Heresy by S. J. Parris

Author:S. J. Parris [S. J. Parris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-12-03T05:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Gabriel Norris’s room was on the ground floor in the west range, tucked behind the staircase, his door marked with a painted name sign; I knocked hard and was certain I heard some movement within, but a few moments passed and no one answered. I knocked again and called out Norris’s name; there was a hasty scuffling of feet and the door swung open to reveal Thomas Allen. He had evidently been engaged in some of his servant’s duties, as his shirtsleeves were rolled up to the elbow and he clutched a dirty cloth between his hands.

‘Oh – Doctor Bruno,’ he exclaimed, and his face reddened violently as he bunched the cloth into a ball, looking flustered.

‘Sorry to disturb you, Thomas – I see you are at work. I was looking for Master Norris.’

‘He is not here,’ Thomas said, still looking perturbed, then glanced over his shoulder as if to check the truth of his own assertion. Through the open door I glimpsed a comfortable chamber, furnished as a parlour with a high-backed wooden settle in front of the fire. Compared to the austerity of most scholars’ rooms the chamber offered a distinct sense of luxury. Windows on both sides opened on to the lane and the quadrangle and filled the room with light even on this bleak day. Beneath the outer window was a heavy trunk, iron-bound and secured with a solid padlock.

‘He is out at the public lectures, I expect. I was just cleaning his shoes,’ Thomas added, defensively.

‘Do you not attend the public lectures too?’

‘Not when there is work to be done,’ he snapped. I was surprised at his manner, but I supposed he did not like to be seen at his menial tasks.

‘His shoes needed cleaning urgently today, then?’ I asked, as a thought struck me. Thomas must have caught something in my tone because he frowned and his shoulders seemed to tense.

‘I clean his shoes every day,’ he said, a wary note in his voice. ‘Why did you want to see Gabriel?’

‘I wanted to ask when he took his longbow to the strongroom.’

Thomas looked mildly surprised at the question, but shrugged carelessly before wiping his hands on his shirt front.

‘I took it, on Saturday morning. Gabriel was furious – he said the rector had commanded him to give it up, after he’d done them a service, too, shooting that mad dog.’

‘So you took it there yourself?’

He blinked at my tone, then shook his head.

‘I went to do so, but as I was crossing the quadrangle I was seen by Doctor Coverdale and Doctor Bernard, who were standing by the stairs to chapel. They stopped me and asked what I was doing with such a weapon in college. When I explained, Doctor Coverdale told me that I could leave it outside his door on the landing and he would see that it was safely locked away.’

‘Did Doctor Bernard hear this exchange?’

‘He was standing right beside Doctor Coverdale, so I presume so.’ Thomas looked puzzled.

‘Could anyone else have overheard?’

‘I don’t know.

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