‘But he would like to have his son by him in his old age?’
‘I don’t know.’ I shrugged. ‘I always felt he was ashamed of me. Yet he seems pleased to see me when I visit, which I do not do enough.’
She was silent a moment, then asked quietly, ‘The Wentworth girl comes back before the judge this week, does she not?’
‘On Thursday the tenth. She is very ill and may not last till then.’
‘Poor Matthew. How you take the sufferings of others on yourself.’ She laid her hand on mine again and this time did not move it. I turned to her and she inclined her head towards me. Then she jerked away as footsteps sounded in the yard. I turned to see Barak standing with the steward, cap in hand. The steward’s face was impassive but Barak was grinning broadly.
‘Come at a bad time, have I?’ he asked.
Lady Honor stood, her face dark with anger. ‘Matthew, do you know this fellow?’
I rose too. ‘This is Jack Barak,’ I said hastily. ‘He is assisting me. He works for Lord Cromwell.’
‘Then the earl should teach him some manners.’ She rounded on him. ‘How dare you burst in on us like this? Do you not know how to comport yourself in a lady’s house?’
Barak reddened too, his eyes angry. ‘I have a message for Master ,Shardlake from Lord Cromwell.’
‘Have you never been told to bow to a lady? And what is the matter with your head? Do you have nits? You had better not spread them in my house.’ She spoke with a harshness I had never heard from her, but Barak had been extremely discourteous.
‘I am sorry, Lady Honor,’ I said quickly. ‘Perhaps we should withdraw.’ I took a step away, then gasped as my head swam. My legs seemed suddenly heavy and I half-fell, half-sat on the bench again. Lady Honor’s face was at once full of concern.
‘Matthew, what is it?’
I struggled up, though my head still swam. ‘I am sorry—the heat—’
‘Come inside,’ she said. ‘You,’ she snapped at Barak, ‘help your master. This is your fault.’
Barak gave her a hard look but put my arm round his shoulder and helped me into the parlour, then sat me on a pile of cushions. Lady Honor waved him away. He gave her another look, but left the room.
‘I am sorry. A moment’s weakness—’ I struggled to get up. What a fool I must look. Damn Barak, if he had not come then—
Lady Honor stepped to a cabinet. I heard her pour some liquid into a glass. She crossed and knelt beside me, smiling gently. ‘I have some aqua vitae here, my apothecary prescribes it for faintness.’
‘Aqua vitae?’ I laughed as I took the delicate little glass she gave me.
‘You have heard of it?’
‘Oh, yes.’ I took a cautious sip of the colourless liquid. It burned, but far less than the Polish stuff. It seemed to reawaken me. ‘Thank you,’ I said.
She looked at me thoughtfully. ‘I think you have had much to try you, it has brought you low. Who is that creature?’
‘Lord Cromwell has set him to work with me on the Greek Fire matter. He lacks grace, I fear.’ I stood up, ashamed at my weakness. ‘Lady Honor, I must go. If Barak has a message from the earl I must attend to it.’
‘Come again soon,’ she said, ‘to dinner. Just the two of us. No Marchamount, no duke, no Barak.’ She smiled.
‘I should like that, Lady Honor.’
‘Honor will do.’
We stood facing each other a moment. I was tempted to lean forward and kiss her, but I merely bowed and left the room. Outside I cursed myself for my cowardice.
Barak was standing glowering in the hall. I led the way out and we stood waiting while the horses were brought round.
‘What was the message?’ I asked curtly.
‘He’s brought the meeting forward, to eleven o’clock.’
‘Was that all? It could have waited.’
‘A message from the earl could have waited? I think not. What did Lady Honor tell you, by the way?’
‘She confirmed the Duke of Norfolk has sought her for his mistress; she didn’t want to talk about it, felt it would have been less dishonourable to her if the information was forced from her by Cromwell.’
He grunted. ‘It wasted our time.’
‘It was fealty to her family.’
‘You are sure she knows no more?’
‘She knows nothing more than what she has told me before. I am convinced of that now.’
‘Rude woman,’ he said.
