was awake when his nephew entered his room?’
‘If he was, he didn’t cry out. Of course, he may not have had time before Beric was on him.’