‘I agree with Canon Hubert,’ said Gervase.
‘You simply wish to discharge our duties here so that you can gallop back to Winchester and get married!’ Ralph was hurt. ‘Really, Gervase. I expected support from you at least. The lord Hervey is a Norman baron in a city which is full of resentful Saxons. Anything might have happened to him. Can you really turn your back on him like this?’
‘I am not turning my back on him, Ralph.’
‘You are putting your own selfish needs first.’
‘No!’
‘Then what are you doing?’
‘Directing my energies to resolving this dispute. Until we do that, we will never know the full truth. You must see that, Ralph.’
‘All I can see are three men deserting a friend in need.’
‘I resent that accusation, my lord,’ said Hubert.
‘So do I,’ added Simon.
‘We are not deserting him, Ralph,’ said Gervase. ‘We are simply seeking to find him by other means.’
Ralph snorted. ‘Ah! I see. Hervey is hiding in the shire hall. If we take our seats there, he will pop up from under the table to surprise us.’ His tone was contemptuous. ‘This is lunatic reasoning. There is only one way to find him and that is by joining the sheriff in his search.’ He looked round the table. ‘It is shameful that anyone should think otherwise.’
There was a bruised silence. It was eventually broken by Simon.
‘May I speak?’ he asked tentatively.
‘No!’ snarled Ralph.
‘Brother Simon is entitled to express an opinion,’ said Hubert.
‘He is a scribe and not a commissioner.’
‘I think we should still hear him, Ralph,’ said Gervase.
‘So do I,’ said Hubert. ‘Proceed, Brother Simon.’
The scribe glanced nervously around at the others before speaking. ‘I would ask you to call to mind what happened in York,’ he said querulously. ‘There, too, we were burdened with an immense number of disputes and there, too, we were granted the services of an additional commissioner to help to bear the onerous load.’
‘Tanchelm of Ghent,’ recalled Gervase.
‘A shrewd judge,’ continued Simon. ‘While he and Canon Hubert heard one set of disputes, you, my lord,’ he said, smiling at Ralph,
‘were able to deal with other cases in consort with Gervase. By dividing the work, you were able to speed up the pace of your judgements.’
‘Until the lord Tanchelm was murdered,’ said Ralph with a reminiscent glare. ‘Did we sit in session during the hunt for the killer? Did we forget about our colleague and carry on with our work? No, we did not!’ he stressed, slapping the table. ‘We suspended everything until the murder was solved. We showed respect for the dead. Thank you, Simon,’ he said with a nod at the scribe. ‘You have given us a timely reminder of how to behave.
We must do as we did in York and put our work aside.’
‘But that is not what I am proposing, my lord,’ said Simon.
‘No?’
‘The cases are similar but not identical. To begin with, the lord Hervey is simply missing. He may well be found alive and unharmed. The point which I was striving to make was this. Two commissioners were able to take responsibility in York.’ He trembled under Ralph’s glare but forced the words out. ‘Could not two also do likewise in Exeter?’
‘What do you mean?’ growled Ralph.
‘Simply this, my lord. I am suggesting a compromise. You wish to join the search party and must be allowed to do so.’
Ralph was determined. ‘No man on earth will stop me!’
‘We respect your decision,’ said Simon. ‘But while you join the sheriff, Canon Hubert and Gervase can continue the work at the shire hall. This answers all needs, my lord. Does it not?’
Dean Jerome liked to preserve an atmosphere of peace and harmony but that was not always possible when Geoffrey, abbot of Tavistock chose to visit Exeter. A pious man and a renowned scholar, the abbot was also liable to outbursts which could be distressing to men of contemplative inclination. His exalted position made him difficult to criticise, let alone to control. The dean searched for a means to hurry him on his way.
‘How long will you be staying with us?’ he said mournfully.
‘Why do you ask?’ said the abbot. ‘Have I outstayed my welcome?’
‘Not at all, my lord abbot.’
‘Bishop Osbern encouraged me to remain here.’
‘And so do I,’ lied the other. ‘So do I. Our community is enriched by your presence. It is always a pleasure to see you in Exeter.’
‘It was not pleasure which brought me here, Jerome.’
‘I know.’
‘I came to rectify a dreadful wrong,’ said the abbot. ‘Until I have done that, I will not stir from the city. If you wish to know how long I will stay, ask the commissioners. It lies in their hands to return to my abbey that land which was seized illegally from it.
Our cause is just.’
‘I never doubted that, my lord abbot.
‘Then speak to the commisioners on my behalf. Canon Hubert resides here with you,’ he said, ‘though I have somehow been prevented from meeting him within these walls. I am sure that both you and Bishop Osbern wish to see the property restored to my abbey. Help to bring that desired end about.’
‘It might be looked upon as interference.’
‘Not by me.’
‘By the commissioners.’
‘With whom does your loyalty lie, Jerome?’
The dean was saved from the embarrassment of having to answer the question. A novice brought news that the abbot had a visitor.
When he was told who it was, Geoffrey excused himself and scurried off at once. Ralph Delchard was waiting for him in the parlour. The abbot’s urgency swept pleasantries aside.
‘Have you arrived at a judgement?’ he demanded.
‘Not yet, my lord abbot.’
‘But my case is unanswerable.’
‘That is a matter of opinion.’
‘What is holding you up?’
‘A number of things,’ said Ralph. ‘One of which has brought me here this morning. We are beset by a serious problem.’
‘The only problem you have is an inability to make up your minds.
The abbey of Tavistock held those holdings in Upton Pyne until they were taken from us. Restore them and the matter is settled.’
‘Only to your satisfaction.’
‘And to yours if you value justice.’
‘What I value is the safety of my fellows,’ said Ralph with asperity. ‘One of them may be imperilled and just now his fate concerns me far more than some land to the north of here. I need to speak with one of your knights.’
‘Why?’
‘I have reason to believe that he may be able to help me.’
‘In what way?’
‘That remains to be seen, my lord abbot.’
‘Who is the man?’
‘Walter Baderon.’
‘Ah!’
‘He was the captain of the guard at the North Gate last night.’
‘I am aware of that, my lord, but I still have no idea whatsoever why you have come bursting in here in search of him. What is this all about? Which of your fellows may be imperilled?’
‘Hervey de Marigny.’
‘I remember him.’
‘He is missing.’
‘How does that concern Walter Baderon?’
‘The lord Hervey spoke with him the other evening.’
‘Yes,’ said the other sharply. ‘I know. And I would like to register the strongest objection. I will not have my men interrogated behind my back. It was a shabby device, my lord.’
‘I disagree.’
‘Then you set yourself a low standard of conduct.’
Ralph held back a tart reply. ‘All that interests me at the moment is finding the lord Hervey,’ he said. ‘He talked of speaking with Walter Baderon again and left the castle to do so. I need to know what passed between the two of them.’
‘Nothing, my lord.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because I warned all my men to be wary of the lord Hervey.
They were ordered to say as little as possible to him. I reprimanded Walter Baderon for being so careless when he was first questioned. He would not have been deceived by the lord Hervey again.’
‘I still have to speak to Baderon.’