His mind had been eased by his penitent existence but the instincts of a soldier had not entirely deserted him. When he saw a stand of oak trees ahead of him, he knew that it would be an inviting place for an ambush and remained vigilant. His alertness saved him. Three men awaited the traveller, lurking in the shadows and seeing a lone rider as easy prey. Though the unkempt stranger did not look as if he would be carrying much money, he sat astride a fine horse that would fetch a good price. They took up their positions. As the anchorite plunged in under the overhanging branches, he found his way blocked by a fallen tree that had been dragged across the track. He slowed his horse to a trot. The robbers pounced at once. One man grabbed the reins of the horse, the second threatened the rider with a dagger and the third tried to haul him from the saddle.
Vavasour reacted violently. Kicking away the man who tried to pull him off, he swung his horse sharply round so that its rump knocked the man with the dagger hard and sent him rolling into the undergrowth. When he saw his confederates lying dazed on the ground, the man holding the reins let go and took flight. Vavasour went after him, overhauling him quickly and delivering a kick to the back of his neck that sent him somersaulting over the grass. He brought his horse to a halt and leaped down from the saddle to run back to the man. Shaken by his fall, the latter hauled himself up and pulled out his dagger to thrust at Vavasour, but the weapon was instantly twisted from his grasp and tossed harmlessly into a ditch. When the man tried to escape, he was held by the shoulders. The anchorite pulled him close and spoke with controlled anger.
‘You’ve committed a sin, my friend,’ he said. ‘Ask for forgiveness.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Someone who bears his own burden of sin.’
The other was aghast. ‘But you’ve no weapon to defend yourself.’
Vavasour took him by the scruff of his neck and pitched him back down the track. ‘I don’t need one when I have God to do that for me,’ he said.
A combination of cold water on his face and a warm welcome from his wife helped to revive Ralph Delchard after his long ride. When he joined Gervase Bret in the hall for some refreshment, he was wearing a clean tunic and a bright smile. The two men settled down opposite each other at the table and picked at the food set out for them.
‘Golde has just told me about her visit this morning,’ said Ralph. ‘She felt that the lady Adelaide only wanted them there as a means of checking up on us.’
‘Alys was of the same mind.’
‘Perhaps it’s time that one of us went calling, Gervase.’
‘I think that you’re the more suited to that task,’ said the other with light irony. ‘You and the lady Adelaide are already acquainted to some degree. Besides,’ he went on, reaching for his mug of ale, ‘I want to pay my respects elsewhere.’
‘To whom?’
‘Olova.’
‘But you’ve already spoken to her.’
‘I know, Ralph, but the circumstances were wrong. A second visit will yield much more, I’m certain. Did Golde mention it to you?’
‘No. Why should she?’
‘Because I’d like to take her with me.’
When he explained his reasons for wanting to do so, Ralph gave his approval at once. Ordinarily, he tried not to involve his wife in work that befell him in the course of an assignment, but he felt that this was a special case.
‘Golde’s father was a Saxon thegn,’ he said. ‘She’ll be able to talk to this woman on her own terms. In fact, she may get more out of her than you could, Gervase.’
‘No question of that.’
‘Then it’s settled. As long as you take a sizeable escort.’
‘I will, Ralph, though I won’t ride up to Olova’s house with them this time. But tell me more about your encounter with the anchorite. What sort of man is he?’
‘A holy fool.’
‘Did he explain why he had renounced all his possessions?’
‘Yes,’ said Ralph, munching a piece of bread. ‘Eustace pressed him on that point. I think that the solitary life has a sneaking attraction for our colleague. He could quote Horace at the birds all day long. Though I doubt that he’d have the same skill as a woodcarver.’
‘Woodcarver?’
Ralph explained that they had seen wooden replicas of the two elephants that had been stolen from the abbey. He also gave a fuller account of his conversation with the anchorite and speculated on where the man would begin his own search for the stolen property. Gervase waited until he had heard every detail.
‘Now I can tell you what I found out,’ he said with quiet excitement.
‘How was the lord Richard?’
‘Less than welcoming until I introduced Brother Daniel. When he realised that I’d brought the man who actually discovered the corpse of his steward, he showed much more interest. He even managed to display a muted affection for Hermer.’
‘That’s more than anyone else seems to do, Gervase.’
‘I know.’
‘Did you challenge the lord Richard about the theft from the abbey?’ ‘I was more tactful than that. He denied that his gold elephants were the same ones that had been taken but he obviously knew that they were. He was even obliging enough to tell us who stole them for him.’
‘Starculf.’
‘That was a false name, given to mislead them at the abbey. When he gave us a description of Starculf, I knew that it couldn’t possibly have been him.
‘Then who was it?’
‘Who else?’ said the other. ‘Hermer.’
Ralph was astonished. ‘Are you sure?’
‘More or less. The description you got from the sacristan certainly fits him. And what better guise for Hermer to take on than that of a man he disliked enough to have dismissed? When the theft was uncovered, suspicion naturally fell on Starculf.’
‘A clever ruse, Gervase.’
‘But an expensive one. It cost Hermer his life.’
‘You think that was the motive for his murder?’
‘I believe that the theft of those elephants was instrumental in bringing it about,’ said Gervase, piecing it together in his mind. ‘Someone wanted them enough to kill for them. Who knew that they’d gone astray?’
‘Only the monks in the abbey. The crime wasn’t reported.’
‘I can’t believe that a Benedictine would commit a murder. In any case, the only reason that a monk would reclaim those elephants would be in order to restore them to the abbey. What we’re looking for is someone who’s outraged enough by the theft to take revenge on the thief, even to the extent of cutting off the hands that actually stole those holy objects. And yet,’ he continued, drinking some ale, ‘greedy enough to hold on to the booty himself. In short, we’re looking for a human contradiction, Ralph.’
‘A monk with a streak of wickedness in him?’
‘A killer with a keen moral sense.’
‘Where’s the morality in murder?’
‘He may have seen it as an act of divine retribution.’
‘Are you saying that God instructed him to kill and mutilate Hermer?’
‘No, Ralph. I’m just wondering if the man we’re after confuses good and evil so much that he’s unable to tell the difference between them. In meting out punishment for one crime, he doesn’t accept that he’s committing an even more heinous one. By all accounts,’ added Gervase, ‘Hermer wasn’t a weak man. In order to overpower him, his attacker would have had to be strong and trained to fight.’