The Vanishing Witch (16 page)

Robert raked his hair distractedly. ‘There are always men who think they had the worst of some business deal, but I can’t recall having any dealings with a friar. They don’t sell wool and they don’t have the money to buy the quality of cloth that I sell. Nor would they wear it.’ His frown deepened. ‘But if it’s
the same man who was hanging about the warehouse a few weeks back, he may not even be in Holy Orders. I think he’s one of a gang of thieves. We’ve had a lot of goods stolen over the past months and one of my men was found . . .’ He trailed off, realising he would terrify Catlin even more if she learned that his rent-collector had been murdered. ‘You saw the man at the warehouse, the first day we
met. Was it the same man you saw tonight?’

She gnawed her lip. ‘I didn’t see his face at the warehouse, or even properly tonight – his hood was drawn low – but I’m sure the robe was the same. And I’ve seen someone dressed like that several times, here on this street. It’s distinctive, not like the robes of the other friars who beg in Lincoln. He obviously knows you come here. Perhaps he’s trying
to trap you, follow you into some alley in the dark.’

Robert sank into a chair. Suppose this man and his gang had murdered the rent-collector not simply for the money he had been carrying but as a ghastly warning to Robert himself. Now he’d unwittingly brought grave danger to the door of this defenceless woman. He’d never forgive himself if any harm came to her or to Leonia.

‘I’ll report this
to Sheriff Thomas at once, tonight, and insist his men hunt down this fiend. First thing tomorrow I intend to hire a burly manservant for you, Mistress Catlin, one who knows how to use a weapon. I shall pay his wages myself.’

Seeing she was about to protest, he wagged a finger sternly. ‘No buts, Mistress Catlin, he will stay in the house at least until that felon is caught. He and your son should
be able to fend off any attack. But you must not go out alone, not even to the market. Promise me that.’

‘I’ll see to it that my two precious angels are not left alone for a minute, you can be sure of that,’ Diot said, shuffling in with a rabbit pie and a jug of wine. She set them on a small table next to Robert’s chair. ‘Now, Master Robert, there’s nothing like a good wedge of pie to settle
the stomach after a shock.’

Catlin smiled wanly at Robert as the maid waddled out again. ‘Diot thinks food is the answer to every problem in the world, bless her.’

She rose, came over to the table and cut Robert a generous slice. ‘But it’s you I’m concerned about, Robert. It is you who needs the guard, not me. You should take an armed linkman with you when you walk abroad at night.’

Robert
grimaced. ‘Edith said as much some weeks ago.’

‘And how is the poor creature? Is she any better?’

Not for the first time Robert marvelled at Catlin’s generosity of spirit. There weren’t many women in the world who, after such an upsetting encounter, would show concern for another’s troubles. ‘Alas, she grows weaker each day. Hugo Bayus keeps trying new remedies, but I see no improvement.’

‘I’m sure he will find the right physic soon. You must try not to worry, my poor sweeting, but I can see that you do. You are exhausted. Is this news of the Lombard merchants vexing you?’

‘How the devil do you know about that?’ Robert stared at her. She never stopped amazing him. ‘I have only just learned of it myself.’

Catlin smiled. ‘I passed through the beast market this morning. I heard one
of the farmers talking about the Lombards trying to buy fleeces before the shearing. Is it true?’

‘It is, devil take them.’ Robert drained his goblet and set it down hard. ‘God’s blood, those foreigners are stealing our own English wool from under our noses. As if we weren’t having a hard enough time of it already, with the Flanders weavers in rebellion.’

Catlin slid out of her chair and came
to stand behind Robert, tenderly massaging his temples. ‘Then there is only one thing to be done. You must go out on the road yourself. You know this shire better than any Lombard merchant. You told me once you could tell which fleeces had come from which farm by looking at them. Buy them before the Lombards discover them. I’m sure the abbots and farmers would sooner deal with an honest Englishman
than a foreigner, who’s likely to sail away with their fleeces and their money.’

‘Would that I could!’ Robert caught her soft little hand and kissed it. ‘But with Edith so sick, I can’t leave her and I can’t spare Jan to go. He’s enough to deal with here. There’s been some trouble with the tenants.’

