"(Bell tolls)" "Veni, Sancti Spiritus" "Mentes tuorum visita" "Amen" "(Laughter)" "(Minstrel plays a jig)" "MAN:" "She's not looking very happy." "Your wife." "Imbecile!" "You stupid, witless fool!" "Grandmother, calm yourself, please!" "Our guests." " What are you doing?" "It was an accident." " Accident?" " It was my best pitcher." " I was pushed." "Your grandson..." " I never touched him." " You pushed me!" "Am I to be called a liar at my own wedding?" "That's enough!" "Four pennies will pay for your pitcher, boy." "Make good your debt." "What with?" "Mistress, please, I have no money." "Then your fee will be forfeit." "Put him out!" "MAN:" "Put him out!" "(Jeering)" "(Men laughing)" "Damn you all for whores and bastards!" "I hope your bride is poxed!" "Is this how you repay my hospitality?" "Perhaps the table could be pushed back, master." "I don't recall giving you leave to come here, Iestyn." "You have no place in these revels" "They are for family and your betters" "Or do you forget your position, journeyman?" "Walter, clear those wedding gifts before more damage is done." "Well, Daniel, if your bride makes you as happy as my Cecily has made me, you shall be a happy man indeed." " A first for you, then, Daniel." " A first?" "Well, the married woman you bed tonight will be your own." " You're unhappy as our tenant, Master Peche?" " No." "Then I should curb your imagination and keep your tongue, lest someone cut it out." "(Coins rattle)" "Come here." "Come on." "Oh, Margery." "Susanna, see where Walter's gone to." "Father?" "(Scream)" "What is it?" " What's happening?" " Where's Daniel?" "What's happened?" "What is it?" "It's your father." "Old Walter's dead" "MOB:" "Get him!" "There he is!" "(Shouting)" "Gloria Patri et Filio" "Et Spiritui Sancto" "(Shouting outside)" "Sicut erat in principio et in semper" "Et in saecula saeculorum" "Sanctuary!" "Stand off!" "Back!" "Back, I say!" "How dare you so affront the house of God." "Argh!" "Drop that dagger!" "Or court your soul's damnation!" "That bastard has killed and robbed my father!" "We have come to take him." "Father, if they have lawful complaint against this person, where is the law?" " I see no sergeant, no provost." " Surely, they will deliver him up to the law." "Yes, by way of the nearest tree." " He is ours and we will have him!" " No!" "There is no power can take this man from the sanctuary he has claimed." "Sanctuary?" "For a murderer?" "He killed my father!" "I warn you!" "This man has laid his hand upon the altar cloth." "He has claimed sanctuary and the right of sanctuary is his." "Neither you nor any others shall force him from these walls until the 40 days of his respite are over." "And I warn you, my Lord Abbot, if he takes one step outside these walls, we shall be waiting." "(Grumbling)" "Brother Prior, Brother Precentor, will you begin lauds again?" "Brother Cadfael and myself are enough, I think, to tend his needs." "They're gone." "You may get up." "What's your name, lad?" "Liliwin." "You heard what is charged against you" "Have you murdered and robbed?" "As God sees me, I have not." "How come the whole pack should be hunting you, then?" "I swear the goldsmith was hail and well last time I saw him." "What's happened since..." "I know no more than you, Brother." "You must believe me." "I have touched neither the man, nor his money." "Then so it will be found." "Master, see." "See what I've found." "Given last night's alarm, Sergeant Warden, it was the Sheriff's deputy I expected here." "My Lord Beringar is not yet returned from Maesbury." "I have sent word." "But you are satisfied these crimes were committed?" "I am." "Even now Master Aurifaber lies out of his senses." "But not dead?" "It was"Murder!" cried here at midnight." "Finding my father as we did, we believed him slain." "Even now there's no knowing how badly he's hurt." "So the person we have is accused of wounding and robbing, not of murder." "It's the Sergeant's duty to decide what charges the boy must answer, Brother, not yours." "If I may speak with him now, my Lord?" "Father, the accusers have told their story." "It's only fair the boy should tell his, just as freely." "Brother Cadfael is right." "Be about your business." "Sergeant Warden will weigh the minstrel's words with care." "DANIEL:" "Abbot Heribert, if you please." "My grandmother, also on hearing the news, fell in a seizure." "From her last fit, she has more faith in Brother Cadfael's remedies than any physician." "Go with him, Brother." "Do what you can for this woman." "Take whatever time you need." "I expect better of the Lord Abbot than to take the part of a robber and murderer." "Your son is not dead." "Either way it's a hanging matter, as well you know." "Drink." "Well, if he ran from here loaded with your goods, he brought none with him into the church." "He had time to hide his plunder." "(Coughs)" "Now, you had best listen to me very soberly." "You must learn to treat life gently and keep your temper, otherwise there'll be a third seizure." " And it may very well be your last." " I am as I am." "Yes." "I'm going to leave this flask of heart trefoil and I'll call by again tomorrow." "Now I'd better come and see your father." "Is he able to tell you what happened?" "Whether he saw the man who struck him?" "His head aches so." "He remembers nothing." "All the guests who were still here came running, and Iestyn, our journeyman, came