God’s death,’ I snapped, ‘you are a churl. You enjoy mocking your betters, don’t you? Refinement seems a crime in your eyes.’
‘She’s got haughty ways and a vile tongue,’ Barak said, ‘like all her class. People like her grow rich on the sweat of those who toil on their lands. Put her out to fend for herself and she wouldn’t last a week.’ He smiled bitterly. ‘They use honeyed words when it suits them, but see how they address their inferiors and you divine their true natures.’
‘Oh, you are a bitter man, Jack Barak,’ I said. ‘Your time in the gutter has soured you like an old apple. She has more care for the people around her than you do.’
‘And you?’ he asked unexpectedly. ‘Do you have a care for your servants?’
I laughed. ‘You are hardly a servant. If you were I should have put you out long ago.’
‘I did not mean me. I mean your clerk John Skelly. Has it never occurred to you why his copying is so bad, why he works with a candle?’
‘What on earth do you mean?’
‘The man is half blind.’
‘What?’
‘He can hardly see. I noticed it the first time I saw him. He’s afraid to say anything lest you put him on the street. But you didn’t notice, did you? Neither you nor your holy friend, Brother Wheelwright.’
I stared at him, realizing that if Skelly could not see properly that would explain all his inefficiencies. ‘I - I did not think—’
‘No. He was beneath notice,’ Barak replied bitterly. He jammed his cap back on his head as a boy appeared, leading the horses. ‘Well, where to now?’ he said. ‘Did the fine lady tell you anything new?’
‘No. Whatever Marchamount is hiding, I think perhaps it is now time to leave the earl to pressure him.’
Barak grunted. ‘You’re seeing sense at last.’
Chapter Thirty-eight
WHEN WE REACHED HOME I felt faint again as I dismounted. I almost fell down in the yard. I leaned against the horse, taking deep breaths. Barak looked at me.
‘You all right?’
‘Yes,’ I replied curtly. ‘But I think I’ll lie down for a while.’
‘What about Marchamount? Shall I send word to the earl, get him brought in for questioning?’
‘Yes. But to Cromwell’s house, not the Tower. Being ordered there should be enough to make him talk and it will keep the matter privy.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll ride on to Whitehall, then. I’ll be back later. Don’t go out till I return, it may not be safe.’
I nodded and went indoors to ask Joan to get me some bread and cheese and a jug of beer. I took them up to my room. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I put my hand on my brow and was relieved to find no sign of fever. My faintness must have been due to the strain of the last two weeks, coupled with constant chasing across London in this endless, burning heat. I would not let infirmity make a victim of me. Four more days and everything would be settled one way or another. And then - then I would see Lady Honor again, and next time I would not play the coward. All the questions surrounding her had been answered, yet still she wanted to know me. I had felt it, more strongly than ever on the bench; she cared for me as I did for her. Curse Barak for his interruption.
My burnt arm was stinging. I removed the bandage and applied some of Guy’s oil to the red, puckered skin, shuddering as I remembered the flame licking at it. The kiss of fire so light and agonizing. I bound my arm up again and lay back on the bed.
I fell asleep at once and again slept for several hours, this time without dream
s. I woke to find the air mercifully cooler, long shadows stealing across the garden. My head felt clearer and I lay thinking about what Barak had said about John Skelly, how it made sense. I had been angry with Skelly because I thought him careless, unworthy of the kindness I had shown him, while all the time - I thought of his tired red eyes looking up at me, and shook my head.
It occurred to me that perhaps his problem could be solved with spectacles. More and more people wore them, the king himself it was said. I could buy him a pair. I nodded happily at the thought of telling Barak that. Then I frowned. Why should I tell him anything? What did his good opinion matter to me? With luck our association would soon be over and I should have no more of his brutal crudity or inconstant moods. I smiled at the memory of how Lady Honor had spoken to him: few people could have put Barak in his place, yet she had.
His place. My conscience assailed me again as I remembered saying that if he worked for me I would have sacked him. Yet then I should have lost a man of brains and courage, for all his impudence, a man who had saved my life. And whom I needed to go down the Wentworths’ well tonight.
