The Devil's Disciples: The Fourteenth Chronicle Of Matthew Bartholomew (The Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew) by Gregory Susanna

Author:Gregory, Susanna [Gregory, Susanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780748124503
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2010-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

‘Cecily has taken a fancy to you, Matt,’ said Michael, as they left Spynk’s house. ‘Perhaps she hopes her amorous attentions will improve their chances of getting Sewale Cottage.’

‘Her interest faded the moment you made that remark about me preferring men. Now she will concentrate her efforts on you instead.’

Michael did not seem as discomfited as the physician felt he should have been. He smiled. ‘I will be a better proposition, anyway. You pay little attention to what transpires at Fellows’ meetings, so she was wasting her time if she expected you to put in a useful word on her husband’s behalf.’

‘I doubt that was her intention – there is scant affection in her marriage, and I suspect she is more likely to hinder Spynk than help him. Shall we go to see Mother Valeria, to ask if Danyell visited her the night he died?’

‘You can do that later, after dark, when hopefully no one will see you. We need to know whether she gave him a “cure” that may – deliberately or otherwise – have hastened his end.’

Bartholomew did not like the implications of that remark. ‘She is a healer, Brother. She does not kill her clients. Besides, I thought you had accepted my diagnosis that Danyell died of natural causes.’

‘I am inclined to keep an open mind, because nothing is as it should be at the moment. Perhaps the Sorcerer has an ability to bring about seizures, and saw Danyell – who seems to have been a fellow heathen – as competition. Or perhaps Valeria killed him because she wanted a dead man’s hand. You told me yourself that such items are believed to hold dark power.’

Despite the warmth of the sun, Bartholomew shuddered. ‘I will talk to her tonight.’

The monk sighed. ‘I dislike this kind of case – where we are obliged to tackle people’s religious convictions. I can tell Eyton that Goldynham did not scratch his own way out of his grave until I am blue in the face, but there is nothing I can do to make him believe me.’

‘It cannot last. Something will happen to show that all these events have perfectly logical explanations.’

‘Unfortunately, I suspect folk will be looking for supernatural ones for everything from now on, and that sort of thing is virtually impossible to combat. For example, William used a piece of cheese to mark his place in a library book last week, and it left a greasy stain. Deynman scattered the book with mugwort – a witch’s remedy – and this morning the blemish was gone. He says the Sorcerer is responsible, because the book was about astrology.’

Bartholomew looked sheepish. ‘That was me. I rubbed out the mark with chalk powder, because I could not sleep after the business with Goldynham, and it seemed a good way to pass the time.’

Michael grimaced. ‘But no one will believe you. It is much more exciting to think the Sorcerer mended the book, than a physician with chalk and time on his hands.’

They walked in silence for a while.

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