Squire Throwleigh's Heir by Michael Jecks

Author:Michael Jecks
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2010-05-30T22:00:00+00:00

Thomas thrust himself past Simon and went to stand between Baldwin and the prisoner. ‘What in God’s name has all this to do with anything? Are you making fun of my hospitality, Sir Knight?’

‘Out of my way, Thomas!’ Baldwin roared. Thomas blenched and fell back before the knight’s enraged glare. Baldwin stood, glowering.

‘You know perfectly well that this poor fool had nothing to do with the death of your nephew; he couldn’t have run down a child on a cart pulled by a broken-down nag. This whole affair is a farce, and you have contrived to have an innocent man arrested - someone who couldn’t possibly defend himself. You selected him carefully, didn’t you?’

‘He might have run over Herbert without the boy seeing him,’ Thomas said.

Simon had no idea what the two men were talking about, but two factors weighed heavily with him: he had faith in Baldwin’s judgement, and Thomas was showing signs of extreme anxiety.

‘You know as well as I do that that’s rubbish,’ Baldwin said sharply. ‘A lad lying on his back, and you suggest that he couldn’t see what was coming towards him? Or perhaps you believe that he wished to remain there, and wanted to be run down?’

‘Perhaps he was unconscious?’ Thomas suggested with a slight frown, as if putting forward a novel new concept.

‘Yes, and perhaps he was lying there because someone else had already killed him, eh? Master Thomas, you had your horse with you that afternoon, I believe?’

‘Do you dare to suggest that—’

“I suggest you should exercise your brain as to how to release this man without leaving a smear of any sort on his character -and at the earliest possible moment,‘ said Baldwin, and glanced towards the baffled farmer. ’Edmund, you said the body reminded you of your son. Why was that? Was the boy wearing clothing like young Jordan’s?‘

The shaken farmer took a moment to consider the question. ‘No, sir, it’s only that my lad often used to play with Master Herbert. The last time I saw Squire Roger was when he came to complain about my son playing with Master Herbert in the orchard, I remembered Jordan saying he was going to play up at the manor, and automatically thought to myself that it must be him. That was all.’

‘Well, all I can say is, I think you ran over a dead boy, farmer. Herbert was dead long before you hit him.’

‘He might have been alive,’ Thomas protested.

‘If he was alive, he was unconscious and unaware of the cart heading towards him, which means the fanner was not responsible. The man who knocked the child down in the first place was responsible. Wasn’t he?’'

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.