from the undercroft, where he sleeps." "Someone cried out,"It was the minstrel's doing," and off they all went." "All the men?" "Yes." "I left Margery to watch for Father while I ran to fetch his physician." "This singing lad... he was gone a good hour before you found your father." "Yes." "Well, after he was put out, had someone seen him still loitering around?" "There was darkness enough for 1 00 loiterers." "And he did not go quite so tamely as you suppose." "Ah, words spoken in temper..." "No!" "He waited in the yard until he saw my father go into his workshop." "And then he stole in after him." " You are very sure." " I am sure." "He owes a life for it." "(Gentle hammering)" "How is it with them now, Brother?" "Oh, they'll do." "For this time." "Ah, that's well, then." "He can't remember who attacked him?" "No." "Are you sure the jongleur must be the guilty man?" "No thought of any other thief?" "I mean your father is known to be a wealthy man" "Well, there's one no further than the width of this yard I've wondered about." "What?" "Your tenant, the locksmith?" "Master Peche?" "Oh!" "No, he's a harmless soul, I should have thought." "You know your herbs and roots, Brother, but you don't know people." "Baldwin Peche is more often out carrying gossip round the town than tending his craft." "There's no sneak thievery I'd put past him." "But he was in the hall the whole time." "We were on the right trail when we set after the villain you're protecting." "WOMAN:" "Brother Cadfael!" "These are Liliwin's things." "They were forgotten when he was thrown out." "Would you take them to him?" "Er... gladly." "What will happen to him?" "I know he never harmed anyone." "You won't let them fetch him away?" "No." "He's with us now." "No-one dare touch him." "You..." "like this young man?" "He made such lovely music." "And he spoke to me gently." "And he was glad of being with me in the kitchen." "It was the best hour I've ever spent." "WOMAN:" "Rannilt!" "Run along." "Say that I kept you with questions and you knew no answers." "Some wedding night for the blushing bride, eh, Brother?" "Indeed, Master Peche." "A lucky match, mark." "Money to money." "Daniel's a fine-looking lad with a good inheritance waiting for him." "Ah, but it's the waiting that's hard to bear." "And old Juliana keeps a tight hold on her purse." "Too tight for the sort he fancies." "I'd keep your tongue within your teeth." "I take my fun where I find it, Brother." "But quietly and privately." "No harm in what does none." "(Boys laugh)" "Stop!" "If it's past saving, Brother Anselm will make a new one for you." "He'd do this for me?" "Never suppose you're friendless." "That's black ingratitude, when you have someone who stands by and won't hear a word spoken against you." "The girl called Rannilt." "You've seen her?" "She don't believe them?" "Not if all the tongues of Shrewsbury cried out against you." "She was the first girl who ever talked kindly to me." "We ate in the kitchen together." "It was the best hour of my life." "Then, for her sake, I think you best consider the half-tale you told me." "What were you doing on the doorpost of Master Walter's workshop?" "Long after you claimed that you'd made off into the night." " I never went there." " You left your mark." "A lad your size, with a bloodied head, leaned long enough against that doorpost to leave a little clot of his blood and two white flax hairs gummed into it." "Now, what passed between you?" "And this time, the truth." "I waited." "I saw him enter the shop and followed him in." "I pleaded for the fee I was promised, and he gave me a penny and I went." "I swear it." "You swore the other version, too." "I was thinking, Sister, now that we are family," "I must bear some of the burden of household duties" "A burden?" "I have never found them so." "But it is unfair for you to labour while I sit idly by." "As Daniel's wife..." "Thank you for your offer, but I am not yet so old that I cannot manage." "I didn't mean..." "Daniel... you said" "But you didn't actually see who struck you?" "Not so much as a shadow cast to give him shape and size?" "Never had a chance." "I pitched head forward into the box." "I was clean out of the world." "Well, how can you be so certain it was the minstrel?" "Ah." "Well, I'd just given him a penny not two minutes earlier, so he'd seen the coffer and what it contained." "Who else could it be?" "Is that how you reverence our holy enclave?" "Oh, pardon, Brother." "I meant no offence." "But for my living..." "Your living?" "A man facing charges such as yours must consider first whether he has a life ahead at all!" "Morning!" "Fine day for fishing." "You'll have to order the provisions with more thought to thrift." "When have I ever done anything else?" "If you'd any thought for marriage - not that any would take you - put it from your head." "There'll be no dowry made on you now." "How much is left?" "Too little to buy you a husband." "What family of hoarders have you married yourself into, girl?" "Rannilt, in God's name!" "Must you be fool enough to fret over a guilty wretch like that?" "It came over me for a minute." "I'm past it now." "I'll fetch you a fresh gown." "Never mind me." "Now, will it cure you if I let you see that the minstrel is alive and well?" "See?" "See him?" "I could go there?" "Yes." "Go - and quickly, now, before I change my mind." "Go and learn sense." "Why are you in such a