‘Was that the only reason? Did you not like him for his own sake?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ She sounded slightly breathless. ‘I–I didn’t think much about him. He was years older than I was. He was ten years older than Isolda. Gideon always seemed to me to be more of Uncle Miles’s generation, although I suppose he wasn’t really.’ She blinked unhappily. ‘Kit and I had only been here a year when he and Isolda were married and he came to live here, too. So. . Well, I was used to him, you see. He was just another member of the household.’
I reflected for the second time that while this had probably once been true of Eleanor’s attitude towards her cousin’s husband, it was possible that her feelings for him might have undergone a change. I don’t know what put this idea into my head, except that she refused to meet my eyes when speaking of Gideon, and continued, in the same restless, nervous way, to fiddle with her pendant. There was also the memory of her earlier tears.
I said, ‘According to Mistress Bonifant, that jewel of yours was a birthday gift from all of them — herself, your uncle, your brother and Master Bonifant. Everyone had a hand in making it, is that not so?’
Eleanor looked bewildered by this change of subject, and for a second or two could do nothing more than nod her head. Finally, however, she answered, ‘Yes. Uncle Miles was responsible for most of the work because he insisted that it must be done properly, that it had to be perfect for me. But they all had a hand somewhere in the fashioning of it.’
‘And what was Master Bonifant’s contribution, do you know?’
I heard the breath catch in her throat and her eyes suddenly widened with an emotion whose nature still eluded me.
‘I–I was told he set the sapphires in the lover’s knot.’
‘And who told you that?’ I queried gently.
‘What?’ She had been temporarily lost in some dream world of her own and I had to repeat my question. ‘Oh,’ she replied, once she understood, ‘I can’t remember. Uncle Miles, I expect. Or Kit perhaps. Or maybe even Isolda.’
‘But not Master Bonifant himself?’
The door opened and Isolda returned to seat herself again in the chair opposite her cousin’s.
‘What a mess!’ she exclaimed, torn between annoyance and laughter. ‘Six eggs running everywhere among the rushes, and a bowl broken into the bargain. That’s Meggie’s second accident today. She cracked an earthenware cooking pot earlier on. Those are the sort of accidents that so infuriated Gideon.’ Isolda grimaced and shrugged resignedly. ‘Well, Master Chapman, and have you finished questioning Eleanor yet?’ She cast one shrewd look at her cousin’s face and continued, ‘Nell, dearest, you look tired. I think you should lie down until suppertime. Come along!’ She got up, holding out an imperious hand. ‘I’ll help you up to bed.’
Eleanor rose obediently and, I fancied, with relief. Isolda addressed me over her shoulder.
‘I’ve told Toby to come up here to see you. He shouldn’t be long; only a minute or two, or until he’s finished whatever task it is that Father has set him.’
‘And Master Christopher?’ I murmured. ‘I still haven’t spoken to him.’
She heaved another sigh. ‘Don’t worry! I’ll make certain that you do. You might as well finish your enquiries here all in one day.’ She didn’t add, ‘And then you won’t have to come back,’ but I could hear the unspoken comment in her voice.
When the two women had gone upstairs, I waited several minutes before deciding to go in search of young Toby for myself. I wished to speak to Miles again, as well as to Christopher Babcary and the apprentice, and guessed that I should find them all together in the shop, which indeed I did.
The three men were busy and looked none too pleased at my uninvited appearance amongst them.
‘Toby was just coming up to the parlour,’ Miles said testily. He was bent over his workbench, putting the finishing touches to the coronet of gold and silver ivy leaves for Mistress Shore.
I ignored this remark and asked him why he had failed to mention the scene between his son-in-law and Meg Spendlove only some five weeks before the murder.
He answered sourly, ‘Because I’d forgotten about it, that’s why. I told you, I have too many calls upon my time to take much notice of such domestic squabbles. But yes, I do recall the occasion now that you jog my memory. Gideon indulged himself in a display of bad temper that was quite unnecessary in my opinion.’
‘In everyone’s opinion,’ his nephew put in, looking up from the other end of the bench, where he was sorting and grading a bag of pearls.
‘And you don’t think that maybe Meg bore Master Bonifant a grudge for this unwarranted dressing-down?’
It was Toby’s turn to abandon the tray of wax, in which he was drawing a pattern of leaves and flowers, and come forward to stand in front of me, his lower lip jutting aggressively.
‘Meg wouldn’t harm a fly,’ he said. ‘You let her alone.’
‘That will do,’ his master reproved him. ‘Get back to your work.’
‘No, no!’ I said, putting a detaining hand on the apprentice’s shoulder. ‘I want to know, Toby, why you were in the parlour on the evening of the murder. I understand that when there are guests, you eat in the kitchen. So what were you doing upstairs? Both Mistress Bonifant and Master Babcary, here, have testified to your presence, as I’m sure Master Christopher could also do, if asked.’
‘That’s true enough,’ Christopher confirmed. He glanced curiously at the apprentice. ‘I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but what were you doing skulking about in the parlour, when you should have been down in the kitchen with Meg?’
Toby glared defiantly at the three of us. ‘I just went in to have a look at the table,’ he said. ‘At the goblets, really. They’re so beautiful. I like to touch them. I like to feel the carving round the rims.’
Miles Babcary mellowed visibly in the face of this unlooked-for tribute. ‘The boy has a natural eye for craftsmanship. I’ll make a goldsmith of him yet.’
Toby simpered virtuously.
‘And was that the only reason you went into the parlour?’ I asked.
His eyes met mine for a fleeting moment before his glance slid sideways. ‘Yes,’ was the truculent reply.
‘And did anyone else enter the room while you were there?’
This was an easier question to answer.
‘Master came in with Mistress Perle and the other lady and gentleman, a few minutes after Master Bonifant and Kit and Nell. Mistress arrived last of all, and then I went downstairs.’
I noted that while Christopher and Eleanor were referred to with familiarity, Gideon had evidently remained on more distant terms with a lowly apprentice.
Toby, feeling that he had satisfied my curiosity, would, at this point, have squirmed free of my hand and returned to his task, had I not tightened my grip on his shoulder.
‘Just a minute! According to Mistress Babcary, something else happened before you left the parlour. What was it that you were trying to tell her behind Mistress Napier’s back? She says you were mouthing words at her and making signs.’
There was a tell-tale pause before Toby retorted defiantly, ‘I was not!’
‘She says you were, and I don’t see why she should tell me a lie.’
‘No, indeed,’ Christopher cut in. ‘My sister’s a very truthful person.’
Toby went a guilty red. ‘I’m not saying she lied,’ he protested. ‘I’m just saying she must have been mistaken.’
‘How could she possibly be mistaken about such a thing?’ I asked severely.
He then changed tack, claiming that his memory was at fault, and that he could remember nothing of the matter. But that, he conceded generously, didn’t mean to say it wasn’t true. And in spite of all my perserverance and the derision of uncle and nephew, we could not persuade him to alter his story. It was obvious, to me at least, that he was lying but there was nothing I could do against his obstinate persistence that he was unable to recollect the incident, and that, therefore, whatever it was that he had been trying to convey to Eleanor had been of no importance. Eventually, I gave up and released him, whereupon he retired again to his workbench with a heartfelt sigh of relief.