‘Then Jan must stay and you must go. It would be safer in any case for you to be out of Lincoln,
if this mad friar is watching you. He could hardly follow you if you were on horseback, and the sheriff will catch him long before you return.’

As Robert opened his mouth to explain again why that was impossible, she pressed her finger to his lips. ‘I will take care of Edith while you are gone. I nursed my dear mother and father for many years before they died. I’m not without skill in the sickroom.
Besides, a woman much prefers another of her own sex to be with her when she’s ill. There are certain needs that no woman can confide to a man. And no wife wants her husband to see her when she’s not at her best.’

Robert, his headache easing and his whole body relaxing into a blissful stupor under her expert touch, had no doubt as to Catlin’s skill. And it would certainly give him peace of mind
to think that she was safely under his roof, with Tenney and Beata to watch over her, for his house was far more secure than this one.

He shook himself. What was he thinking? Edith was so unreasonably and insanely jealous of Catlin that he feared she would sooner throw herself down the stairs than let Catlin into her house.

‘You’re an angel, my dear, but I’m afraid Edith would never agree. She’s
allowed herself to be persuaded by those with venomous tongues that you and I . . . that we . . . are more than business acquaintances.’

‘As indeed we are, for I’ve come to look upon you as a friend, a very dear friend, as I hope you regard me.’

She moved to the table, refilling the two goblets with wine. She handed one to him and stood before him, looking down at him with a sad smile. Even
through her gown, he could feel the soft warmth of her leg pressing against his thigh.

‘But, Robert, we know we’ve done nothing to reproach ourselves for, nothing that would give truth to the lies she’s heard or imagined in her poor fevered brain.’ She reached down and gently caressed his cheek. ‘I’d never betray one of my own sex. I’ve felt the pain of such treachery only too sharply myself,
as well you know.’

It was beyond Robert’s imagining that any man lucky enough to have been blessed with such a woman as Catlin for a wife could ever betray her in another woman’s bed. Not for the first time since she had confided in him, he wished Warrick still lived so that he could thrash him to death with a horsewhip. He deserved no less.

‘I’ve told my wife a thousand times that our friendship
is entirely chaste and innocent, but she refuses to believe me.’

‘Then the solution is simple,’ Catlin said. ‘We will not tell her who I am. You will explain to Edith that you have asked a gentlewoman to come as her companion to stay with her while you’re away on business. She’s never seen me. I will use some other name. Why should she suspect? It’s a deception, I know, but a harmless one and
for her own good.’

Robert beamed at her. Then his face clouded. ‘But Jan has met you. He’d recognise you.’

‘Of course he would. He’s a dear boy and he’ll be relieved that someone is there to care for his mother. I think he’ll be delighted you have shown enough faith in him to leave him in charge of the warehouse. I saw for myself that he longs for a looser rein when he is handling your business
affairs and he will see this as a way to earn your trust and prove himself as a man. He’ll not want to let you down. And with me there to relieve him of the worry of his mother, he’ll be able to spend all the hours he needs on the business.’ She clapped her hands as if an idea had just occurred to her. ‘Why don’t you let me speak to Jan myself, tomorrow, at the warehouse? I’m sure I can help him
see that this is the best solution for both of you.’

Robert caught her hand and kissed the soft, warm palm. ‘I’m sure you can. You, my dear, could persuade a man to anything.’

Catlin bent and brushed her lips against his forehead in a chaste kiss. He could smell the rose perfume between her breasts and it took all his willpower not to pull her into his lap and enfold her in his arms.

‘That’s
settled then, Robert. Who knows? By the time you return, Edith will have learned to love me as a sister and realise there were no grounds for her suspicions.’

Whoever steps upon the grave of an unbaptised child will be infected with grave-scab, which some call grave-merels. His skin shall burn, his breathing be laboured, his limbs tremble, and soon he will die.

I thought it a queer business for a man to bring his mistress into his house to take care of his wife, and I had half a mind to say something to Mistress Edith, but the dear
soul was so sick, I didn’t want to add to her troubles. As it was, she fretted herself half to death whenever Master Robert was away, one moment afeared he’d been robbed and murdered, the next that he might be in the company of Mistress Catlin or some other woman. Her fancies had grown worse since she’d taken to her bed for she’d little else to think about, save where her husband and sons might be
at any hour. She imagined a hundred deaths lying in wait for them while she was not there to protect them.

