The long infirmary hall stretched before us, its rows of beds on each side widely spaced and mostly empty. It reminded me how shrunken in numbers the Benedictines had become; only at the height of their numbers before the Great Pestilence would the community have needed so large an infirmary. Only three beds were occupied, all by old men in nightshifts. In the first a fat, red-cheeked monk sat up eating dried fruits; he peered at us curiously. The man in the next bed did not look towards us and I saw he was blind, his eyes milky white with cataracts. In the third bed a very old man, his thin face a mass of wrinkles, lay muttering, half-conscious. A figure in a white coif and blue servant's robe stood leaning over him, gently wiping his brow with a cloth. I saw to my surprise that it was a woman.
At a table at the far end, by the little altar, half a dozen monks sat playing cards, their arms bandaged after being bled. They looked up at us with wary eyes. The woman turned and I saw that she was young, in her early twenties. She was tall, with a fine, full figure and a strong square face with high cheekbones. She was not beautiful, but striking. She came across, studying us with intelligent dark-blue eyes before dropping her gaze submissively at the last moment.
'The king's new commissioner, for Brother Guy,' the prior said peremptorily. 'They're to lodge here, they'll need a room prepared.' For an instant, a look of dislike passed between him and the girl. Then she nodded and curtsied. 'Yes, Brother.'
She walked away, disappearing through a door by the altar. She had a poised and confident bearing, quite unlike a young maidservant's normal scuttle.
'A woman within the precincts,' I said. 'That is against the injunctions.'
'We have a dispensation, like many houses, to employ women assistants in the infirmary. The gentle hand of a woman skilled in medicine — though I don't think ye'd get much gentleness from the hands of that malapert. She has manners above her station, the infirmarian's too soft with her.'
'Brother Guy?'
'Brother Guy of Malton — of Malton but not from Malton, as ye'll see.'
The girl returned. 'I will take you to the dispensary, sirs.' She spoke with the local accent; her voice was soft and husky.
'I'll leave ye, then.' The prior bowed and left.
The girl was appraising Mark's costume; he had decked himself out in his finest for the journey and under his fur-trimmed coat he wore a blue jacket over a yellow tunic from which, at the bottom, his codpiece poked out. Her eyes moved to his face; many women looked at Mark, but this one's expression was different: I caught an unexpected sadness in her eyes. Mark gave her a winning smile, and she reddened.
I waved my hand. 'Please lead the way.'
We followed her into a dark, narrow passage with doors leading off. One stood open and glancing in I saw another old monk, sitting up in bed.
'Alice, is that you?' he asked querulously as we passed.
'Yes, Brother Paul,' she said gently. 'I will be with you in a moment.'
'The shaking came again.'
'I will bring you some warm wine.'
He smiled, reassured, and the girl led us on, halting before another door. 'This is Brother Guy's dispensary, sirs.'
My hose brushed against a stone pitcher outside the door. To my surprise it felt warm, and I bent for a closer look. The pitchers were filled with a thick, dark liquid. I sniffed, then jumped up quickly and gave the girl a shocked stare.
'What is that?'
'Blood, sir. Only blood. The infirmarian is giving the monks their winter bleeding. We keep the blood, it helps the herbs grow.'
'I never heard of such a thing. I thought monks were forbidden from shedding blood in any way, even infirmarians. Does not a barber-surgeon come to bleed people?'
'Brother Guy is exempt as a qualified physician, sir. He says keeping the blood is a common enough practice where he comes from. He asks would you wait a few minutes, he has just begun to bleed Brother Timothy and must supervise the process.'
'Very well. Thank you. Your name is Alice?'
'Alice Fewterer, sir.'
'Then tell your master we will wait, Alice. We would not have his patient bleed to death.'
She bowed and went off, wooden heels clacking on the stone flags.
'A well-made girl,' Mark observed.
'So she is. A strange job for a woman, this. I think your codpiece amused her, as well it might.'
'I don't like bleeding,' he said, changing the subject. 'The only time I had it done it left me weak as a kitten for days. But they say it balances the humours.'
'Well, God made me of a melancholy humour and I don't believe bleeding will change that. Now, let's see what we have here.' I unclipped the great bunch of keys from my belt, peering at them in the dim light of a wall lantern until I came to one marked 'Inf.' I tried it and the door swung open.