02 World Without End by Ken Follett

Author:Ken Follett [Follett, Ken]
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The two nuns left. Godwyn and Philemon waited for Elfric to finish his gruesome task; then they went back inside the treasury.

Godwyn said: “I think we’re safe.”

Philemon nodded. “Caris is a suspicious woman, but all her questions were answered satisfactorily.”

“In which case…”

Philemon closed the door and locked it. Then he lifted the stone slab over one of the nuns’ two vaults and took out the chest.

“Sister Beth keeps a small amount of cash for everyday needs somewhere in the nuns’ quarters,” he explained to Godwyn. “She comes in here only to deposit or withdraw larger sums. She always goes to the other vault, which contains mostly silver pennies. She almost never opens this chest, which contains the bequest.”

He turned the box around and looked at the hinge at the back. It was fixed to the wood by four nails. He took from his pocket a thin steel chisel and a pair of pliers for gripping. Godwyn wondered where he had got the tools, but did not ask. Sometimes it was best not to know too many details.

Philemon slipped the sharp blade of the chisel under the edge of the iron hinge and pushed. The hinge came away from the wood slightly, and he pushed the blade in a little farther. He worked delicately and patiently, careful to make sure that the damage would not be visible to a casual glance. Gradually the flat plate of the hinge became detached, the nails coming out with it. When he had made enough room for the pliers to grip the nailheads, he pulled them out. Then he was able to detach the hinge and lift the lid.

“Here’s the money from the pious woman of Thornbury,” he said.

Godwyn looked into the chest. The money was in Venetian ducats. These gold coins showed the doge of Venice kneeling before St. Mark on one side and, on the other, the Virgin Mary, surrounded by stars to indicate that she was in heaven. Ducats were intended to be interchangeable with florins from Florence, and were the same size, weight, and purity of metal. They were worth three shillings, or thirty-six English silver pennies. England had its own gold coins now, an innovation of King Edward’s—nobles, half nobles, and quarter nobles—but these had been in circulation less than two years and had not yet displaced foreign gold coins.

Godwyn took fifty ducats, worth seven pounds and ten shillings. Philemon closed the lid of the chest. He wrapped each of the nails in a thin strip of leather, to make them a tight fit, and reattached the hinge. He put the chest back in the vault and lowered the slab over the hole.

“Of course they will notice the loss, sooner or later,” he said.

“It may not be for years,” Godwyn said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

They went out, and Godwyn locked the door.

Godwyn said: “Find Elfric, and meet me in the cemetery.”

Philemon left. Godwyn went to the eastern end of the graveyard, just beyond the existing prior’s house.

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