Like Master Robert said, dwelling on her fears was making her worse, sickening her stomach like a piece of resty pork. It was Master Robert, of course, who insisted Edith shouldn’t know that Mistress Catlin had come to take care of her. He told Tenney and me who she was, ’cause he knew fine
rightly we’d find out sooner or later: someone was bound to recognise her. You can no more keep a secret in Lincoln than you can stop bad smells rising from a midden and, besides, Master Jan had met her, so he was sure to say something. Even a blind mare in the dark could have seen Master Jan was none too pleased about the arrangement, but he’d been talked into keeping quiet like the rest of us.

We were to call her Mistress Mariot and not utter her real name in front of either Adam or Edith, for Adam couldn’t be trusted not to tell his mother, or so Master Robert said.

‘Well, the master needn’t think I’m going along with it,’ I said indignantly to Tenney, as soon as we were alone. ‘I’ll not have my mistress deceived, not while I’m maid in this house.’

‘You go saying anything to Mistress
Edith and you’ll not remain a maid in this house for so much as a day after the master returns. Then where will you be? Begging on the streets, is where. And if I know the master he’ll see you never find another position, not in these parts at any rate. He’s got a longer reach than the devil.’

‘But to move his mistress in. It’s not decent,’ I protested, now in even more of a cob for knowing Tenney
was right.

‘Master says she’s not his mistress, just a friend, a widow he’s been helping,’ Tenney said.

‘And you believe that? You men all stick together. You think we women are as green as cabbage and we’ll believe anything you tell us. Well, I know the master’s been at that widow’s house when he’s sworn to the mistress he hasn’t.’

Tenney groaned. ‘Only ’cause he knows Mistress Edith is just
like you. She’s only to see a leaf fall to imagine the whole tree’s about to crash down after it. You and me, we see each other morning, noon and night, even sleep in the same hall, and there’s nowt going on between us. So why should there be anything ’twixt the master and this widow?’

I winced when he said that for I’d have climbed into Tenney’s bed any time he asked me, and there was a time
when I’d thought he might, for he seemed to have a fondness for me – but look at me: I’m nowt but a gargoyle. Once, years ago, I heard a man say they should stick me in the fields to frighten the crows and never was a truer word spoken.

But Catlin turned out to be no beauty herself. I was expecting this pretty young creature, with her breasts pushed up high, the kind of wench you see flaunting
herself in the taverns, but she looked quite ordinary to me, respectable, even. She wore the kind of well-cut gowns Mistress Edith wore, though they looked far more fetching on her than they did on my poor mistress. Tenney’s tongue was dragging on the ground, of course, soon as he caught sight of her. But a half-decent woman has only got to smile at a man for him to melt like butter in the sun.

I was as prickly as a thorn bush when she first arrived. I certainly wasn’t going to give her any encouragement. But when I saw how tenderly she treated my mistress and how motherly she tried to be towards little Adam, I couldn’t help warming to her a little. And you could see Jan was softening as well, for he was no different from any other man. They all slide into a puddle of wax when a woman
flatters them.

The same couldn’t be said for young Adam. He resented any stranger going anywhere near his mam, and after Catlin gently shooed him from the room, because Mistress Edith needed to sleep, Adam sulked so fierce that he’d only answer her in single words. But the widow never once lost her temper with the lad or scolded him, however rude he was to her.

A few days after Widow Catlin
arrived, I came home from the market to find the yard deserted. Adam was at school. Tenney and the stable-boy had gone to collect a cartload of wood. I guessed Widow Catlin must be sitting with my mistress. I put my basket in the kitchen, then crossed the courtyard to the main house, intending to take the physic I’d collected from the apothecary straight up to the mistress’s bedchamber.

But as
I stepped through the door into the hall, I saw a stranger standing by the fireplace, with one of my master’s best silver goblets in his hand. My heart jumped, like a frog on a baker’s oven, and I gave a yelp. The man jerked round and started towards me. I grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on, a spiked bronze candlestick in the form of a little manikin, and brandished it in front of me.
Master Robert had warned us to look out for a friar known to be one of a gang of murderous thieves who had already tried to attack him. Not that this man looked like a friar, but he might have been one of his gang.