The Devils Novice by Ellis Peters Read Free Book Online Page B

should be received, at his own earnest wish, into
the cloister. Post hoc is not propter hoc, however. And in any
case, what connection could there possibly be between one man’s sudden
discovery that he felt a vocation, and another man’s overnight stay and morning
departure? “Canon Eluard knew he would make one of his halts there? The kinship
was known?”
    “Both
the kinship and his intent, yes, known both to Bishop Henry and to Eluard. The
whole manor saw him come, and have told freely how he was entertained there.
The whole manor, or very near, saw him off on his journey next morning. Aspley
and his steward rode the first mile with him, with the household and half the
neighbours to see them go. No question, he left there whole and brisk and
well-mounted.”
    “How
far to his next night’s lodging? And was he expected there?” For if he had
announced his coming, then someone should have been enquiring for him long
since.
    “According
to Aspley, he intended one more halt at Whitchurch, a good halfway to his
destination, but he knew he could find easy lodging there and had not sent word
before. There’s no trace to be found of him there, no one saw or heard of him.”
    “So
between here and Whitchurch the man is lost?”
    “Unless
he changed his plans and his route, for which, God knows, there could be
reasons, even here in my writ,” said Hugh ruefully, “though I hope it is not
so. We keep the best order anywhere in this realm, or so I claim, challenge me
who will, but even so I doubt it good enough to make passage safe everywhere.
He may have heard something that caused him to turn aside. But the bleak truth
of it is, he’s lost. And all too long!”
    “And
Canon Eluard wants him found?”
    “Dead
or alive,” said Hugh grimly. “For so will Henry want him found, and an account
paid by someone for his price, for he valued him.”
    “And
the search is laid upon you?” said Cadfael.
    “Not
in such short terms, no. Eluard is a fair-minded man, he takes a part of the
load upon him, and doesn’t grudge. But this shire is my business, under the
sheriff, and I pick up my share of the burden. Here is a scholar and a cleric
vanished where my writ runs. That I do not like,” said Hugh, in the ominously
soft voice that had a silver lustre about it like bared steel.
    Cadfael
came to the question that was uppermost in his mind. “And why, then, having the
witness of Aspley and all his house at his disposal, did Canon Eluard feel it
needful to turn back these few miles to Shrewsbury?” But already he knew the
answer.
    “Because,
my friend, you have here the younger son of that house, new in his novitiate.
He is thorough, this Canon Eluard. He wants word from even the stray from that
tribe. Who knows which of all that manor may not have noticed the one thing
needful?”
    It
was a piercing thought; it stuck in Cadfael’s mind, quivering like a dart. Who
knows, indeed? “He has not questioned the boy yet?”
    “No,
he would not disrupt the evening offices for such a matter—nor his good supper,
either,” added Hugh with a brief grin. “But tomorrow he’ll have him into the
guests parlour and go over the affair with him, before he goes on southward to
join the king at Westminster, and prompt him to go and make sure of Chester and
Roumare, while he can.”
    “And
you will be present at that meeting,” said Cadfael with certainty.
    “I
shall be present. I need to know whatever any man can tell me to the point, if
a man has vanished by foul means within my jurisdiction. This is now as much my
business as it is Eluard’s.”
    “You’ll
tell me,” said Cadfael confidently, “what the lad has to say, and how he bears
himself?”
    “I’ll
tell you,” said Hugh, and rose to take his leave.
    As
it turned out, Meriet bore himself with stoical calm during that interview in
the parlour, in the presence of Abbot Radulfus, Canon Eluard and Hugh Beringar,