‘If you make a single move,’ I warned Arbella, ‘this knife goes straight into your brother’s throat.’
She glared at me, but then looked, almost imploringly I thought, towards the second woman who had accompanied the housekeeper into the cottage. I didn’t dare take my eyes off Arbella or slacken my hold on my prisoner. The slightest inattention on my part could be just the opportunity the evil pair were hoping for. So I was totally unprepared for the familiar voice which smote my ears.
‘Don’t kill him, Master Chapman. He hasn’t harmed me.’
‘Celia?’ I demanded incredulously, removing my arm from about Henry Maynard’s throat and turning to stare up at her. ‘Celia! He-they t-told me you were dead.’
The priest, taking advantage of my state of shock, struggled to his feet. I also stood up slowly, feeling dazed, while Arbella did her best to soothe Ellen’s hysterics and revive her with a cupful of elderflower cordial. Then, with her brother’s help, she righted the table and stools, scuffing the broken bowl and its contents to one side along with some of yesterday’s rushes.
When I would have spoken, Celia held up an imperative finger, commanding my silence, before turning to add her voice to that of Arbella in persuading Ellen to go home.
‘It’s just one of Father Berowne’s drunken parishioners,’ she explained, as Ellen seemed not to recognize me. ‘He’ll behave himself now that I’m here. You’ve had a nasty shock, my dear. Go home and lie down.’
The housekeeper, who was regarding me with round, scared eyes, much as she would have regarded one of Old Nick’s henchmen from hell, eventually, after more persuasion, took her departure, leaving behind her a sudden silence which, for a minute or two, no one seemed able to break.
Finally, I asked, ‘Where have you been these last six days, Celia? We’ve been looking for you everywhere. You must have known we thought you were dead.’
‘I’ve been staying with Ellen.’ she said. ‘Oh, Henry and Lucy intended to kill me when they lured me down here, but when it came to the point, Henry couldn’t bring himself to do it. They told me their story instead, and I was so incensed, so angry — so furiously angry — with what Clemency and Charity and Sybilla had done to them that I agreed to play their game, for a while at least, and vanish without letting the others know what had become of me.’
I stared at her in disbelief. ‘This precious pair had your brother murdered,’ I shouted. ‘Your brother, Martin, as innocent of their fate as you are yourself. They killed Charity and tried to kill Sybilla. He — ’ I jabbed a finger in Henry’s direction — ‘even tried to poison me.’ And I slapped down on the table the box of feverfew extract, pushing it towards the priest. ‘Julian Makepeace asked me to give you this. A little smeared on the rim of a cup or beaker can be quite deadly, he tells me.’
‘I had no intention of killing you,’ Henry denied sullenly. ‘I could recognize your sort at once. The sort that sticks his nose into everything as soon as he scents a mystery. I hoped if I made you ill that you’d go back where you came from and take your family with you.’ He shrugged resignedly. ‘I should have known better. I should have known that even if you sent your wife and children away, you’d remain behind, dogged to the last.’ He regarded me, pale but defiant. ‘So? What do you intend to do?’
‘He will do nothing,’ Celia, to my great astonishment, answered for me. ‘At least, not immediately. He will accompany me home, and by the time that Clemency and Sybilla have been put in possession of the facts, and by the time that they have sent to Chancery Lane, or even, perhaps, to Westminster, and brought Oswald home to hear the story and raise the hue and cry, the two of you should be clear of the city and lost somewhere in the countryside. The choice of direction naturally is your own, but if I were you, I should make for the coast and take ship to France. Later you can make your way home to Ireland.’
Henry looked at his sister and smiled faintly at the mutinous expression on her face. ‘I’m afraid, Lucy, my dear, that we have no choice. Not unless you fancy trying to overcome the pair of them, which would be foolishness. Not only is Master Chapman fully forewarned of any such move on our part, but he is also armed with my knife. And I don’t doubt that Celia could prove a match for you. Moreover, the box of feverfew extract suggests that Julian Makepeace knew where Roger was bound when he left the apothecary’s shop. The law would soon be hard on our heels.’
‘Are the other Godsloves to go unpunished then?’ Arbella demanded angrily.
‘They won’t go unpunished,’ her brother answered quietly. ‘The knowledge that it was their own wrongdoing that brought retribution upon them will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, I suspect that Celia has no intention of returning to live at the Arbour.’ He raised an eyebrow at her as he spoke.
She nodded. ‘You’re right. I shall marry Roderick Jeavons if he still wants me. I’ve always been fond of him and he’ll make me a good husband, I’m sure of that.’ She glanced at me. ‘Let’s be off, Roger.’
‘No,’ I said, backing against the door and pointing the knife blade at Henry Maynard. ‘These people are thieves and murderers. They should not be allowed to escape the penalty for their crimes. I’ll stay here and watch them while you go for assistance.’
Celia clicked her tongue impatiently. ‘And what proof do we have of anything they’ve done? They’ve told you themselves that they are innocent of Reynold Makepeace’s stabbing and Clemency’s illness. Charity’s death seems, on the face of it, a simple accident, as does Sybilla’s mishap. And you’ll never find anyone willing to admit to pushing a block of masonry over on her, any more than you’ll be able to discover the footpads who were paid to murder my brother. Or,’ she added after a second or two’s thought, ‘any more than you will persuade Clemency and Sybilla to own in public to the wrong they committed all those years ago.’
I considered her words. There was a great deal of truth in them. All the same. .
‘Checkmate,’ Henry said softly.
‘Not necessarily,’ I snapped. ‘If I were to go to the Duke of Gloucester and disclose to him the details of this affair, I’m sure he would believe me. He trusts me, you see. And he dislikes injustice as much as I do.’
Celia nodded. ‘Adela told us something of the work you’ve done for the duke, Roger, so I, at least, know that that is not an idle boast. But there is injustice here, on both sides. I cannot excuse the misery that these two have caused, but neither am I able to overlook the fact that the initial wrongdoing was that of my half-sisters. And I have little doubt that Oswald, although only a boy of fourteen at the time, both knew of the plan and condoned it.’ She shivered suddenly. ‘I realize now that there has always been something about him that repelled me. I would just never let myself admit it before. So!’ She smiled at me. ‘We will do things my way, if you please. After all, I have been more injured than you. I lost my full-blood brother.’
In the end, I allowed myself to be talked into doing as she wanted; not, I regret to say, because her argument altogether convinced me — although, as I mentioned earlier, there was something in what she said — but because I knew that to do things my way would mean the possibility of a long delay before I could set out for home. With luck, I might now find myself in Bristol within a week or two. .
And so indeed it was that two days later, on Friday, the ninth of May — the day that the young king rode in procession through the London streets to the royal apartments in the Tower; the day that his coronation was set for Tuesday, June the twenty-fourth; the day that my lord of Gloucester despatched more men to reinforce those already manning the fortifications of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight — I set out westwards on my journey home, if not with a spring in my step and a song on my lips, then at least with less dissatisfaction than I had anticipated.