Hugh Corbett 13 - Corpse Candle Read Online Free Page B

King’s life. They became boon companions, drinking from the same loving cup. There was another, Sir Reginald Harcourt. He and Daubigny were the firmest of friends, close allies. In fact, people thought they were brothers. They went everywhere together.’
    ‘What happened?’ Ranulf asked.
    ‘We don’t know. Before I left Norwich I asked the King, but even he did not know the details. Apparently Sir Reginald left on some mysterious pilgrimage.’
    ‘To the Holy Land?’
    ‘No, no, to Cologne in Germany. According to rumour, he left by one of the Eastern ports and landed at Dordrecht in Hainault but then disappeared.’
    ‘Disappeared?’ Chanson queried, he loved to eavesdrop on his master’s conversations.
    ‘That’s right, my cross-eyed clerk of the stables,’ Ranulf declared. ‘Disappeared. That’s what Sir Hugh said.’
    ‘Hush now!’
    Corbett walked to the door and opened it but the gallery outside was empty. He could still hear the chant of the monks. He closed the door.
    ‘Harcourt’s wife, Lady Margaret, was so distraught she begged Sir Stephen to help find her husband. They both travelled abroad. They were away for months. When they came back, according to the King, they were sworn enemies. Lady Margaret became a recluse. The King tried to find her a suitable husband but she always refused to marry again and he respected her wishes.’
    ‘And Sir Stephen?’
    ‘He entered the abbey of St Martin’s as a brother and was ordained a priest. He would not explain his decision to the King. He became as good a monk as he had been a knight. He was able, a skilled administrator. He became prior and, after the death of Abbot Benedict, the obvious successor.’
    ‘And Lady Margaret?’
    ‘The King does not know the cause of the enmity between the two. Lady Margaret once confided to the Queen that she believed if Stephen Daubigny had gone with her husband, he would not have disappeared. She also begged Sir Stephen, when they were looking for Sir Reginald, to continue the search but he claimed Sir Reginald had vanished. He refused to travel any further and returned to England. She followed some months afterwards. From the day they separated, they never spoke to each other again.’
    ‘But they were neighbours!’ Ranulf exclaimed.
    ‘Aye, but ones who never talked or met. Lady Margaret refused to do business with Abbot Stephen and earnestly challenged any attempt by the abbey to extend its rights. She jealously guarded the privileges of her estates. There was bad blood between them.’ Corbett stared down at the corpse. ‘I wonder if she has come to pay her last respects? It’s something I must ask Prior Cuthbert. Well, what have you learnt, my clerk of the Green Wax?’
    Ranulf loosened his sword belt and rubbed where it was chafing his side. He had left Norwich before his master and spent the previous night at a local tavern, The Lantern-in-the-Woods, listening to the tales of chapmen, travellers and tinkers.
    ‘I heard about the enmity between Lady Margaret and Abbot Stephen though people seem to regard it as they do the weather, something to be accepted. Abbot Stephen was respected and loved by his monks. The abbey was well managed, with no hint of laxity or scandal. There’s a hermit who calls himself the “Watcher by the Gates”. Abbot Stephen allowed him to build a small bothy close to the wall. People regarded him as a madcap, slightly uncanny. He tells travellers chilling tales about demonic horsemen and the ghost of Geoffrey Mandeville.’
    ‘Ah yes, I have heard of that.’
    ‘Nothing but fireside tales,’ Ranulf continued, ‘except for one thing. A tinker told me how, over the last few weeks, a hunting horn has been heard at night.’
    ‘A horn?’ Corbett exclaimed.
    ‘That’s what the tinker claimed. One night he was unable to get lodgings, and the abbey gates were closed so he went to seek help from Lady Margaret. She allowed him to sleep in one of the outhouses. He woke in the