hurry, child?" "Mistress Susanna gave me leave to take provisions to Liliwin the minstrel." "You may take him these also." "It would be a pity to waste them." "Charity is approved of in heaven, Rannilt." "Even to sinners." "I never struck him." "Yet they believe it, all of them." " Only, you seem to..." " No, you are not abandoned." "Maiden, you've had time enough to discharge your errand." "There can be no further stay." "She's going." "Only, give us a few moments alone together in the church... for prayer." "For prayer?" "A few moments, then." "Don't go." "Stay with me." " But the brother said..." " Look, you can..." "I'll show you a place." "I know your master's no great cook, so I've brought him dinner, if he hasn't eaten already." "That's kind, mistress, but I've not seen him since this morning." "He took his rod and line, so I fancy he's off for the day." "Well, if he's not here..." "Even a journeyman must eat, John." "I shall not always be a journeyman." "No." "I'll wait with you and then take back the bowl." "Then I'm doubly blessed, mistress." "This brooch, then." "The cost is unimportant." "My husband said I must choose a piece while he is away." "Well, a good wife should always follow her husband's advice, mistress." "Concedat nobis Dominus omnipotens" "Amen" "Fratres, sobrii estote et vigilate" "Quia adversarius vester diabolus tamquam leo rugiens" "Circuit, quaerens quem devoret" "Cui resistite fortes in fide..." "We've slept too long." "It's night." "They're singing compline." " I must go." " Not alone." "You can't leave here." "They're watching outside." "They'll take you." "(Chatter)" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Young Tom, isn't it?" "How's that sister of yours?" "Ah, Brother Oswin!" "Take care of this for me, will you?" "Er, yes, Brother Cadfael." "(Bird call)" "Enough." "Stop." "DANIEL:" "My neighbour and tenant the locksmith" "Father robbed and assaulted, and now Master Peche brought in dead." "Father Prior, we saw our townsman carried in here dead!" "No-one's seen him since yesterday" "What has happened here?" "Well, Madog found the man's boat overturned down river of the castle." "His rod and line nearby" " He knew the river from childhood." " So do many who fall victim to it" "You mustn't attribute evil to what is natural misfortune." "Then why should it crowd so on our house?" "Peche was a guest the night my father was struck down." "He discovered something." "Something the minstrel couldn't deny." "He's killed him to stop his mouth!" "The man you accuse is absolutely clear of this." "Even if it were murder, he's here in sanctuary." "He hasn't left it." "The King's officers wait out there for him if he does so." "Be ashamed to make such senseless charges!" "MAN:" "There!" "There he is - the murderer!" "(Shouting)" "Stand off!" "Stand off!" "Anyone who lays hands to this man will pass me first." "My Lord Beringar, you are ignorant as to the facts of this matter." "Not so ignorant as you suppose." "Brother Cadfael's messenger has acquainted me with what facts there are." "It ill becomes the Sheriff's deputy to stand between justice and a murderer" "For murder this is!" "And the minstrel culprit." "Sergeant Warden have my men been camped outside?" "They have, my Lord." "And of the man they accuse, no sign?" "To my knowledge, he has not been without these walls." "You have heard the Sergeant." "How can the minstrel have had a part in any man's death?" "Pardon, Brother Prior, but is it certain that this young man has remained every moment within?" "Only, recall last night." "I found no trace of him within the abbey precinct" "You see?" "The good brother says it." "He was not here." "Speak up, man." "Did you leave the abbey enclave at any time?" "No." "You were in here yesterday when you were sought?" "I hid myself." "I didn't want to be found." "Now, you have your answer." "A man penned securely in here could not have committed murder outside if murder this proves to be." "Now, go back to your crafts and leave to the law what is the law's business." "Water crowfoot... and alder." "I doubt if the water where I found him could have anchored these plants." "Could you pass me a a small bowl?" "Ah." "There, you see." "That's a flower called fox-stone." "It's the commonest of its kind, and the earliest." "But I don't recall seeing very much of that around here." "There seems to be little of the river in him." "I've known men less than an hour drowned stream for days." "Having drawn all this in, you see, he couldn't draw in water." "No wonder I couldn't get anything out of him on the riverbank." "No, the drainings seem to be..." "mud and weed, not of a drowned man." "Are you saying he didn't drown?" "But he did die in the river." "Why else would there be river weeds in his throat?" "Will you bear with me?" "I am treading as blindly as you." "For a blind man, you've not gone far astray." "Will you help me turn him on his side?" "That was never got from any floating branch." "Nor from any stone, either." "It was a blow from behind." "Just before he went into the water." "Then the charge of murder is justified?" "Against someone." "Oh, yes." "No, he was held down somewhere in the shallows, with his face pressed into the mud." "But it wasn't here, not where I pulled him ashore." "You see, there's crowfoot aplenty." "But no alder, no fox-stones." "Of course, time would be best served if we divided our