Book of Colours by Robyn Cadwallader

Author:Robyn Cadwallader
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

A breeze blew between the houses; it delivered to Gemma a waft of odour so strong that it seemed to have shape and weight. She held her breath and turned her head, then looked out again. The street seemed even muckier than usual: food scraps and shit had soaked into the stale rushes that were banked up into a foul-smelling pile, baking in the sun. The muckrakers had been working hard to clear the streets and carry away the filth accumulated over the days of locked gates, but there was so much. Today, of course, they would have been busy making sure Cheap was clean, ready for the procession, leaving the smaller streets to wallow.

Ah, there was Alice. The set of her head and the neat steps were so familiar, almost part of Gemma’s own body. She called down and her daughter looked up quickly, though without smiling, and picked her way through the mess.

A short time later, she appeared at the doorway.

‘Oh, the muck out there. Deeper than ever,’ she said as she glanced around. ‘This place seems so small.’

‘It’s the same as always.’

‘Yes, just small is all. Low roof, hardly room to move. After the bishop’s house, you know. His hall is four times the size of this. No, more like six times. And grand.’

Gemma smiled.

‘And the parchment on the window. Is that still not fixed?’

‘You’re unharmed then. We were worried about you, Alice.’

‘I told you I’d be fine, didn’t I?’

‘What happened? Did the soldiers come? Did the bishop make them go away?’

Alice looked down, awkward. ‘I told you. I’m fine.’

‘But did the bishop . . .?’ Something in her daughter’s face, and Gemma realised the truth. ‘Was the bishop there?’

Alice crossed her arms. ‘He had business in Wales, so he had to go. But Judith was there, and Leon, the gardener.’

‘The bishop left you? Holy Mary Mother of God, he saved his own miserable skin. I’ll go and—’

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