The abbot looked at Jerome's frowning face. 'Eighteen long months.'
I cast my eye over the assembled monks, who gave me uneasy glances as though I were a strange beast set among them. I noticed they were mainly middle-aged or elderly, few young faces and only three in novices' habits. One old monk, his head trembling with palsy, crossed himself quickly as he studied me.
My eye was drawn to a figure standing uncertainly by the door. I recognized the novice who had taken our horses earlier; he stood shifting uneasily from foot to foot, holding something behind his back. Prior Mortimus looked up from his table.
'Simon Whelplay!' he snapped. 'Your penance is not over, you will have no dinner tonight. Take your place in that corner.'
The boy bowed his head and crossed to a corner of the room, furthest from the fire. He brought his hands round and I saw he held a fool's pointed cap, with the letter 'M' stencilled on it. Reddening, he put it on. The other monks barely glanced at him.
'M?' I asked.
'For maleficium,' the abbot said. 'He has broken the rules, I am afraid. Please, sit.'
Mark and I took places beside Brother Guy, while the abbot went to the lectern. I saw a bible was placed there and was pleased to see it was the English Bible, not the Latin Vulgate with its mistranslations and invented gospels.
'Brethren,' Abbot Fabian announced sonorously, 'we have all been greatly shocked by recent events. I am pleased to welcome the vicar general's representative, Commissioner Shardlake, who has come to investigate the matter. He will be speaking to many of you, and you are to afford him all the help Lord Cromwell's representative deserves.' I eyed him sharply; those words carried a double meaning.
'Master Shardlake has given authority for Master Singleton to be buried, and the funeral service will take place after Matins, the day after tomorrow.' There was a relieved murmur along the tables. 'And now, our reading is from Revelation, Chapter 7: "And after those things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth…"'
I was surprised he chose Revelation, for it was a text favoured much by reformists of the hot gospeller sort, keen to tell the world they had fathomed its mysteries and violent symbols. The passage dealt with the Lord's roll-call of the saved at the Day of Judgement. It seemed like a challenge to me, identifying the community with the righteous.
'"And he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
'Amen,' he concluded sonorously, then closed the bible and walked solemnly out of the refectory; doubtless his roast beef was waiting in his dining room. It was the signal for a babble of chatter to break out as half a dozen servants entered and began serving soup. It was a thick vegetable broth, richly spiced and delicious. I had not eaten since breakfast and concentrated on my bowl for a minute before glancing over at Whelplay, still as a statue in the shadows. Through the window beside him I saw the snow still tumbling down. I turned to the prior, who was sitting opposite me.
'The novice is not to have any of this fine soup?'
'Not for another four days. He's to stand there through the meal as part of his penance. He must learn. D'ye think me too severe, sir?'
'How old is he? He does not look eighteen.'
'He's nearly twenty, though you wouldn't think it from his scrawny looks. His novitiate was extended, he had problems mastering the Latin, though he has musical skills. He assists Brother Gabriel. Simon Whelplay needs to learn obedience. He is being punished, among other things, for avoiding the services in English. When I set people a penance I give them a good lesson that'll stick in their minds and those of others.'
'Quite r-right, Brother Prior.' The bursar spoke up, nodding vigorously. He smiled at me; a cold smile, making a brief slash across his chubby face. 'I am Brother Edwig, Commissioner, the bursar.' He set his silver spoon down in his plate, which he had quickly emptied.