labour." "Why don't you search along the town bank?" "I'll press on along here." "And remember, Madog, it's where you find all three growing together." "That's the place we're looking for." "Your master made a tidy living from his business, John." "Who will inherit?" "He'd no kin." "It was common knowledge he commended me to take the shop after him." "So you were fairly treated." "You had no quarrel with him?" "He had his faults, the same as any man." "His ale and gossip." "And where were you last evening?" "Same place I was on the night of the robbery." "Two streets from here, at home with my mother." " She will vouch for me" " What mother wouldn't?" "And Griffin?" "Where was he?" "He slept in the workshop as usual, my Lord." "He's a simple lad, but harmless." "I hear you had a visit from a maidservant yesterday." "Rannilt, was it?" "By leave of her mistress." "And Brother Jerome bade her do her errand and go." "And it's from this time that no-one saw you again till prime this morning." "You let her go rather tamely, didn't you?" "Oh, Brother, I want to tell you, but I doubt it's within your understanding." "We never intended evil, but we committed a terrible sacrilege, here in the church." "How can I tell one who has never known?" "You lay together, as lovers?" "Are we damned, Brother?" "Do you love this girl?" "Love her?" "With all my heart I love her." "She's my life's breath." "Where there is mutual love, I find it hard to consider any place too holy to house it." "Any place." "How long did you remain hidden there?" "We fell asleep." "When we roused, it was compline." "And you let her go all the way back to town at night alone?" "No." "What do you take me for?" "A bit of a rogue, but no more than most of us." "So you did slip out of here, to take Rannilt home." "You were there then outside the Aurifabers' about an hour past compline" "Did you see anything or anyone stirring about the place?" "I did see one man." "Daniel?" "That night?" "That night." "What's missing from the marriage bed that he must seek comfort elsewhere?" "There may be other reasons for leaving a new wife to lie cold." "When I spoke to Daniel, he made it no secret that he disliked Master Peche." "You found your witness to Daniel's nocturnal travels in very short order, Cadfael, and without leaving the precinct." "He got past my men, then?" "Mm." "Twice." "And that's the important thing, Hugh." "He didn't have to come back." "Well, if you do think of anything else..." "Thank you." "My husband is out on business, sir." " I'm sorry." " Well, you may well be able to speak for him." "Master Peche's death seems likely to prove no accident and we need to know what every man was doing two nights ago." "Whether he saw or heard anything that might help us lay hands on the culprit." "It was a quiet night, like any other." "Your husband had no occasion to be in the shop late or any errand outside?" "No." "We retired in good time." "Your Lordship will understand, we're only a few days married." "Then I hardly need ask if he as much as left your side that night?" "Not for a moment." "The idea never would have entered my mind had we not a witness who says he saw your husband creeping out of the house and making off in haste about an after the compline bell that night." "But, alas, more's the folly..." "not all witnesses tell the truth." "How should I know what goes on in the street after dark, or who's on the prowl when decent folk are in bed?" "You sleep in the back part of the undercroft, beneath the rear of the hall?" "The outside stairs go down to my bed, but it's about as far from the lane as you can get." "I neither see nor hear anything from there." "And at what hour did you go there, the night before Master Peche was found?" "About eight that night, as soon as my supper had settled." "You had no errands, nothing to take you out again after that?" "No, my Lord." "Tell me, Iestyn, are you content with your work here?" "You have good treatment and a fair relationship with Master Walter and his family?" "Well, it suits me well enough." "My wants are simple, thankfully." "(Door opens)" "Where have you been?" "You said an hour, not nearer three." "Why?" "What is it?" "The Sheriff's deputy has been here, asking questions of all of us." "Well, so he must." "And what, of all people, could you tell him?" "I could have told him what he asked me." "Where you were all Monday night" "But could I?" "Do I even know?" "Bad enough you left me to go with that shameless whore while her husband's away." "Margery!" "But how do I know now that's what you were about?" "A man loose in the town might not have been bustling into another woman's bed after all." "He could have been battering Baldwin Peche over the head and throwing him in the river." "You don't think that I..." "It's what they think." "And you told him that?" "God, you told him that I went out the whole night?" "No." "I did not." "I'm a loyal wife." "I told him you never left my side." "Oh, Margery..." "Margery, bless you." "He knows it's not true." "How can he if you swore..." "There's a witness saw you leave and has the hour right too." "Oh, God!" "Why did I ever go near that girl?" "I must have been mad." "I swear it was to Cecily I went." "And never..." "Never again." "Never." "Oh, help me, girl." "What am I to do?" "You stop me in broad daylight, pull me off the street and ask me to throw my good name to the four winds to save your