it?”
“Yes,”
said Cadfael, “I can swear to it. The traces left are small, but even so minute
a smear of the sauce, if youput it to your lips, would bring
out a hot prickling some minutes later. I have confirmed it for myself. There
is no doubt.”
“And
Prior Robert, who ate the remainder of the bird, is live and well, God be praised.
Therefore somewhere between the abbot’s kitchen and yonder table, poison was
added to the dish. It is not a great distance, or a great time. You, fellow,
you fetch the meals from the kitchen to this house? And did so today? Did you
halt anywhere by the way? Speak to any? Set down your tray anywhere?”
“I
did not,” said Aelfric defensively. “If I delay, or the food is cold, I have to
answer for it. I do to the letter what I am supposed to do, and so I did
today.”
“And
here? What did you do with the dishes when you came in?”
“He
delivered them to me,” said Aldith, so quickly and firmly that Cadfael looked
at her with new interest. “He put down the tray on the bench by the brazier,
and I myself set the small dish on the hob to keep warm, while we two served
the main dish to our lord and lady. He told me the prior had kindly sent it for
the master. When I had served them within, we sat down in the kitchen to eat
our own meal.”
“And
none of you noticed anything wrong with the partridge? In odour or appearance?”
“It
was a very rich, spiced sauce, it had a fine smell. No, there was nothing to
notice. The master ate it and found nothing wrong until his mouth began to
prick and burn, and that was afterwards.”
“Both
scent and savour,” confirmed Cadfael, consulted with a rapid glance, “could
well be covered by such a sauce. And the amount needed would not be so great.”
“And
you…” The sergeant turned to Meurig. “You were also here? You belong to the
household?”
“Not
now,” said Meurig readily. “I come from Master Bonel’s manor, but I’m working
now for the master-carpenter Martin Bellecote, in the town. I came here today
to visit an old great-uncle of mine in the infirmary, as Brother Infirmarer
will tell you, and being about the abbey I came to visit herealso.
I came into the kitchen just when Aldith and Aelfric were about to share out
their own meal, and they bade me join them, and I did.”
“There
was enough,” said Aldith. “The abbot’s cook is generous-handed.”
“So
you were the three eating here together. And giving the little dish a stir now
and then? And within…” He passed through the doorway and looked a second time
about the debris of the table. “Master Bonel and the lady, naturally.” No, he
was not a stupid man, he could count, and he had noted the absence of one person
both from the house and from their talk, as if they were all united to smooth
the sixth trencherman out of sight. “Here are three places laid. Who was the
third?”
There
was no help for it, someone had to answer. Richildis made the best of it. With
apparently ingenuous readiness, rather as though surprised at the introduction
of an irrelevancy, she said: “My son. But he left well before my husband was
taken ill.”
“Without
finishing his dinner! If this was his place?”
“It
was,” she said with dignity, and volunteered nothing more.
“I
think, madam,” said the sergeant, with a darkly patient smile, “you had better
sit down and tell me more about this son of yours. As I have heard from Prior
Robert, your husband was by way of granting his lands to the abbey in return
for this house and guest status for the rest of his life and yours. After what
has happened here, that agreement would seem to be forcibly in abeyance, since
it is not yet sealed. Now, it would be greatly to the advantage of an heir to
those lands, supposing such to be living, to have your husband removed from
this world before the charter was ratified. Yet if there was a son of your
marriage, his
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