Read Online A Trail of Ink by Mel Starr - Free Book Online Page A

grinned.
    “Likewise. There are more stationers in Oxford than when I last resided in the town. I must copy two more lists.”
    “What do you want of me? Can’t serve with copyin .
    Arthur has many skills, but dealing with books and words on a page are not among them. I thought of another employment for him.
    “Go to Northgate Street, and perhaps the castle foregate, and keep your ears open. It seems unlikely that a despoiler of books would seek to sell them there. But I have few other plans. Perhaps a careless thief may let a word slip, and it be repeated.”
    Many days had passed since the theft. If a robber wished to sell his plunder he would surely do so straightaway, not wait near a fortnight. Or would he? I had no better notion, so Arthur set off and I went to the guest chamber to copy two more lists.
    I might have saved ink, parchment, and time. The stationers to whom I took the lists had not been presented any of the books registered, although both gave ready assurance that, should a volume from the list be offered, they would report the business to me at Canterbury Hall. I had no reason to doubt their word, but it occurred to me as I departed the second stationer on Great Bailey Street that, for a share of the profit, a man might close his eyes to the misdeeds of a felon. There was little I could do about that. No man can change the nature of another. Only the Lord Christ can do so, and then only if the one whose soul is altered be willing.

    There was again a pease pottage with leeks and maslin loaves for supper. I thought of the meal I might have enjoyed at Bampton Castle had I supped there rather than Canterbury Hall. But was I in Bampton I would not have enjoyed time and dinner with Kate Caxton. Most things worthwhile have a price.
    The Angelus Bell ringing from the Priory Church of St Frideswide awoke me next morning. The tolling had not the same effect on Arthur. The man could sleep through our Lord’s return.
    I had become accustomed to breaking my fast with cheese and a loaf fresh from the Bampton Castle oven. I did not enjoy setting about my day with an empty stomach. Arthur agreed on this matter, but while we were guests at Canterbury Hall we must observe the regimen. This was to me further proof that I had made the proper choice when I decided I would not seek a position in the Church. Although I suppose as secular clergy with my own parish I might eat when I chose.
    This day I decided to visit the monastic houses in Oxford to learn if any had recently been offered books. I sent Arthur again to the marketplace and castle foregate to listen.
    The great Benedictine House in Oxford is Gloucester College. I set my feet for Stockwell Street, and arrived as the chapel bell chimed for Terce. I waited until the service was done, then sought the college librarian. The monk in charge of the college volumes was a genial fellow, well fed, who peered at me with watery eyes made weak from much attention to his manuscripts.
    I did not think it necessary to provide such a man with a list of Wyclif’s stolen books. He would be familiar with all the missing volumes, and most assuredly his library would include the missing titles, with the possible exception of Bede’s work, which is rare and valuable.
    The fellow had been offered no books, as I expected. But he readily agreed to send word to Canterbury Hall should he be approached to buy.

    I returned to the Hall for my dinner. Arthur was there before me, and eager for his meal, which this day was not a pottage, but egg leaches for a first remove and eels baked in ginger for the second remove. This was a pleasant change from the Hall’s normal fare. Arthur approved. He grinned at me from the far end of the table, his cheeks bulging with eels. A groom at Bampton Castle might share in egg leaches, but would never enjoy eels in ginger.

I went in the afternoon to the Franciscan and Dominican Houses where friars who seek degrees at Oxford reside while at their studies.