Read Online [Roger the Chapman 04] - The Holy Innocents by Kate Sedley - Free Book Online Page B

sure, is it, that the children were alive when he quit the house?'  
    'So Bridget Prattle and Agatha Tenter testify.' She sniffed. 'Mind you, since Master Colet dosed up the house, he's been lodging with Agatha and her mother, Dame Winifred, on the other side of the river. Make what you will of that.'  
    I made nothing of it at the moment. 'And how long was it after Master Colet returned home that the little ones could not be found?'
    'According to Bridget, he sent her to fetch them almost at once. He had something to tell them, he said. She went upstairs, but.., they weren't there. At first, of course, she thought they were simply hiding, in order to tease her. But though she searched everywhere, there was no trace of them.
    And no one ever saw those two little innocents alive again.' Just at that moment, the bell began to toll for curfew.

    I rose to my feet with the deepest reluctance.
    'I must go,' I said. 'I've promised Master Oliver Cozin that I'll care for the house tonight, and I should be failing in my duty if I were to absent myself any longer. A pity. I should have liked to hear more.'
    The landlady accompanied me to the ale-house door.
    'Don't fret. I could tell you little else than what I've told you already. Witchcraft it was, and Eudo Colet at the bottom of it. But you say you've met Grizelda. Ask her if you wish to know anything further. She was more nearly concerned than anyone, and can give you details. So can Master Cozin and his brother, the lawyer, who's been staying with him these three weeks past. Oliver Cozin lives in Exeter, but was always Sir Jasper's friend and attorney, and has continued to manage all legal matters for Rosamund since her father's death. Including the drawing up of her will!' My hostess tapped the side of her nose significantly. 'There isn't much happens in Totnes but what I get to hear of it, one way or another.'  
    I stepped into the street. The sun had vanished from the western sky, staining the clouds red with its dying rays. The gates of the town were by now fast shut and the men of the Watch were collecting their lanterns from the castle guardroom before setting out on their first patrol. I let myself into the empty house, which was my home for the night, and longer if I wanted. The musty smell rose up to greet me, and, as I closed and locked the door behind me, the silence gathered, soft and menacing.
    I no longer had any doubt why my footsteps had been directed towards Tomes, nor what was required of me; but, for once, I raised no objections, nor did I try to argue with God. The killing of young children would, I hope, always have been the worst of crimes to me; but now that I was myself a father, now that I had held my own child in my arms, felt her milky-scented warmth close to my breast, it was a thousand times more terrible. Whoever was responsible for turning Andrew and Mary Skelton loose in the woods to be killed by the outlaws, was as guilty of their deaths as that set of murdering ruffians who had passed me at dawn this morning.
    I walked along the passage, unlocked the door' at the far end and crossed the dark and empty courtyard to the kitchen.
    There, after some searching, I found a bundle of tallow candles on a shelf; just as Master Cozin had told me I should. I also discovered a candle-holder, then groped around in the darkness for a tinder-box. When this proved elusive, I returned to the downstairs parlour and used the one which I always carried with me, in my pack. The fragile golden glow of the candle-flame spread slowly across the room, bringing shadows edging out of their corners like velvet-footed, nocturnal beasts of prey.
    The candle in one hand and my cudgel in the other, I mounted the stairs to the second storey, my heart beating rapidly. From up here, if the inn's landlady were to be believed, on a winter's morning three months ago, two children had quit the house without anyone being any the wiser. As yet, my information was incomplete, and there