“And thus you have both reasonably explained your actions. Do you think any man should have a good excuse as readily at hand if he is innocent of any evil?” Eleanor pointedly looked at Thomas and raised her eyebrows.
“He should!” Simeon’s voice was slurred.
“Perhaps not, my lady,” Thomas admitted quietly.
“There is also the matter of a wound the guilty man may bear somewhere on his face or hands,” Eleanor said. “The cat must have scratched him. I heard a cry of pain before he ran.”
Thomas raised his hands, twisting them to show the scrapes on both sides. “I fear scratches may not be good evidence, my lady. As you see, my hands are cut from sliding along the ground as I caught Brother John. Both his hands and face are equally scratched, but the abrasions might have been caused by his fall. Brother Simeon as well has…”
“A wound in the service of God’s justice is nothing,” Simeon muttered.
“Well said, brother.” Thomas patted the receiver’s back. “I believe I’ve made my point. There is no simple evidence here.”
“Nothing about this case has ever been simple,” Ralf growled.
“Perhaps it is time to make it so.” Eleanor looked at each man in front of her as she continued. “Perhaps I should speak to Brother John alone.”
“Never!” both Ralf and Simeon said in unison. Thomas, however, nodded approval.
“He is quite probably a murderer, my lady,” Ralf said, glancing at Sister Anne, who continued to stare in silence at her tightly folded hands.
“We will all take due precautions, but he may say things to his prioress he would not to any of you. Although temporal justice must be served, the peace of the soul is both spiritual and eternal. As a woman, I cannot be his earthly judge in either secular or religious court. As his prioress, however, I am his spiritual guide. He may listen and talk to me.”
Ralf raised his eyebrows and nodded.
“It is not well advised, but perhaps we could arrange some protection for you if you insist.” Simeon downed his third goblet of unwatered wine. Gytha ignored his perfunctory nod at her for a refill and turned to the crowner with the ewer.
Ralf waved away her offer of wine. “We could come up with a plan to protect you while you speak with him alone as you wish. Allow me to further suggest that you should not do so until at least a day has passed. If he be truly innocent, then some time alone with minimal bread and water in his windowless room by the monks’ latrine will surely bring the man to his senses. Whatever embarrassment he might now feel over some relatively minor sin should fade into reason after many hours of thinking about what could happen to him if he continues to act like a guilty man.”
Eleanor nodded. “Very well, good sirs. Let us meet tomorrow after Chapter and I will go speak with Brother John alone at that time with your discreet protection.”
Dismissed, the men rose, bowed, and left.
Sister Anne also rose to leave.
“Stay, sister. I would have a brief word,” Eleanor said.
The tall nun turned toward her prioress, shoulders stooped and expression even sadder than usual. “Of course, my lady.”
“You were unusually quiet. May I ask why?”
Tears slowly brimmed and began falling in great drops down the nun’s cheeks. “I have something to tell you in private.”
Eleanor nodded to Gytha to leave them, then took Anne by the hand, pulling her back down into the seat beside her. “What is troubling you?”
“You never asked me why I was so close to hand when you cried out.”
“Indeed, it did not occur to me to ask.”
“You should.”
Eleanor looked at Anne, but the nun turned her face from the prioress. “Tell me, then, why you came from the church when you should have been at the hospital or even in your own bed.” Her voice was gentle.
“I was to meet Brother John in the church last night, my lady.”
“A meeting not proper within the letter of our vows, for cert, but you know that as well as I. Tell me why you were meeting him at such an hour and alone, Anne?”
“He asked to do so. It was not for lustful purposes, my lady. He wanted to talk to me about something where no one would hear us.”
“Why did he say he wanted to meet you?” Eleanor asked, squeezing the distraught nun’s hand.
“He did not say.”
“And was he with you when you heard me cry out? If so, he is not guilty of the attack.”
Sister Anne began to weep in earnest. “My lady, he was not!”
“Poor child!” Eleanor said and pulled the sobbing nun into her arms. “If he is indeed the murderer of two innocent men and the man who tried to stab me, then Brother Simeon may have frightened him away from the church and saved your life….”
“Brother John is a kind and gentle man! He is no murderer.”
Eleanor gently shook her. “You cannot say that for sure, Anne. Despite all our work with them, we may not always know what is in the hearts and souls of our brethren.…”
“My lady, I know Brother John very well. He was my husband.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Sin! The man is full of the blackest sin!” Simeon was weaving off the pathway.
Thomas reached out and tried to pull Simeon gently back to the safety of the level walk. “Surely God protected our prioress from Brother John’s black heart.”
“God’s hand is stronger when supported by a weapon in a good man’s hand!” Simeon waved one of his own hands drunkenly.
“Aye, and you have been wounded yourself in the good fight against the instrument of Satan,” Thomas said as he caught the waving hand.
Simeon looked down at his bandaged left hand held by the young monk. “A minor scratch. I fell as I chased Brother John from the church and scraped my hand on the rocks of the path. A minor wound in the battle against God’s enemies!” He belched with evident satisfaction.
“Has Sister Anne looked…”
“Eve took the apple from the serpent, brother. I will have no woman touch me with that poisonous hand. In battles between kings, each man aids his fellow. In the wars against sin, wounds must be treated in the same fashion. We monks have no need for the daughters of Eve. I know enough to wrap a scrape.”
“I meant well, brother. Forgive me if I angered.”
Simeon slapped Thomas on the back with his free hand. “You did not anger, my son. I know you meant no ill, but once again I would advise you to beware of Sister Anne. She is an arrogant woman and not as holy as she should be.”
“How so? You have suggested such in the past but never told me your meaning.”
“She and Brother John were married in the world, brother. I have seen them behave in ways here that make me question their devotion to their vows of chastity.”
“Surely our prioress has seen this as well, yet Sister Anne has gained her confidence…”
Simeon snatched his hand from Thomas’ grip. “I do not share your trust in our prioress, Brother Thomas. She is a young woman and inexperienced in the ways of the world. She needs firm guidance in her friendships. I fear that Sister Anne may have blinded her by showing a fine face. Being a woman, Prioress Eleanor is weak and lacking in good judgement. She has been easily beguiled and cannot see the corruption in the nun’s heart.”
“I am grateful for your wise instruction, brother. Perhaps our prioress would benefit from your words of warning too.”
“Our descendant of Eve suffers much from the sin of arrogance, I fear, and shows no signs of realizing she needs guidance and the greater wisdom of Adam. After all, whom did she pick as her personal confessor? A murderer! She certainly did not consult with me on that or I would have warned her away from him. And you heard her join with our boorish and irreverent crowner in expressing some doubt that Brother John was guilty of both murders and the attack on her person. Does any of that suggest to you that the woman is rational or a good judge of character?”