skin?" "Are you mad?" "Hugh Beringar is a man of honour." "What you tell him will go no further." "I shall do no such thing!" "It may be my life." "I must tell him that you..." "I shall deny it." "Dare mention my name and I'll brand you a liar and bring witness enough to bear me out." " Cecily..." " Go!" "I never want to see you again." "I tell you they came to the castle this affernoon under Margery's urging, no doubt." "But his face, Cadfael." "You should have seen it." "Daniel Aurifaber, the true penitent." "But do you believe him, that he spent that night with another woman?" "You may wear the cowl now, Cadfael, but it was not always so." "You're not entirely without experience of these matters, more so than me, I sometimes think." "Margery supports him in his claim." "She says she only lied to me at first for shame of being slighted." "Well, who is this other woman, his paramour?" "He wouldn't tell me her name Only that she is married and the truth of it would be her ruin" "I think you could do worse than look to Cecily Corde." "Mm." "Peche hinted as much the last time I saw him." "What if Peche had made plain what he knew to Daniel?" "Perhaps Daniel feared being branded an adulterer and took it upon himself to stop Peche's mouth." "Oh, Margery... what should I have done without you?" "We shall not fail you." "But you must also stand by me." "Susanna has done nobly by you all these years, but she won't give up any part of the load." "Only on Monday, I offered to bring in the washing." "She cut me off sharply." "That she would do herself." "She has the keys." "She sees the store bins kept supplied." "My rights, Daniel." "I want them." "And I shall have them." "(Dull thud)" "(Dog barks)" "Morning." "(Chuckles)" "No, I wonder I shouldn't be telling you to stamp about the house all day." "Hm?" "Then perhaps you might do the opposite." "Susanna, we have been discussing matters." "You understand with our marriage there are bound to be changes." "Changes?" "You have borne the burden of the house nobly all these years since your mother died." "But now you may resign and take your leisure." "We think I should take charge of the keys now." "You're very kind, Sister, but I do not choose to quit my charge so lightly." "I've talked this over with Daniel and your father." "They agree with me." " It is my right." " She's my wife, Susanna." "This household comes to her." "Am I to be dismissed all in a moment like a thieving servant?" "I have carried you all!" "You must have known it, Susanna." "Why should you object?" "Do you think I'll surrender tamely the only reason left to me for living?" "This family has denied me other." "Madam Grandmother?" "I doubt Margery could keep so fine a table or manage the stores so well." "Few but yourself would have the oat crock half-full so late in the year." "But the household rule is owing to her, and she will have it." "Very well." "But I'll not be dismissed in the middle of my day's work." "No." "Margery shall have a full inventory tomorrow, to the last saltfish in the last barrel." "I have my pride." "Even if no other regards it." "Well, children, make yourselves content." "You have what you want." "Now, get out of my sight, all of you!" "Well... say it." "Tell me my granddaughter has been shabbily used." "No need for me to say it, since you know it for yourself." "(Rattle of pots)" "GRANDMOTHER:" "Susanna?" "Still hard at work so late?" "I give you your due." "You've managed your affairs well." "I learned from you, Grandmother." "And what did you intend to do with me now?" "A nunnery, perhaps?" "Even as I am?" "No!" "(Screams)" "Has she spoken?" "Not a word." "Cad..." "Cad..." "Peace, Juliana." "Be easy." "Cad..." "Cad... fael." "Yes, I'm here." "It was I... who bred them." "But for all that, I I would have liked to hold..." "my great-grandchild." "Pro anima fabulae tuae." "Requiem aeternam dona Julianae" "And there was no other soul stirring, then, from where you could see?" "No-one within hand's reach of her?" "Well, no." "No-one." "And after?" "We were in darkness." "Mistress Susanna went for a light and by the time she returned, they were all there, roused from their beds." "Then how did you come to see what happened, if all were abed?" "I couldn't sleep." "You were there this morning, when they turned on Mistress Susanna." "Even the old woman." "Thinking on this kept you from your sleep?" "That... and Liliwin." "Well, you need have have no fears on his account." "His spirit strengthens daily." "Don't come down to the lane with me, child." "I know my way." "Best to your mistress." "She has need of you." "Shall I fetch up your cloak?" "I'm warm enough." "You felt the need of it in the store when you were on the move, and now we sit here..." "Were you so vexed that you must wake and watch into the night for me?" "I thought you came very quickly" "Did you see and hear all?" "I wasn't eavesdropping." "Some part I couldn't help hearing." "She praised your providing." "You've hurt your hand." "It's nothing." "I caught it when I tripped over your bundle." "There was a bundle, was there?" "You noticed much, considering the fright we must have given you between us." "Are you angry?" "Tonight, but for this, I meant to quit my father's house." "Tonight God prevented, but tomorrow night I shall go." "Could misfortune alone concentrate such a volley of malice against one household?" "After four score years, I doubt