We simply ask for confirmation that this letter was written by the lord Nicholas.’
‘Then show it to his wife.’
‘That is a preposterous suggestion!’ protested Hubert.
‘Why?’ she said.
‘The lady Catherine would be outraged.’
‘If you believe that, you do not know the lady Catherine. After all those years of marriage, she had the measure of her husband.’
Asa pointed to the letter. ‘She will read it without a tremor. And she will confirm that her husband wrote it.’
‘In spite of its extraordinary contents?’ said Hubert.
‘The lady Catherine is an honourable woman. She would not lie in order to discredit me. On the other hand,’ she added, ‘the letter is my private property and I would not willingly let anyone but yourselves view it. There must be several documents at the house which bear the lord Nicholas’s hand. Ask to see one and place it beside my letter.’
The commissioners held a silent conference. They were in no doubt that Asa was speaking the truth. The letter was clearly genuine and its underlying affection was quite moving. It was not difficult to see what attracted Nicholas Picard to Asa. She had a pert beauty that was enhanced by her poise and her forthrightness. There was a sense of independence about Asa which somehow made her more appealing.
‘How long did you know the lord Nicholas?’ asked Gervase.
‘For two years or more.’
‘And did you … were you … during that time … is it fair to say …’
Ralph came to his rescue. ‘What my colleague wishes to ask is how close the relationship actually was. The lord Nicholas was clearly somewhat more than a casual acquaintance.’
‘You have read his letter, my lord. We were lovers.’
‘In the carnal sense?’
‘What other sense is there?’
Ralph grinned, de Marigny chuckled, Gervase looked away, Hubert stared at her in sheer disgust and Brother Simon put his hands over his ears in alarm. Asa was unperturbed at their reaction.
‘You are men of the world,’ she said brightly. ‘Well, some of you are. I am sure that you understand. Love does not only exist within marriage.’
‘It should!’ boomed Hubert. ‘It was ordained for lawful procreation.’
Asa almost giggled. ‘That is not what we called it.’
Gervase made an effort to control his embarrassment. ‘We are moving away from the crucial question,’ he argued, taking the letter from Ralph. ‘What we must ask is whether this is a binding document or merely a letter of intent.’
‘A letter of intent,’ decided Ralph.
‘It is a form of will, my lord,’ she insisted.
‘Yet it is not dated or witnessed.’
‘He wanted me to have that land.’
‘Then he should have left it to you in his last will and testament.’
‘Do we know that he has not?’ she asked.
The question threw them all into disarray. It was minutes before they disentangled themselves sufficiently to continue their examination. Asa remained alert and responsive throughout and gave an honest account of her relationship with her benefactor.
What value they could place on the letter they did not know, but it could not be dismissed until they had sight of the last will and testament of the deceased. Having assumed that it would favour the widow, they were now forced to speculate that it might contain some alarming surprises for her.
Before she left, Asa took the opportunity to ask them a number of pertinent questions and she seemed satisfied with their answers. Hubert and Simon had exuded censure, but the other commissioners had been objective judges. Reclaiming her letter, she glided serenely out.
Gervase was entranced. ‘What a remarkable young woman!’
‘With a good fighting spirit,’ observed de Marigny.
‘She clearly loved the lord Nicholas. And he loved her.’
‘At a price, Gervase.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Did you not see what was right in front of your eyes?’
‘I saw a self-possessed woman who stood up for herself.’
Ralph exchanged a knowing glance with Hervey de Marigny.
‘It is easy to see that you were never a soldier,’ he said, slipping an arm round Gervase. ‘Asa is a comely girl and I have seen her kind in many towns. That sweetness did not disguise her occupation. If she can charm those holdings out of Nicholas Picard, she must be a remarkable young woman.’ He whispered in his friend’s ear, ‘But she is also a prostitute.’
Gervase felt the hot blush rising swiftly up his face.
Chapter Eight
Tetbald the Steward was thorough. He organised a complete search of the house itself and sent men out in all directions to make a wide sweep of the property. When the lady Catherine joined him, she had recovered her composure but had an air of resignation about her.
‘Has the box been found?’ she asked.
‘No, my lady.’
‘Where have you searched?’
‘Everywhere.’
‘Including the undercroft?’
‘The undercroft, the outbuildings, even the stables. There is no sign of the box, my lady.’ He gave a reassuring smile. ‘But nothing else seems to have been taken. That is some consolation.’
‘Is it?’
‘The thief might have stolen your jewellery, my lady.’
‘He might also have murdered me in my own bed,’ she said with a quiet shudder. ‘That is what frightens me. A man was able to get into my house and enter the bedchamber next to mine in order to take that box. What if I had awakened while he was there? What if I had gone into my husband’s chamber to investigate?’
‘It is as well that you did not.’
‘I will never feel safe in that bed again.’
‘You will, my lady,’ he said firmly. ‘I give you my word on that.’
Catherine nodded and touched his arm in a gesture of affection.
They were in the parlour and the shutters were wide open. Dogs could be heard barking excitedly some distance away. Tetbald looked in the direction from which the sound came.
‘Why could they not bark like that during the night?’ he said.
‘Perhaps they did and nobody heard them.’
‘They are schooled to attack any intruders, my lady. No man could hold off four of them. The last time someone wandered on to the property at night, he was all but eaten alive.’
‘How, then, did the thief elude them?’
‘I do not know, my lady,’ he admitted. ‘Unless he fed the dogs some meat that was seasoned with a potion to make them drowsy.
Yet the animals seem alert and healthy this morning. We found nothing wrong with them. It is all very puzzling.’
‘Puzzling and disturbing.’
‘I will get to the bottom of it somehow,’ he promised.
‘I hope so, Tetbald. This has shaken me.’
‘What was in the box that would make it such a target?’
‘I do not know. My husband kept it locked.’
‘And you have no key?’
‘I have been searching for it ever since …’ Her voice faded away.
‘Ever since his death.’
‘Yes, Tetbald,’ she murmured. ‘Ever since then.’
‘It was not in his bedchamber,’ he said. ‘I looked there myself.
The lord Nicholas must have hidden it well. And that means the box must have contained items that he wanted nobody else to see.’
‘Not even his wife,’ she said dully.
‘Especially not you, my lady.’
He was about to reach out to her when the barking of the dogs grew louder. Looking through the window, he saw two men walking towards the house and carrying a wooden box between them.
The dogs were scampering at their heels.
‘They have found it!’ he said.
Saewin the Reeve made sure that Asa left the shire hall before Loretta was summoned. He was anxious to avoid a confrontation between the two women and did not relish the idea of being caught in the middle of it. The delay gave the commissioners time to take refreshment and to reflect on the evidence they had so far taken that morning, and to compare it with the deposition from the abbot of Tavistock. Of the three witnesses, Canon Hubert leaned in favour of the prelate, airily dismissing the claims by the two Saxons as annoying irrelevancies. Hervey de Marigny was more impressed by Engelric than his colleague had been, suspecting that the old man might well have borne arms during the siege of Exeter and that he deserved the respect due to a worthy enemy. Ralph Delchard was at once amused and interested by Asa’s contribution to the debate and it was she who occupied Gervase Bret’s mind as well.