Butchery: A Mystery of Tudor London by Kenneth Browning

Author:Kenneth Browning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: crime, murder, politics, london, tudor, 16th century

As he was walking along Gracechurch Street anyway, Thomas decided that it would be helpful to discuss his findings with George. He found him in his shop, demonstrating to one of the apprentices how to sew the buckle onto a boot “so that it won't fall off the next time a bloody dog farts.” Both men were deep in concentration, and Thomas almost left them to it. However, George noticed him and beckoned him inside. He handed the apprentice the needle and said to Thomas: “Drink?”

Thomas nodded -- walking in the May sunshine had made him thirsty. The apprentice stood up as if to fetch the drinks, but George pushed him back down again, saying: “You need to practice sewing buckles more than pouring ale.” He went out to the back of the shop and came back a minute later with a tray of mugs, which he passed around the shop. Thomas accepted a mug, and drank it in one draught.

“So,” asked George. “Any news?” Looking around at the men's inquisitive glances, he continued: “Let's go into the back yard. We can sit in the sun.”

As they left the shop and walked along the narrow passage, Thomas said: “Where shall I start?” He began by recounting his meeting with the Wilkes brothers in the Poultry Compter, and the theft of the silver cross from its hiding place in St Margaret's. At the end, he said: “So it seems there's most likely no connection between the Wilkes brothers and the murders after all.”

The men sat on a bench in the yard. George rubbed his still-swollen knee, and winced. “That doesn't mean they won't hang for their other crimes. Stealing from a church is without benefit of clergy.”

Thomas frowned. “If you prosecute for stealing the cross, you'll have to say where it came from. That will put Master Beresford in a very difficult position.”

“Well, I can't just keep it!” George protested. “Just having it in the shop gives me a headache.”

Thomas thought about this. “You could give it back to the church, maybe?” Knowing George as he did, Thomas didn't think this suggestion would be received well, but he felt he had to make it.

“Not likely! It's a graven image; an idol. It should be melted down with all the other popish frippery.”

“It's a bloody work of art, Jack, popish or not.”

George hesitated; the beauty of the artefact could not be denied. Nevertheless, he replied stolidly: “It's an image of our Lord, and a temptation to sinful idolatry. Its beauty makes it even more pernicious.”

Thomas shrugged. “It's never going to be on display though, is it? Nobody's going to be tempted away from the New Religion by it -- the only people who will ever see it are incorrigible Papists and they're beyond redemption.”

George frowned. “I'm not sure about any of this. Even if I approved of keeping the cross out of the furnace -- which I don't -- it's a big risk for all of us.”

Thomas looked at George evenly, wondering whether the proselytising was intended to convince him, or George himself.

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