if Juliana's death could be counted troublous, Hugh." "I must restrict myself to what I know and not seek mystery where none exists." "Now, Baldwin Peche was murdered." "That, at least, is fact." "You and Madog continue your search for the place?" "Today and every day till it's found." "What about you?" "Peche was known in every alehouse in Shrewsbury." "He must have been somewhere." "Is it possible he was already dead by the afternoon?" "No." "No, some fisherman or bathing child would have seen the corpse float by." "No, this vile business needs the cover of darkness." "Liliwin was abroad that night." "So too was Daniel Aurifaber!" "Not the night of his father's robbing." "If he's innocent of that crime, he's innocent of the greater evil." "The boy has lied Cadfael and more than once" "You think my trust in him misplaced?" "From experience, you are not easily deceived." "But I also know you'd seek goodness in the blackest of hearts." "Be assured, Hugh, if that boy is lying to me I shall have the truth out of him." "Even if it means his neck?" "(Children shout and laugh)" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Give me that!" "That's my coin!" "Good day, Master Boneth." "I hope we did not disturb you last night with our comings and goings." "No, no." "I am truly sorry to hear of your grandmother's passing." "She was a good age." "You have suffered more ill luck in one week than most get in a lifetime, and none of it deserved." "In this world, what we receive and what we deserve are rarely the same." "Now, if you'll pardon me, I have to make arrangements." "Good day, Master Boneth." "You have called me John." "You were journeyman then." "I am the same man, no better or worse." "You showed me kindness when I had nothing." "Now I have money and my own business." "Fate has favoured me as it hath slighted you." "I would redress the balance." "You would find me a poor catch, Master Boneth." "I have no dowry." "My heart is set on it." "As it has been since the moment I saw you." "This is the spot where the urchin fetched up." "Do you see anything of any use to you?" "All too much." "Is this the place?" "Here at the foot of their own land?" "Surely not so close to home." "It's the only spot I've found where the third witness joins the other two." "There it is." "Fox-stones and alder and crowfoot." "Is it certain?" "Under the certainty of heaven, nothing is ever certain." "But this is as near as a man may aim." "But why?" "Had Peche stolen and been found out?" "Or had he discovered too much about someone who had stolen, and been fool enough to reveal what he knew?" "God thought all." "Ferry me back, Madog." "And tell Hugh Beringar what we've found." "This comes as a surprise, Master Boneth." "You realise I'll make no settlement on her?" "Yes." "Well, don't think this will affect your rent." "You'll still be my tenant, son -in -law or not." "There, Sister." "Thank you, Margery." "I spoke with Boneth today, Susanna." "It seems you are to be married after all." "He will take you even without a dowry." "How's that?" "Does it please you?" "(Knock at door)" "Who is it?" "Who knocks at this hour?" "Oh!" "It's you, my Lord." "What brings you here?" "I would speak with your lad." "He has done no harm, I trust?" "No." "But I think he might have about him part of the key to a riddle." "This affair must be concluded as quickly as possible." "(Church bell tolls)" "When Beringar comes, you may take whatever time is needed with him." "Father, it appears that our guest in sanctuary may have had little to do with these offences." "And if he is innocent, that must be shown to the world." "It's a silver penny of the Saint Edward, my Lord." "King before the Normans came." "The moneyer was one Godesbrond." "There aren't many of his pieces to be found, and fewer still here, where it was minted." "There were a number of them listed amongst Master Walter's trove." "You say it was discovered stuck between the boards of a well bucket?" "The morning after the theft?" "Master told me not to say, John." "You may tell the Lord Beringar, Griffin." "I was up earliest." "I went to draw water, and there it was." "A great value Master said he set on it." "So well he might, boy." "But how did the coin come to be found by the river?" "So it was daylight when you first went to the Aurifaber's?" "How much of the burgage did you see?" "Well, I went to the shop and they sent me to the women in the hall." "It was they who hired me, the old woman and the young one." "And in the evening?" "I ate in the kitchen with Rannilt and I stayed there until they called me to play for'em." "And you were never down the length of the garden, or through the town wall there, down to the waterside?" "I didn't even know it went beyond the wall until the day Rannilt came here." "She told me the drying ground was beyond." "Drying ground?" "For their linen." "It was washing day, you see." "Rannilt had it all ready to hang out by mid-morning, but that day, bless her kindness, her mistress said she'd see to it and let her come to visit me." "That was, indeed, kindness." "Aye." "Rannilt usually had dinner to do and everything." "But when her mistress came in and found her crying, she sent her straight to me for comfort." "Wouldn't even let her waste a moment in fetching a fresh gown for her." "Away to your minstrel she said" "A fresh gown?" "What was wrong with that she wore?" "She'd wet it hanging