'Some people find it harder to learn than others. I was told not to go in that bog, but I did.'
'But that was a mistake, sir, not a sin. And if one finds it hard to learn, all the more reason to give a firm lesson, surely. And that boy is weakly, he could have taken an ague in any case.' His tone was stern.
I raised my eyebrows. 'You appear to view the world in black and white, Brother.'
He looked puzzled. 'Of course, sir. Black and white. Sin and virtue. God and the Devil. The rules are laid down and we must follow them.'
'Now the rules are laid down by the king, not the pope.'
He looked at me seriously. 'Yes, sir, and we must follow those.'
I reflected that that was not what Brother Athelstan had reported him and the others as saying. 'I understand, Brother Bursar, that you were away on the night Commissioner Singleton was killed?'
'Y-yes. We have some estates over at W-Winchelsea. I was not happy with the steward's accounts, I rode over to make a spot check. I was away three nights.'
'What did you uncover?'
'I thought he'd b-been cheating us. But it was just a matter of errors. I've sacked him, though. If people can't keep proper ac-c-counts they're no good to me.'
'Did you go alone?'
'I took one of my assistants, old Brother William, whom you saw in the counting house.' He looked at me shrewdly. 'And I was at the steward's house the night Commissioner S-Singleton was killed. G-God rest him,' he added piously.
'You have many duties then,' I said. 'But at least you have assistants to help you. The old man and the boy.'
He gave me a sharp look. 'Yes, though the boy's more trouble than he's worth.'
'Is he?'
'No head for figures, n-none at all. I have s-set him to looking out the books you requested, they should b-be with you soon.' He almost slipped, and I caught his arm.
'Thank you, sir. By Our Lady, this snow!'
===OO=OOO=OO===
For the rest of the journey he concentrated on where he was putting his feet, and we said little more till we reached the monastery precinct. We parted in the courtyard; Brother Edwig returned to his counting house and I turned my steps back towards the infirmary. I needed some dinner. I thought about the bursar; a jack-in-office, obsessed with his financial responsibilities probably to the exclusion of all else. But devoted to the monastery too. Would he be prepared to countenance dishonesty to protect it, or would that mean crossing the line between white and black? He was an unsympathetic man, but as I had said to Mark the night before, that did not make him a murderer any more than the sympathy I felt for Brother Gabriel made him innocent. I sighed. It was hard to be objective among these people.
As I opened the infirmary door, all seemed quiet. The hall was deserted. The sick old man lay quietly in his bed, the blind monk was asleep in his chair and the fat monk's bed was empty; perhaps Brother Guy had persuaded him it was time to leave. A fire crackled welcomingly in the grate and I went to warm myself for a moment.
As I stood watching steam rise from my wet hose, I heard sounds from within; confused, fractured noises, cries and shouts and the crash of pottery breaking. The sounds came closer. I stared in astonishment as the door to the sick rooms burst open and a tangle of struggling figures fell into the hall: Alice, Mark, Brother Guy, and at the centre a thin figure in a white nightshirt, who as I watched threw the others off and staggered away. I recognized Simon Whelplay, but he was a very different figure now from the half-dead wraith I had seen the night before. His face was puce, his eyes wide and staring and there was a froth of spittle at the corner of his mouth. He seemed to be trying to speak but could only gasp and retch.
'God's blood, what's happening?' I called out to Mark.