offered but three shillings gersom to Father Thomas.”
“I’m surprised he could afford even that.”
“Said as how I’d enough land an’ was takin’ food from ’is table.”
“But all this was near two years in the past, was it not?”
“Aye, ’bout that.”
“Atte Bridge waited two years to vent his anger?”
“Nay, ’e’s been at me since, but nothin’ I could prove to the vicars. Lost two lambs last year. Seen ’em born an’ two days later they was gone.”
“Perhaps some beast carried them off?”
“Perhaps. But no fox will take a lamb, be there an angry ewe about. An’ someone breaks into me barn at night. Things go missin’: harness for the oxen, an iron spade, such like.”
“Is it possible some other did these thefts?”
“It is, but I’m thinkin’ there will be no more, now Thomas atte Bridge lies in a grave at Cow-Leys Corner.”
I agreed that cessation of these misfortunes would point to Thomas atte Bridge as the source, bid farewell to Philip and Amabil, and set out for Galen House. I had found another man pleased that Thomas atte Bridge lay in his grave. But did he put him there?
Chapter 5
I found Kate munching contentedly upon a maslin loaf and was pleased to see her do so.
“Your appetite has returned?”
“Some. Not in the morn, nor do I pine for roasted meat. But a piece of fish or a custard is pleasing, and this loaf suits me very well.”
It had been three months and a few days since I met Kate, her father, and the wedding party at the porch of the Church of St Beornwald. There Father Thomas made us husband and wife, and I gave to Kate a golden ring set with an emerald, which I had purchased from a goldsmith on Oxford High Street. All know emeralds may ward off illness. I would have been better pleased to wed Kate sooner, but Holy Church forbids marriage during Advent and the twelve days of Christmas. Why this must be so I do not understand. The birth of the Lord Christ is cause for much joy and celebration, as is a wedding. The bishops surely have an answer to this, but there are none in Bampton or Oxford to ask.
“The herbs you took to the sufferer in the Weald… will they ease him?”
“As much as can be. I can diminish a man’s pain, but I cannot remove it wholly.”
“And the man who attacked him, is he known?”
“The son believes so: Thomas atte Bridge.”
Kate was silent, chewing thoughtfully upon the last crust of her loaf. She swallowed and spoke.
“There is no shortage of folk in Bampton and the Weald with cause to hate the man.”
“True. Hubert Shillside would have faced him over Alice atte Bridge’s dower lands, did he yet live. Peter Carpenter’s daughter was ravished, and Arnulf Mannyng has suffered theft and the beating of his father at Thomas atte Bridge’s hands, so he believes.”
“Three men with a grudge against atte Bridge,” Kate mused. “You think there are more?”
“Likely so.”
My apprehension was accurate, as I soon learned.
Two days later I determined to travel to Alvescot where I might learn from Gerard the verderer the condition of Lord Gilbert’s forests now that winter was past. I did not expect to discover anything troubling. Gerard has served Lord Gilbert for many years and knows his business, although his sons and nephew do the work now under his guidance, crippled as he is since the blow to his skull.
At the marshalsea I ordered Bruce saddled and made ready. I might have walked, but I am grown fond of the old horse which carries me about the countryside and I believe the beast enjoys escaping the stable.
The way to Alvescot leads past Cow-Leys Corner. As I passed the tree where Thomas atte Bridge hung, my thoughts drifted from forest management to death. I had convinced myself that a journey to Alvescot was my duty, but was this so? Perhaps my travel was but an escape from confronting three men who had reason to murder Thomas atte Bridge. Indeed, if Hubert or Peter or Arnulf was guilty, I had
“I’m surprised he could afford even that.”
“Said as how I’d enough land an’ was takin’ food from ’is table.”
“But all this was near two years in the past, was it not?”
“Aye, ’bout that.”
“Atte Bridge waited two years to vent his anger?”
“Nay, ’e’s been at me since, but nothin’ I could prove to the vicars. Lost two lambs last year. Seen ’em born an’ two days later they was gone.”
“Perhaps some beast carried them off?”
“Perhaps. But no fox will take a lamb, be there an angry ewe about. An’ someone breaks into me barn at night. Things go missin’: harness for the oxen, an iron spade, such like.”
“Is it possible some other did these thefts?”
“It is, but I’m thinkin’ there will be no more, now Thomas atte Bridge lies in a grave at Cow-Leys Corner.”
I agreed that cessation of these misfortunes would point to Thomas atte Bridge as the source, bid farewell to Philip and Amabil, and set out for Galen House. I had found another man pleased that Thomas atte Bridge lay in his grave. But did he put him there?
Chapter 5
I found Kate munching contentedly upon a maslin loaf and was pleased to see her do so.
“Your appetite has returned?”
“Some. Not in the morn, nor do I pine for roasted meat. But a piece of fish or a custard is pleasing, and this loaf suits me very well.”
It had been three months and a few days since I met Kate, her father, and the wedding party at the porch of the Church of St Beornwald. There Father Thomas made us husband and wife, and I gave to Kate a golden ring set with an emerald, which I had purchased from a goldsmith on Oxford High Street. All know emeralds may ward off illness. I would have been better pleased to wed Kate sooner, but Holy Church forbids marriage during Advent and the twelve days of Christmas. Why this must be so I do not understand. The birth of the Lord Christ is cause for much joy and celebration, as is a wedding. The bishops surely have an answer to this, but there are none in Bampton or Oxford to ask.
“The herbs you took to the sufferer in the Weald… will they ease him?”
“As much as can be. I can diminish a man’s pain, but I cannot remove it wholly.”
“And the man who attacked him, is he known?”
“The son believes so: Thomas atte Bridge.”
Kate was silent, chewing thoughtfully upon the last crust of her loaf. She swallowed and spoke.
“There is no shortage of folk in Bampton and the Weald with cause to hate the man.”
“True. Hubert Shillside would have faced him over Alice atte Bridge’s dower lands, did he yet live. Peter Carpenter’s daughter was ravished, and Arnulf Mannyng has suffered theft and the beating of his father at Thomas atte Bridge’s hands, so he believes.”
“Three men with a grudge against atte Bridge,” Kate mused. “You think there are more?”
“Likely so.”
My apprehension was accurate, as I soon learned.
Two days later I determined to travel to Alvescot where I might learn from Gerard the verderer the condition of Lord Gilbert’s forests now that winter was past. I did not expect to discover anything troubling. Gerard has served Lord Gilbert for many years and knows his business, although his sons and nephew do the work now under his guidance, crippled as he is since the blow to his skull.
At the marshalsea I ordered Bruce saddled and made ready. I might have walked, but I am grown fond of the old horse which carries me about the countryside and I believe the beast enjoys escaping the stable.
The way to Alvescot leads past Cow-Leys Corner. As I passed the tree where Thomas atte Bridge hung, my thoughts drifted from forest management to death. I had convinced myself that a journey to Alvescot was my duty, but was this so? Perhaps my travel was but an escape from confronting three men who had reason to murder Thomas atte Bridge. Indeed, if Hubert or Peter or Arnulf was guilty, I had
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