out washing, and Rannilt feared she might take cold." "She took note first for my girl being sad..." "Brother Cadfael, Hugh Beringar's at the gate for you." "He said you'd be expecting him." "Bid him come through, Oswin." "I think we have words for each other." "Remember that night they were searching for Walter?" "They found him, stunned, in his shop." "Then someone - and no-one seems certain who - cried out that it must have been the jongleur who'd attacked him." "Yes, and the whole mob went haring out." "Who was left then to tend Walter and Juliana?" " Well, the women." " The women." "Of whom Margery was left to look after the victims and Susanna ran to the physician." "Is that possible?" "Whoever robbed Walter hid the treasure in the well." "Now, obviously, it couldn't stay there for ever, undetected." "It had to be retrieved, while the men were out hunting Liliwin, and placed somewhere more secure." "Only, Griffin found the coin the next morning." "Armed with this discovery, like us, Master Peche was able to reason that it must have been a woman who'd reclaimed the treasure." "If he'd been honest, he would have told Walter." "Instead, he wanted to blackmail the guilty party." "Who?" "Who kept the keys of the house?" "Who had command of all the hiding places?" "Susanna?" "LILIWIN:" "You can't mean it." "But you said, she ran for Master Walter's physician." "But did she first spend a few minutes to go to the well and place what she found there in safer hiding?" "No" "She's the only one to show Rannilt any kindness." "She let her come to me for comfort." "Susanna let her come to you so no-one would have occasion to go to the waterside, where she'd left the extortioner dead." "I cannot believe." "A woman... kill?" "You underrate Susanna." "So did her family." "And worst of all, so did Peche." ""A mere woman?"" "He expected lies, delay, pleading." "Not someone who could accept danger instantly and stamp out the threat the moment it arose." "But, Cadfael, Peche was still a man." "He could defend himself." "If he'd had expectation of attack." "Here, boy, Come on." "You stand for Peche." "I think she spoke fairly to him while she went on, laying out the washing, and then as he stood on the water's edge, with the coin in his hand," "she passed behind him and" "Yes, but there was more done than that." "Yes, something I've just learned." "Her skirt was wet." "She held him down until he smothered." "(Peche coughs and gasps)" "Thinking the river might float him away she pinned him in the water where he was till he could be conveyed elsewhere by night." "And the coin was stuck beneath his body." "Who struck down Walter and stole his treasure?" "She was vouched for all the time he was gone." "Two are implied." "One to strike, steal and hide, the other to retrieve and remove to a safer place." "One to destroy the extortioner and one to take the body away by night." "Daniel?" "It's well known that Juliana kept him short." "Juliana." ""For all that, I should have liked to hold my great-grandchild."" "Those were her dying words." "I thought she meant Margery." "Now I see..." "Of course!" "Now I see what shock caused Juliana to take seizure there upon the stairs." "The one who plotted with Susanna was no kinsman." "Nor one they would ever have admitted as kin." "But he is her lover." "More, he is the one who has got her with child." "Rannilt!" "Rannilt!" "Put up your steel, Will." "This can be resolved without bloodshed." "Master Walter!" "I'm coming!" " What is this, my Lord?" " Rannilt!" "Minstrel!" "Why have you brought him here?" "Rannilt!" "Lestyn!" "Rannilt!" "It's me" " Liliwin!" "BERINGAR:" "Look upstairs" "Can you see her?" "(Footsteps above)" "Brother Cadfael." "My daughter?" "What do you say, my Lord?" "My daughter robbed me?" "She's nowhere within, my Lord." "She was here, as always, the last to bed." "She put out the lights, as she always does, not an hour since." "She cannot be gone!" "Well, over half-full no longer, Juliana." "If she intended a long journey to take her out of our hold, where would she run?" " I would need horses, my Lord." " Father has two horses stabled over the river." " Which way?" " Through Frankwell and along the west road." "The Welshman is missing from down below." " Lestyn?" " And what little he has, gone with him." "Once into Wales, he is beyond our laws." "Susanna and Iestyn in league together?" "I won't believe it." "LILIWIN:" "She's gone" "Rannilt's gone." "I've looked everywhere." "That woman's taken her." "She has killed." "She'll kill again." "Susanna, why did you bring the girl?" "She has said things to me that she had best say to no other." "She can go with us part of the way." "There are woods enough and wild places your side of the border." "No." "After what I've done, what is there now I dare do to have you mine?" "The other was forced on you." "What loss was he?" "But not this child." "Let her make her way back now." "Where shall we be?" "Into Welsh land, safe." "They will pursue us." "My father would not stir a step for me, but for this... (Coins rattle)" " Better be sure of her silence" " No!" "I want you as you are now." "Oh, my love, my heart." "What you will." "Let her be, then." "But they will pursue us." "I can deny you nothing, not my life." "What is it?" "It's men." "They're coming here." "They know." "They can't know!" "Get up the stairs." "And take her with you." "She may mean all to us