He looked at me directly. 'No, sir. I have tried to tell you before how I feel about Augmentations.'
'Mark, hear me. I do not like some of the things that are happening now any more than you. But — it is all to an end. Our goal is a new and purer realm.' I got up and stood above him, spreading my arms wide. 'The monastic lands, for example. You have seen what this place is like, these fat monks steeped in every heresy the pope ever devised, living on the backs of the town, becking and scraping to their images when, given the chance, they would play the filthy person with each other, or young Alice, or you. It's all coming to an end, and so it should. It's a disgrace.'
'Some of them are not bad people. Brother Guy—'
'The institution is rotten. Listen: if Lord Cromwell can get these lands into the king's hands then, yes, some will be given to his supporters. That is the nature of patronage, it is how society works, it is inevitable. But the sums are vast; they will give the king enough money to make him independent of Parliament. Listen, you feel for the plight of the poor, do you not?'
'Yes, sir. It is a disgrace. People like Alice thrown off their lands everywhere, masterless men begging in the streets—'
'Yes. It is a disgrace. Lord Cromwell tried to put a Bill through Parliament last year that would truly succour the poor, set up almshouses for those who could not work and provide great public works for those without labour, building roads and canals. Parliament turned the Bill down because the gentry did not want to pay a tax on income to fund it. But with the wealth of the monasteries in the king's coffers, he won't need Parliament. He can build schools. He can pay to provide an English bible in every church. Imagine it, work for everyone, all the people reading God's word. And that is why Augmentations is vital!'
He smiled sadly. 'You do not think, like Master Copynger, that only householders should be allowed to read the Bible? I have heard Lord Rich believes the same. My father is not a householder, they would not allow him the Bible. Nor am I.'
'You will be one day. But no, I do not agree with Copynger. And Rich is a rogue. Cromwell needs him now, but he will ensure he rises no further. Things will settle down.'
'Will they, sir?'
'They must. They must. You need to think, Mark, you need to pray. I cannot — I cannot cope with doubts, not now. There is too much at stake.'
He turned back to the fire. 'I am sorry to vex you, sir.'
'Then believe what I say.'
My back ached. For a long time we were silent as dusk fell outside and the room slowly darkened. It was not a comfortable quietude. I was glad I had spoken so vigorously to Mark and I believed all I had said about the future I thought we were building. Yet as I sat there Jerome's words came back to me, and his face, and my lawyer's instinct told me that he had not been lying. But if everything he had said was true, then Reform was being built on an edifice of lies and monstrous brutality. And I was part of it all. Lying there, I was horrified. Then a thought came to comfort me. If Jerome was mad he might have come truly to believe in something that was only a fantasy in his head. I had known such things before. I told myself that must be the answer; what was more, I should cease from agonizing over this; I needed rest and a clear head for the morrow. In such ways do men of conscience comfort themselves against their doubts.
CHAPTER 17
All at once Mark was shaking me awake; I must have fallen asleep lying there.
'Sir, Brother Guy is here.'
The infirmarian stood looking down at me; hastily I got to my feet.
'I have a message, Commissioner. The abbot has the land deeds you requested and some correspondence he wishes to send out. He is on his way.'
'Thank you, Brother.' He looked at me intently, fingering the rope at the waist of his habit with long brown fingers.
'I will shortly be going to the night service for Simon Whelplay. Commissioner, I feel I should tell what I suspect about his poisoning to the abbot.'