But I had no need to seek out Richard Manifold. With Jack Gload and Peter Littleman in tow, he was emerging from the archway of the Frome Gate as we approached it, and was obviously in a blazing temper.
‘You!’ he shouted as soon as he saw me. ‘You! Roger Chapman!’ He stumped towards me, shaking his fist, something I found fascinating, as I had never actually seen anyone do such a thing before. ‘What do you mean by beating up two of the King’s men and interfering with them in the course of their duty?’
‘K-King’s men?’ I stuttered. ‘Do-do you seriously mean to tell me that that pair of roughnecks are King’s men?’
‘They’re not roughnecks!’ Richard was incensed. ‘They’re two of the King’s bodyguard, the very best, who’ve come from London to assist us to lay this Breton spy by the heels. And they damn well nearly had him!’ The sergeant’s voice rose almost to a scream. ‘He’d be under lock and key by now, if you hadn’t poked your nose into what doesn’t concern you, yet again!’
I thought he was going to have an apoplexy. His face was suffused with blood and his fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides as though he didn’t know how to keep his hands off me. Without being aware of it, he was hopping up and down like a demented flea. I could barely stop myself from bursting out laughing, and I heard Adela give a suppressed kind of snort.
‘I–I’m sorry,’ I quavered uncertainly. ‘But you should have told me who these men were from the very beginning, when I first brought them to your notice. You had your chance, Richard. You shouldn’t have been so secretive. Are — um — are they badly hurt?’
‘Badly enough.’ He calmed down a little. ‘To make matters worse, some wretched stray cur took a nasty bite out of one of their legs.’
Hercules! It was too much, the final straw! I doubled up with laughter. Adela regarded me with consternation, while Richard Manifold looked as if he might explode at any minute. Then, fortunately, he too began to see the funny side of things. Who doesn’t like to see a couple of arrogant bastards brought low? He made a choking noise and coughed violently before asking in a more reasonable tone of voice, ‘Do you know what’s happened to the Breton? Where he is now?’
I told him the tale. ‘But he was still unconscious when I left him, and showed no sign of a swift recovery. Your King’s men were a bit too thorough.’
Richard cursed them, angry and indignant.
‘Fools! Why did they have to be so rough? They could have jumped him without inflicting so much damage. They were two to one, after all.’
I refrained from repeating that, King’s men though they might be, the two bravos were a couple of loutish oafs, and instead volunteered the information that I was on my way to the physician in Bell Lane. ‘If he’s there, I’ll send him up to Mistress Ford’s cottage. Where are our heroes now?’
‘Castle garrison’s barracks. Outer ward. One of the medical orderlies is attending to their hurts. I’ll be off to Saint Michael’s Hill, then. If the spy can be shifted, we’ll bring him down to the Bridewell. If not, he’ll have to remain where he is until he’s better.’
The sergeant and his men were about to move off, when I gripped Richard’s arm. ‘Incidentally,’ I said, ‘I have witnesses to prove that he’s not Jasper’s murderer. He was at Westbury College when Fairbrother was killed. I’ll tell you all about it later.’
Richard didn’t seem too put out by my news. Indeed, his good humour was in a fair way to being restored.
‘The College, eh? That’s interesting. Very interesting. When this little bird has finished singing, we’ll have a list of all the Lancastrian sympathizers in the district.’ He grinned, showing a broken front tooth. ‘That should make our trio from London happy.’ He saw my look of puzzlement and added, ‘There’s a third King’s man arrived hotfoot from the capital this morning. Senior to that pair of bunglers we’ve got already. None too pleased at the hash they’ve made of things, either. But he’ll be delighted to know that the spy is now in custody.’ It was plain that Richard was going to take the credit for everything, but I didn’t begrudge him that. ‘By the way,’ he threw over his shoulder as, finally, he and his lieutenants began to move away in the direction of Lewin’s Mead, ‘this fellow says he knows you. Name of Timothy Plummer.’
Luckily, the physician was at home, although loath to quit the city so close to curfew. After much grumbling, however, he agreed to visit the wounded man, on condition that any expenses he incurred by having to find a night’s lodgings outside the walls were met by someone other than himself. I told him to present his bill to the sheriff, which seemed to satisfy him.
I should have liked to go to the castle there and then in order to renew my acquaintance with Timothy Plummer and find out why he now appeared to be in the King’s service and not in that of the Duke of Gloucester. But Adela and I could not afford to be trapped inside the town by the curfew bell, leaving Adam unfed and Margaret to cope on her own with all three children, so I reluctantly postponed my visit until the following day. We retraced our steps to the Frome Bridge and had crossed to the gatehouse, when a small brown mongrel, who had been skulking beneath the arch, erupted from its shadow, barking joyously and nipping at my and Adela’s ankles.
‘God’s toenails! Hercules!’ I exclaimed, not knowing whether to laugh or be sorry.
I stooped and scooped him into my arms, where he proceeded to lick my face all over, whimpering with happiness.
‘Roger! What is this?’ Adela demanded ominously.
‘A dog,’ was the feeble answer. ‘He probably saved my life.’
Adela was in no mood for handing out rewards, especially in such a cause. At least, not just at that moment. ‘Put the animal down,’ she ordered. ‘It’s filthy. I can see the fleas hopping about in its fur. I will not have fleas in our cottage.’
‘Everyone has fleas,’ I argued, suddenly unwilling to part with my saviour.
‘I don’t!’
I didn’t like to disillusion her, so I lowered Hercules to the ground and scratched myself surreptitiously.
‘We can’t afford a dog,’ she pleaded, and I had to admit that it was true. Hadn’t I been using the same argument to the children for the past few months? But I owed this particular cur a debt of gratitude.
‘Go away,’ I said to Hercules, but made no attempt to discourage him as he trotted at our heels under the archway and across the open ground. I hoped Adela wouldn’t notice. When we reached the cottage and she lifted the latch, I squeezed in after her as fast as I could, leaving the dog on the other side of the swiftly closed door.
‘You’re home early,’ said Margaret, looking up from a low stool beside one of the mattresses, where she had been telling Nicholas and Elizabeth a story.
‘Roger will give you the details,’ said my wife, and went across to embrace the children.
So, to the accompaniment of the curfew bell and various snufflings, thumpings and occasional protesting barks from outside, I sat down on our other stool and repeated my tale yet again.
‘Well, trust you to be in the thick of any trouble that’s going,’ Margaret remarked, but sounding quite cheerful, not only because she loved to be the first with the latest gossip, but also because she was distracted by the various strange noises without.
Before either Adela or I could prevent her, she had risen and opened the cottage door. A small, smelly brown ball of matted fur hurled itself excitedly across the room and on to my lap, balancing its hind legs on my thighs and placing its front paws on my shoulders. My face was thoroughly licked for the second time that evening.
‘A dog! You’ve brought us a dog!’ screeched Nicholas and Elizabeth, propelling themselves up from their mattress and flinging their arms around both me and Hercules. Their yells woke Adam, who naturally felt it necessary to vie for attention. Of course, he won! He could make more noise than his half-brother and sister put together.