The Tavern in the Morning by Alys Clare Read Free Book Online Page B

The Abbess herself took a turn at nursing, with me and Sister Caliste, and Brother Saul relieved us all when we went to our devotions. I reckon we escape most infections, Caliste and Saul and me, because the good Lord above gives us His protection, us being in permanent contact with the sick. But the Abbess, now, she’s different. She was worn out even when she came to help us, Sir Josse, and it does seem to be the way of it, that fevers more readily strike at those whose energies are running low.’ Euphemia shook her head sadly. ‘She takes on too much, I’m always telling her. Fat lot of good it does, though, I might as well save my breath to cool my porridge.’
    ‘Sister Euphemia, she must do less,’ Josse said. ‘She was busy writing in her ledger when I went to see her just now. Can you send some capable nun in to relieve her of that, at least? Just till she’s better? There must be someone suitable.’
    ‘Course there is,’ Euphemia agreed. ‘Leave it with me, Sir Josse.’
    ‘Could it be arranged for all her duties to be taken over by others? And it might be wise to have someone sitting with her,’ he said, aware as he did so that he was robbing Helewise of her precious and, as well he knew, limited solitude. ‘To make sure she rests.’
    Euphemia shot him a look, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. ‘Aye,’ she said. ‘As I say, leave it with me.’
    He was, he reflected as he kicked Horace to a canter, quite fortunate to be making his escape. At least it wouldn’t be he who had to endure Helewise’s reaction when she learned what Josse and Euphemia had arranged for her …
    *   *   *
    He reached Tonbridge in the early evening, glad to be within its outskirts. It was now fully dark, and the temperature had dropped again. Despite his fur-lined hood, Josse’s ears were aching with cold.
    He ordered a generous supper. Not, he thought, that he had earned it; his day’s labours had got him virtually nowhere. And now there was the Abbess to worry about, in addition to everything else.
    Ah, well. At last she was in good hands.
    Not wanting to face either Mistress Anne’s questions or Tilly’s anxious eyes when he had nothing to tell them, Josse finished his supper, drained his mug of ale and retired early to bed.
    *   *   *
    Mid-morning the next day, he set out for the castle.
    It became clear, even as he approached up the steep track that led from the ford, that there were few, if any, members of the family about. The frosted ground bore little evidence of having recently been trodden, and the drawbridge had been raised halfway up. Only a thin trickle of smoke rose up from within the stout walls, and looked, Josse thought, more likely to be from an outdoor brazier than from the huge fire in some great hall’s hearth.
    In answer to Josse’s call, a man appeared at the opposite end of the drawbridge. Making no move to lower it and allow Josse to cross, he shouted out, ‘Yes?’
    ‘Is the family in residence?’ Josse shouted back.
    ‘No.’
    The man went to return inside, but Josse stopped him. ‘A moment!’
    Reluctantly the man turned round again. ‘What do you want?’
    ‘I am looking for a stranger, a nobleman, possibly a friend of the family,’ he said. ‘I believe he may be lodging with them, or at least come to visit.’
    ‘We’ve had no visitors,’ the man replied. ‘Like I says, the family’s away.’
    Where were they? Josse wondered. And what on earth had persuaded them to leave the comforts of home, in this freezing weather?
    ‘You’d be best advised to get away an’ all,’ the man was saying. ‘If you value your health, that is.’
    ‘Why?’ Josse felt a shiver of alarm run up his spine.
    ‘Sickness,’ the man said, with the self-satisfied air of one imparting news of some danger from which he feels himself immune. ‘There’s fever, down in the new Priory. Never should have built it, they shouldn’t, not down there beyond the ford, so close to