In the Presence of Evil by Tania Bayard

Author:Tania Bayard [Tania Bayard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2018-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

If little girls were sent to school, they would learn and understand the fine points of all the arts and sciences just as well as boys.

Christine de Pizan,

Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, 1404–1405

Christine walked to the rue Tiron, hoping to meet Marion. The wind began to blow again, but the chill she felt wasn’t caused by the weather. It was caused by the fact that she’d pledged to help a woman accused of murder, and the realization that she was placing herself, and now Brother Michel as well, in peril. She came to the path leading to the brothel and gazed at the old cottage half hidden by bare, tangled brambles, writhing in the wind. Marion was nowhere in sight. If she wanted to speak to her, she would have to go to the door and ask for her, and that was impossible. She would try to find a murderer, but she would not go into a brothel, not even to defy her mother. Or Brother Michel.

So she turned around and went back to her own safe, respectable home, where, although they had to count every denier, there was always a cheerful fire and something delicious for dinner. She took off her cloak and stood for a moment in the front hall, comforted by familiar sounds and savory smells – the children taunting each other on the stairs, her mother and Georgette arguing in the kitchen, dishes rattling, the fragrance of her mother’s cooking. She couldn’t blame Michel for always arriving at dinnertime.

She went into the kitchen, where she found Georgette grinding something with a mortar and pestle and her mother preparing a compote of dried pears and wine. ‘Where have you been?’ Francesca asked.

‘I met Brother Michel. He told me two more of the burned men died this morning. The king and his uncles are very distressed. They fear more unrest in the streets.’

‘Cretini! Those uncles should be run through with daggers, like the man you found at the palace.’ Francesca drove her knife into one of the pears.

‘Michel also told me Alix de Clairy has been sentenced to die the day after tomorrow.’

Francesca set the knife down. ‘You must not upset yourself too much over this, Cristina.’

‘I’m going to speak with the king, Mama. Michel went to the palace to arrange an audience for me.’

‘How did you convince him to do that?’

‘It doesn’t matter. He’ll come here later and tell me when the audience is to be.’

Francesca shook her head. Then she brightened and said, ‘Michel will stay for dinner. We are having civet of hare. Georgette, you must break up some bread. Christina, you will bring the spices.’ She handed her the key to the small cabinet where she kept those expensive items.

Christine unlocked the cabinet and stared at the shelves, knowing she should be able to remember which spices were required for the hare recipe. But she couldn’t.

Her mother sighed. ‘Cloves, pepper, and mace. And also ginger, saffron, and cinnamon for the pears. How

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