yet" "Mistress!" " Mistress, please!" " Rannilt!" "Do as your mistress bids you, girl, or I will kill you now!" "We know you there within and what you must answer for!" "Come forth or we'll hack you out with axes." "IESTYN:" "Stand back!" "I have a girl here between my hands and so sure as axe strikes at these timbers my knife slits her throat!" " What did I ever do to you?" " You fell foul!" "There's no other way out, unless he has the means to hew through a wall." " We have him secure." "We can wait." " They have Rannilt." "They're threatening her life." "Take heart, lad." "She's no use to them dead." "They'll keep her safe to bargain with." "Lestyn!" "This is Hugh Beringar." "There's no escape." "Give yourselves into my hands and look for what mercy such good sense can buy you." "Let my woman go free from here with her horse and her goods." " I will send the girl out to you unharmed." "WALTER:" "No!" "No such infamous bargain!" "Is the slut to make off into Wales with her ill-gotten gains?" "Never fear, my loving father!" "I say no just as loudly as you." "But let lestyn return to his homeland" "It is I have killed." "She lies." "I am the guilty man." "My love, they know which of us planned and which acted." "Do you think I would leave you?" " Back!" " No!" "Oh, God, if I could but reach her!" "No." "If she cries out, it means she's alive." "And if she's trying to escape, it means she's unbound." "Keep that in mind." "We have her still." "No comfort to you." "But I offer you another choice." "Take back the girl and the silver." "Give us two horses and this day free of pursuit." "My Lord..." "My Lord, that might be acceptable, if they restore my treasury." "There is a life they cannot restore." "You mistake my office, Iestyn." "Now, come down with unbloodied hands." "There's nothing better you can do" "If you want us, come and take us." "But you'll take first this girl's carcass." "Your prey, not ours." " Sergeant" " Soldier, come with me." "BERINGAR:" "lestyn!" "Show decent sense and come forth of your own will." "IESTYN:" "There's nothing but a halter for us now and well we know it" "RANNILT:" "Please let me go mistress" "Susanna?" "This is Brother Cadfael." "Come down and bring lestyn with you and I promise you your child and his shall be born..." "Child?" "...and be cared for as befits every human soul that is brought into this world." "This is not the Holy Church's child." "He belongs with me and Iestyn." "No other shall ever cradle him." "He is not wholly yours." "He is his own, your maybe child." "Why should he pay the price of your sins?" "It was not he who trampled Baldwin Peche into the mud of the Severn." "We three here together are made one." "The only trinity I acknowledge now." "There is a fourth" "She also loves." "Why destroy another pair of lives as little blessed as yourselves?" "If I must pull the roof down on myself, I will not go alone into the dark!" "Be ready to put an arrow through the hatch and whoever lurks there." "Master Goldsmith, come speak with your daughter." "Bring my father to plead with me, would you?" "Let him hear, then, what I own him." "Of all the men on earth, I hate him!" "Whore!" "You are no longer daughter of mine!" "May you be fed molten gold in hell... until your belly and throat burn into ashes!" "You'll burn long before I, you thieving slut!" "Already you are undone" "When the girl is safe we'll fire the stable and smoke you out!" "(Rannilt screams)" "Shoot!" "No!" "(lestyn sobs)" "Child..." "I promise you she'll be brought home decently." "Argh!" "And I would have taken her barefoot in her shift." "(Church bells)" "You have much improved since the first time I saw you." "The townspeople have been very generous, Anselm." "A generosity born, no doubt, of a bad conscience, but generous all the same." "I'm afraid we're without the means to match them, Brother, but here is your own rebec, and in a brand-new case" "The best present, Brother." "The best." "He won't hang, will he?" "He would have killed you, Rannilt." "But I don't want his death." "I never wanted hers." "He would have given himself up for her sake." "And she did die for him." "I saw." "We both saw." "She knew what she did." "Surely that must count." "He didn't kill anyone, and all he stole has been restored." "You can set out with quiet minds." "He'll not hang, if my voice is heard." "Did I tell them the truth, Cadfael?" "Does lestyn really have a life before him, one worth living?" "It will be a minor devotion, but, yes, he'll marry and breed yet." "And forget her?" "Have I said so?" "Time will ease his pain, but he'll carry the wound of her love to his grave." "Then perhaps he too is destined to take the cowl." "Perhaps." "I have stood on the field of battle, my armour smoking, with the blood of the fallen, and felt nothing." "Such is war's harvest." "After the first death..." "no other reaches your heart." "But Susanna..." "It should have ended in some other way." "A life was owing." "But not two!" "Not two" "Whatever she did came from something within her, which might have been best if it had not been maimed." "She was much wronged." "Old friend, I doubt even you can get Susanna into the fold among the lambs." "Now, she chose her way and it has taken her far out of the reach of man's mercy." "Oh, and now I suppose you'll tell me that God's reach is longer than man's." "It'd better be." "Otherwise we're all lost." "(Bell tolls)"