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‘We have heard enough from you for the moment, Brother Timothy,’

said Ralph through gritted teeth. ‘I think that it is time my lord Maurice had a chance to defend himself.’ He fixed him with a stare. ‘Were you so acquainted with Hugh de Grandmesnil?’

‘It was a long time ago,’ said Maurice evasively.

‘But you did serve him?’

‘We fought together. It forged a friendship.’

‘Why did you conceal it from us?’

‘I did not think it had a bearing on our work.’

‘It had a most profound bearing!’ hissed Ralph before reining in his temper. He turned to Timothy. ‘We need to discuss this in private for a time. Bear with us until we send for you, Brother Timothy.’

‘Gladly, my lord.’

‘The same applies to you, Brother Columbanus.’

‘But I am your scribe.’

‘No record need be kept of this conversation,’ said Ralph pointedly.

‘Besides, the language may grow warm in here and offend more cloistered ears.’

Columbanus nodded and followed Brother Timothy out. On a signal from Ralph, the four guards also quit the hall. There was a strained silence. Elbows on the table, Maurice leaned forward with his head bowed. Ralph stood over him.

‘Can you deny this?’ he demanded. ‘Have you really been deceiving us all this while, Maurice? Working in collusion with the lady Azelina and her father?’

‘She has the stronger claim to Islip,’ retorted Maurice. ‘You believed that, Ralph. Your verdict favoured her.’

‘That is immaterial.’

‘We did not know of your personal interest here,’ said Gervase coldly.

‘Your action has tainted us, my lord.’

‘That was not my intention.’

‘Then what was that intention?’ yelled Ralph, quivering with rage.

‘To pull the wool over our eyes while you showed favour to your friends?

To pervert the course of justice? We have built our reputation on fairness and integrity. In one flawed judgement, you have put that reputation under threat.’

‘Do not take this so personally, Ralph.’

‘Can you not see what you have done?’

‘Is it so serious a matter?’

‘Yes, my lord,’ affirmed Gervase. ‘Extremely serious.’

‘Awarding land to someone who legally owns it?’ Maurice gave a hollow laugh. ‘Where is the crime in that?’

‘You prejudged the case.’

‘When you had no right even to be a member of this tribunal,’ said Ralph. ‘Now I begin to see why you contrived to get yourself appointed.

You pretended that the work was an imposition but you came to Oxford with a purpose. To help your friends at the expense of honesty and justice. Hell and damnation, man! This is rank corruption!’

‘Come,’ said Maurice, rising to his feet, ‘which of you would not help a friend in the same circumstances?’

‘Neither of us, my lord,’ said Gervase.

‘Do not be so pious.’

‘You must have known that this dispute would come before us or you would not have agreed to join the tribunal. Did the lady Azelina make contact with you?’

‘Or was it Hugh de Grandmesnil?’ added Ralph.

‘Roger d’Ivry, perhaps?’

‘How was it done, Maurice? We will find out in time.’

‘The King himself will wish to look into it.’

Maurice Pagnal was cornered. He could not wriggle or browbeat his way out of the situation. Only one possible escape remained and he seized on it with grinning desperation.

‘We three are men of the world,’ he said, reaching out to touch both of them. ‘Nobody else needs to know of this. I will find a way to silence that infernal Brother Timothy. Let us resolve the matter here behind closed doors. Between friends.’ He licked his lips before making his offer. ‘Someone did appeal to me for help. When the ownership of Islip was to be contested, I was asked to use what influence I might have with the commission. We bore arms together, Ralph, so I hoped that friendship might carry the weight of a favour.’

‘That hope was shipwrecked before it set sail.’

‘Chance contrived better than I could myself,’ continued Maurice.

‘Canon Hubert fell ill and a replacement was sought. I used what connections I had at Court to have the name of Maurice Pagnal pushed forward. Others, too, had influence which was used subtly to secure my appointment. Thus it stands, my friends.’ He looked from one to the other before blurting out his offer. ‘Handsome payment was made for my help. The money is meaningless to me. I was prompted only by old ties. Take the money and divide it between you. Let it buy your silence. I will excuse myself from this commission and it can then continue with its reputation untarnished.’

‘Untarnished!’ howled Ralph. ‘Untarnished! You offer us a bribe and tell us that our integrity will remain intact!’

‘In the eyes of everyone else.’

‘But not in our own, my lord,’ said Gervase sharply.

‘Do not be fools!’ urged Maurice. ‘You throw away a rich reward.

Give yourselves some recompense for the tedium of sitting through this dispute. Share the spoils.’

Ralph’s anger took over. Grabbing him by the shoulders, he hurled him to the floor with such force that Maurice slid for yards along the wooden boards. Ralph was on him at once. As Maurice pulled his dagger from its sheath, it was kicked away from his grasp. Fury was Ralph’s weapon and Maurice knew that he had nothing to match it.

He listened to his sentence.

Ralph was on fire. ‘By the power vested in me as leader of this tribunal,’ he said, looming over him, ‘I strip you of your rank as a commissioner. The King will hear a full report of your crimes. You will be duly arraigned.’ Taking him by the throat, he hauled Maurice upright. ‘You have caused enough damage in Oxford. Leave by sundown, Maurice. Or answer to me.’

After a show of defiance, Maurice Pagnal slunk away in disgrace.

Ralph watched until the door was closed behind him, then his rage slowly ebbed. He looked at Gervase and gave a hopeless shrug.

‘Where do we go from here?’

‘We summon Brother Columbanus and dictate a letter to Canon Hubert,’

said Gervase. ‘A fast horse would reach him in Winchester some time tomorrow. Hubert may have recovered his health by now. And even if he has not,’ he added, ‘I am sure that he would respond to your call.’

‘Wise counsel. I’ll act on it.’

‘The dispute over Islip can be left in abeyance. We will look at it afresh when Hubert gets here.’

‘And until then?’

‘We suspend our investigations, Ralph.’

‘We have to, I fear, though it will extend our stay here.’

‘Let us make virtue of a necessity.’

‘What do you mean, Gervase?’

‘Someone else is in desperate need of justice,’ said the other, ‘and there is no tribunal to mete it out to him. Will you ride with me to Woodstock?’

The warm sun encouraged them to leave the drab interior of the keep and descend to the bailey where they perambulated slowly around the perimeter by way of gentle exercise. Golde kept in step with Edith in every sense. A friendship which took root on the previous night was growing apace as they discovered a wealth of shared interests and common experience. As they strolled amiably along, Golde shed all her reservations about Oxford Castle. It was no longer a place of such menace and discomfort. Edith made it seem homely.

‘Do you have any children?’ asked Edith.

‘No, my lady.’

‘It is still not too late.’

‘I have no hopes in that direction.’

‘Oh?’

‘Ralph’s first wife died in childbirth,’ explained Golde. ‘I would not put him through that suffering again. Such a tragedy is not certain to happen again, I know, but it is always at the back of my mind. We are happy in each other, my lady. Even without the blessing of children.’

‘They are not always a blessing,’ admitted the other with a sigh.

‘Childbirth is a trial enough but raising a family can also be something of an ordeal in itself. It is such a responsibility to educate the young.