I heaved myself up and descended the stairs. I found Barak in the kitchen, washing the chain that held his mezuzah with vinegar. The little gold tablet itself lay on the kitchen table. He gave me a sharp look; he was still angry with me.
‘Where’s Joan?’ I asked.
‘Having a rest before preparing supper. Even servants need a rest,’ he added pointedly.
I sat opposite him. ‘I have been thinking about Skelly. I shall take him to Guy, see if there may be spectacles he can prescribe that may help his sight.’
Barak stared at me with his sharp eyes. ‘Skelly wouldn’t be able to afford spectacles.’
‘I shall pay.’
He grunted. ‘And if spectacles won’t help him? Will you put him out?’
‘I shall have to. God’s death, Barak, I have to turn a profit. I’d see if there are any charitable foundations that could help him. Come, let’s not quarrel.’
He grunted. ‘Yes, you want me to go down that well tonight, don’t you?’
‘If you will.’
‘I said I would.’ He replaced the mezuzah round his neck.
‘Did you get the message to Cromwell?’
‘I left it with Grey. He made a tart comment about how I kept asking the earl to do things when it ought to be the other way round.’
I smiled. ‘He’s a sober old fellow. You probably rub him up the wrong way.’
‘Like Lady Honor.’ He gave me a direct look. ‘But are you sure the lady is all she seems? Can you see her clearly?’
‘I try to.’ I frowned. ‘Yes, I believe so. I think we can clear both her and the duke from our calculations: that was another wrong trail.’ I studied him. ‘Why do you dislike her, Barak?’
He shrugged. ‘People with that much pride in rank bring bad luck to those around them. I’ve seen how these fine families spit and scratch at each other around the court. It is dangerous to get caught in her wake. But never mind that. So she is no longer a suspect. Nor, it seems, are Bealknap and Rich.’
‘Not necessarily. We should wait and see what Cromwell says about them. I hope he can make Marchamount talk.’
‘He can make anyone talk. He’ll show him the rack if he won’t cooperate.’
‘March amount has courage under his pomposity. He’s come far from nothing.’
Barak shrugged. ‘If he’s defiant he’ll pay the consequences.’
We stopped talking as footsteps sounded on the stairs. Joan appeared and we went through to the parlour while she prepared supper. It was starting to get dark.
‘Are you fit to go to the well after we have eaten?’
‘Ay,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what came over me earlier. Heat maybe, the strain of it all.’ I looked at him. ‘But I shall hold fast. Let us go tonight, then perhaps at least we shall have one thing solved.’
ONCE AGAIN WE WALKED UP Budge Row and down the dark little alley. A new lock had been put on the door to the orchard, but Barak broke it open as casually as before. We slipped through the trees to the Wentworths’ wall. Again Barak made a stirrup of his hands and I climbed up, grasping the top of the wall, to take a look. I set my teeth as my back protested.
There was someone in the garden. I could see two dim figures walking there, one holding a lamp. There was a faint murmur of voices. It was Needler and Joseph’s mother. I thought an old woman walking with a stick could easily slip in the gloom, then remembered that light or dark made no difference to her. I signed to Barak not to move and stood there uncomfortably, my foot in his hands and my arms on the wall. I lowered my head so that my pale face would be concealed and waited as the pair came closer. My dark hair, I was sure, would be invisible.
‘She was screaming at me like the devil,’ I caught Needler saying. ‘I can’t manage her any more. She’s terrified under that pert exterior and so’s Avice.’
The old woman sighed. ‘I must tighten the girls’ reins.’ They were very close now, but I took the risk of raising my head and peeping at their faces. Needler’s heavy features looked worried. The old woman’s face, like a demon from a painting of hell in the flickering lamplight, wore a frown.
‘We must help them, David—’ she said, then stopped suddenly. She seemed to cock her head. I remembered the blind often have remarkable hearing.
‘What is it?’ Needler asked sharply.
‘Nothing. A fox perhaps.’ To my relief they turned and walked back to the house. I heard no more of what they said. A door shut in the distance and shortly afterwards lights were extinguished all over the house. I stumbled down again. Barak stood rubbing his hands.
