‘The look on his face was a joy to behold, Drogo,’ he recalled.
‘I’m sure it was, my lord.’
‘Richard de Fontenel thought that he’d take me by surprise and instead he found us ready and waiting. We’d even alerted the lord sheriff to the prospect of trouble.’
‘Forewarned is forearmed,’ said his steward.
‘Yes, your man did well.’
‘That’s what I told him.’
‘Give him a just reward.’
‘I already have, my lord. He earned it.’
‘It’s just as well the lord Richard is too stupid to realise that we have a spy in his house. You picked exactly the right man for the job, Drogo.’
‘He misses nothing.’
‘The fellow has been worth his weight in gold.’
‘Just like those two elephants.’
They shared a throaty laugh, then Livarot became serious. He beckoned his companion closer. After biting hungrily at a leg of chicken, he tossed it aside, chewed noisily and spoke through a full mouth. ‘I want those miniature elephants.’
‘Why, my lord?’
‘Never you mind. Just get them for me.’
‘But how?’ said Drogo, alarmed. ‘I’ve no idea where they are.’
‘Then you’ll have to conduct a search, won’t you? It’s crucial that I get my hands on them before the lord Richard does. Then I can put them to the purpose for which he acquired them,’ said Livarot, swallowing the last of the chicken. ‘That will give me the utmost satisfaction. To use his own bait in the trap.’
‘Trap, my lord?’
‘A personal matter between the lord Richard and me.’ He poured more wine from the jug and sipped it. ‘Find out where those gold elephants are, Drogo.’
‘That won’t be easy.’
‘I didn’t say that it would be.’
‘The lord sheriff has failed to track them down so far.’
‘That’s all to the good,’ said Livarot. ‘If he recovers them, he’ll only give them back to the one man who must never set eyes on them again. They must belong to me.’
Drogo was anxious. ‘Have you ever seen them, my lord?’
‘No, but I’ve seen the effect they have.’
‘How big are they?’
‘Who knows?’
‘Could you give me a detailed description?’ asked the steward.
‘No, I can’t.’
‘That complicates matters. It will be even more difficult searching for something when I have no idea what it looks like.’
‘They’re elephants, man. Two small, smooth, shiny gold elephants.’
‘That doesn’t help me. I’ve never seen such an animal.’
‘Well, you’d better make sure that you see one now,’ said Livarot, shooting him a warning glance. ‘Two of them, to be exact. This is not an idle request, Drogo. It’s an order. And it takes precedence over everything else.’
‘Yes, my lord.’
‘Use the man you have at the castle. That’s the best place to start.’
‘I’ll get word to him this evening.’
‘Roger Bigot may not be able to track down the missing elephants but Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret might. They’ve sharper noses to sniff a trail,’ he said with grudging admiration. ‘Follow them, Drogo. They’ll lead you to the elephants.’
‘Will they?’
‘If anyone can find those beasts, they can.’
‘I hope so, my lord.’
‘All you have to do is to make sure that you grab them first.’
The steward looked doubtful. Livarot took another swig of his wine. ‘Take care,’ he said, raising a finger. ‘This means a lot to me. Get me those two gold elephants and you’ll be richly rewarded. Fail me,’ he added, menacingly, ‘and I may be looking for a new steward. Now, off with you!’
The feast was not as lavish as the banquet on the previous evening but it was still much larger and more appetising than any meal the commissioners would normally have enjoyed. The cooks who toiled in the castle kitchen had mastered all the arts of choosing and preparing food. Venison was the main dish, garnished with a delicious sauce and served with a selection of vegetables. Wine and ale flowed freely. Roger Bigot and his wife entertained their guests in the hall, controlling the arrival of each course with a series of unobtrusive signals. Minstrels played at the far end of the room. Dozens of candles burned brightly. Famished after his long ride, Brother Daniel accepted the invitation to join his colleagues and he ate as heartily as any of them. Eustace Coureton was delighted to be seated next to the monk, enabling him to talk in Latin and to quote his favourite Roman authors. Daniel was responding with whole paragraphs from St Augustine’s De Civitate Dei.
Disappointed that the lady Adelaide was not present, Ralph Delchard enjoyed the occasion immensely, moving easily from inconsequential chatter to a discussion of more serious topics. He was fascinated to hear of the sheriff’s intervention in the threatened outbreak of violence between Richard de Fontenel and Mauger Livarot, but the real value of the evening lay in the fact that he was seated beside Gervase Bret and thus able to exchange information about their respective visits that day. At the mention of a certain name, Gervase sat up with interest.
‘Jocelyn Vavasour?’ he repeated.
‘He was the man who presented the gold elephants to the abbey in the first place and started all this trouble. Apparently, he’s become an anchorite.’
‘I wondered what happened to him.’
‘You know the man?’
‘Only through my study of the returns from this county,’ said Gervase, making an effort to recall the salient details. ‘His name appeared time and time again. At one point, Jocelyn Vavasour had a number of holdings in the county, then seemed to lose them all.’
‘He gave them away, Gervase.’
‘Why?’
‘Madness.’
‘That’s your way of saying that he wanted to live a more spiritual life.’
‘What’s to prevent a man from owning property and having religious impulses?’
‘Try reading the Bible,’ advised his friend.
‘The lord Jocelyn gave everything away.’
‘Not quite everything,’ said Gervase, brow furrowed with thought. ‘If memory serves me, he retained one of his outliers. A small acreage in the hundred of Holt, to the north of here.’
‘Then that’s where we might find him.’
‘Possibly. I can’t think why else he should keep that patch of land.’
‘I’ll search for him tomorrow.’
‘Take a boat with you, Ralph.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s a coastal property,’ explained Gervase. ‘My guess is that it’s more water than land. In short, an ideal place for a hermit to live and to commune with God.’
Ralph frowned. ‘I saw enough water on the way to the abbey.’
‘Would you rather I went in search of the lord Jocelyn?’
‘No, Gervase. He’s mine. We have the same background. I want to know why a man who fought hard for everything he has tosses it foolishly away instead of settling down on his estate with a beautiful wife.’ He looked fondly at Golde. ‘As I’ve done.’
‘There’s a simple answer to that.’
‘Is there?’
‘You were lucky enough to meet Golde before he did,’ Gervase pointed out, mischievously. Ralph laughed appreciatively. ‘By the way,’ Gervase went on, ‘did you tell Abbot Alfwold that the missing elephants turned up in the lord Richard’s hands?’
‘No, I thought it better to say nothing.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I had no proof that the lord Richard was behind the theft. If I’d mentioned him as a potential suspect, the abbot would probably have sent word to the bishop, inciting him to take action. That would have confused matters even more.’
‘Yes,’ sighed Gervase. ‘The last thing we want is for Bishop William de Bello Fargo to come charging up here from Thetford to join in the hunt. He’d only get in our way and put the lord Richard on the defensive.’
‘That was my reasoning,’ said Ralph. ‘We also kept Brother Joseph, the sacristan, ignorant of what we knew though I floated the name of the lord Richard past his anxious eyes. It’s curious, Gervase. I never thought I’d feel sorry for anyone inside an abbey but I was overwhelmed with sympathy for poor Brother Joseph. He’s positively writhing with guilt.’