Wine of Violence by Priscilla Royal Read Free Book Online

but instead of looking to either Theobald or Simeon for direction, he turned to her. Perhaps, she thought with mild relief, she would not have to reeducate the entire priory.
     
    "I have some questions before you bring him in. I was unaware we were receiving another priest; therefore, I must know something of his background and why he was sent here before I agree to his assignment as the spiritual advisor to my nuns and the afflicted. It would be discourteous to discuss this in front of him. We shall do so now."
     
    Sister Ruth's eyes widened.
     
    Simeon coughed and looked quickly in the direction of Theobald.
     
    The prior nodded.
     
    The interchange was not lost on Eleanor.
     
    "In brief then, my lady," Simeon said, "Brother Thomas has been sent by our English administrative community at Grove-bury. Beyond that, we know little more except that his appointment to Tyndal has the approval of our Abbess at Fontevraud." He smiled. "As yours has as well."
     
    Eleanor did not take the bait and said nothing. The silence grew long and tense as she waited for the receiver to give her the little more information she should have as head of the priory.
     
    Simeon looked at Theobald, his forehead furrowed with irritation. Perhaps the receiver did not want to lose this battle of wills to a woman, but Eleanor noted that the prior gave him no support. Instead, Theobald looked away, leaving Simeon to flounder on his own.
     
    Simeon cleared his throat and continued with some degree of dignity. "We had requested an additional chaplain, a young man we hoped. Many of our priests, poor Brother Rupert among them, are aging and no longer able to perform all their duties. Our few novices are too young."
     
    Grovebury, a tiny Fontevraud priory to the east of Amesbury, often provided monks for administrative help to the English houses of the Order. That connection alone would be sufficient recommendation to accept the new priest. The specific approval of the Abbess should suggest even higher merit, Eleanor thought, but as you well noted with such sarcastic tone, good brother, I received the same approval. How competent has that made me in the eyes of those here? The young priest's credentials were indeed all too sketchy.
     
    The problem of qualifications aside, what troubled her even more was the lack of sense in what Simeon had just said to her. Although Brother Rupert had that frail look not unusual amongst those who fasted often, she had not noted any remarkable physical weakness in him. That was the first inconsistency. Moreover, even if one were to assume he was far weaker than he had appeared and so advanced in age that he no longer had the energy to perform Mass or even hear confessions, how could anyone conclude that he burned with such uncontrollable lust that he would castrate himself? The whole thing was just ridiculous. It gave her no great peace of mind to know she had monks in charge of accounts and the estates who could reason no better than that.
     
    She ground her teeth in frustration. The inability of either the prior or his receiver to think logically should be the least of her worries. She would, after all, be taking over the management of the priory herself. Of greater concern was the fact that she was not just starting her tenure with potentially incompetent monks, an inexperienced priest, and no support from her priory, she had a murdered priest in her cloister garth. A murderer had been able to enter both the outer court and the locked nuns' quarters without being seen. The latter fact was especially disturbing.
     
    She prayed the crowner would prove more competent than at least two of the people in the room with her and that he would capture the perpetrator quickly. She already had more to deal with than the average new prioress without having to worry about a murderer on the loose.
     
    "Very well, then," she said, looking at each man until he shifted uncomfortably. "Let us see this young priest who will serve my