‘God’s death,’ he whispered, ‘you’ve near dislocated my wrists.’
‘I’m sorry, but I couldn’t move. The old beldame heard something as it was.’
‘What in God’s name was she doing in the garden in the dark?’
‘She was with the steward. They wanted to talk alone, I think. I only caught a snatch of what they said. Something to do with the two girls being frightened.’
We waited for a while. An owl swooped down from a tree in the orchard, a white ghostly shape, and some small creature in the long grass screamed as it was carried off. At length I climbed the wall again. The lights were out, the garden silent, the well a dim shape in the moonlight.
‘There’s no sign of the dogs,’ I said.
Barak hauled himself up beside me. ‘That’s strange. Surely if you’d had people trying to break in you’d loose the dogs at night?’
‘I agree, but it seems they haven’t.’
Barak sat astride the wall and pulled a couple of greasy pieces of meat wrapped in paper from his satchel. He threw them on the lawn, then tossed a stone he had found somewhere at the tree. It bounced off with a clack.
‘The Moor said if a dog ate that it’d be asleep in minutes,’ he whispered.
‘You got that from Guy?’
‘Ay. I told him the story yesterday while you were asleep. I thought he’d know of something.’ He grinned. ‘I found I got on well with the Moor on better acquaintance.’
I looked out over the silent lawn. ‘Still no dogs.’
He scratched his chin. ‘What say we risk it?’
I looked at the blank windows of the house. ‘So long as we keep an eye out.’
He looked at me. ‘You all right?’
‘Yes, yes!’
‘Right then, down we go.’
Barak leapt easily onto the lawn and I followed, wincing at the jarring my spine took as I landed. I watched the house as Barak fetched his hunks of meat and replaced them in his knapsack.
‘Best not to leave these, or they’ll know someone’s been here.’
He removed the padlocks from the well, then I helped him off with the lid. The smell was fainter now, but the sight of that black opening still made my stomach clench. Barak unfurled his rope ladder and climbed quickly down. I kept glancing over at the hous
e. For a moment I thought I saw a movement, a deeper blackness, at one of the upper windows, but when I looked again I saw nothing.
This time Barak managed to light his candle the first time. I turned from the house as a faint white glow lit the well and leaned carefully over the side. It was shallower than I had expected, no more than twenty feet. It was weird to see Barak standing at the bottom of that long circular hollow. He was crouching, looking at a huddle of dark shapes. He explored them with his hands. This time he was quite silent. I could not see his face.
‘What is it?’ I whispered.
He looked up at me, shadows from the candle making eerie shapes on his face. ‘Animals. There’s a cat here, a couple of dogs.’ He bent down again. ‘Shit, there’s horrible things been done to them - the cat’s had its eyes put out. This is where that neighbour’s retriever went - Jesu, it’s been hanged.’ He half-turned and examined a larger shape. This time he did cry out, an abrupt shout that echoed off the bricks.
‘What? What is it?’
‘I’m coming up,’ he said abruptly. ‘For God’s sake, keep watch on the house.’
He snuffed out the candle and clambered up again. I peered at the house, my heart beating so fast it made my vision judder. All remained dark and silent. Barak clambered over the top of the well. His eyes were wide.
‘Help me get the well cap back on,’ he breathed. ‘We have to get out of here.’
We slid the cap back and Barak replaced the locks. With a last look at the silent house we ran back to the wall and clambered over. Back in the orchard, Barak leaned against a tree. He stared at me, then gulped.
‘Someone in that house has been torturing animals. But not just animals. There’s a little boy down there, a ragged boy of about seven. He’s been - ’ he broke off’—you don’t want to know, but he’s dead and he didn’t die quick.’
‘The mad girl’s brother,’ I breathed. ‘The girl that was put in Elizabeth’s cell.’
‘Perhaps. Whoever took him probably thought a beggar boy wouldn’t be missed, didn’t matter.’ He blew out his cheeks. ‘It scared me, I’ll admit. I thought, if whoever did that came I would be helpless down there. I had to get out.’ His voice trembled.