The Difficult Saint: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery by Sharan Newman Read Free Book Online Page A

knew that the final decision must rest with Agnes.
    “I understand,” Walter said. “I’ll go at once to ask her.”
    “Tell her I will pay your expenses,” Hubert said. “You and I will settle that. It’s not for her to worry about.”
    Walter was known to the nuns and admitted without question. Agnes knew him by reputation and seemed pleased to meet him. She said at once that she would be happy for his company on the road.
It did occur to him that she might not know of his friendship with Catherine and Edgar. He felt it only right to tell her. She received the news calmly enough, with only one reservation.
    “Does that affect your loyalty to me?” Agnes asked.
    “In no way,” Walter promised.
    “Then we shan’t discuss it again.” Agnes closed the subject decidedly.
    Walter was intrigued by Agnes’s decision to marry so far away. Before he left, he had to ask her why.
    “My grandfather knew Lord Gerhardt’s uncle, back when they both fought at Antioch. He thinks it will be an advantageous alliance,” she answered.
    It didn’t satisfy Walter.
    “But the language will be difficult for you,” he told her. “The Germans have different customs than ours and, what’s more, they put something in their beer that makes it bitter. But most of all, if you need help, you’ll have no kin around to stand up for you.”
    Agnes’s lips tightened. “I’m not afraid of that,” she said. “Nor of the language. If Edgar can learn French, I can certainly learn German.”
    “I’m sure you can,” Walter said. “But to be so far from family makes life doubly hard. I have no one and yet it pains me to be leaving my home, even for the Holy Land.”
    Agnes appeared insulted.
    “My reasons aren’t your concern,” she said. “And I can’t possibly get too far from my family. Once the arrangements here are made, I’ll be happy never to see them again.”
    Walter shook his head. Her words made no sense to him. “That reminds me,” he added. “I have a message from your sister. She wants to know when you wish to meet to divide your mother’s jewelry.”
    “Tell Catherine to come tomorrow so that we can make a list,” Agnes said. “I want to get this over with.”
    Edgar was waiting outside when Walter left the convent.
    “She’s beautiful,” Walter said, to no one in particular. “But not at all like Catherine.”
    “She’s as arrogant as Matilda Empress,” Edgar said. “And yet Catherine still loves her.”
    “Odd,” Walter commented. “Your wife never struck me as one
who misjudges the nature of people. Perhaps her sister is not as haughty as she appears.”
    Edgar didn’t want to argue with Walter so he said no more. The two men strolled across the bridge to the Île, stopping to look at some cloth samples and to listen a moment to a preacher who stood on a wooden box between two stalls.
    “Brothers! Heed me!” the man exhorted. “The day of Judgement is near! Mankind wallows in greed and blasphemy. Heretics and infidels walk freely through our lands. The holy city of Rome has become Sodom. The time for the cleansing is coming. Will you be among the saved?”
    Walter shook his head. “I’d like them to preach something more definite. Those signs have been around for a long time. Now, if there were an earthquake or the sun dripping blood, then I’d know that the Apocalypse was at hand.”
    “There are some that say that the fall of Edessa is a sign,” Edgar commented, his mouth full of the hot gauffre he had just bought. The honey on the pastry burned his tongue.
    “Not good enough,” Walter answered. “A pestilence, now, I’d believe that, or a rain of frogs.”
    “You’re a hard man to please, Walter,” Edgar said panting to cool his mouth. “And dangerous. The person who insists upon a sign of doom is most likely to receive one.”
    “Move away from me, then.” Walter laughed. “The lightning will probably strike any time now.”
    They meandered back across the Île de la