[Roger the Chapman 04] - The Holy Innocents Read Online Free

name is Innes Woodsman, and he's slept rough in the woods around here for a number of years. When my father was alive, he did occasional jobs about the holding for his meals and shelter in the wintertime. Let him go, Chapman. He's harmless.'
    'No man is harmless who carries a knife such as this.' And with a jerk of my head, I indicated the wicked-looking blade which I had tucked into my belt.
    Grizelda raised a determined chin. 'All the same, I owe him a favour. I should be grateful if you would turn him loose and say nothing to anyone of this incident.' She added a shade defiantly, 'To please me.'
    I released my prisoner with great reluctance. 'Very well, to please you,' I agreed. 'But I'm keeping the knife. He's too ready to use it on strangers.'
    Innes Woodsman spoke abruptly, in a vicious, rasping voice. 'It's my hunting knife. I need it for killing rabbits and the like.'  
    I eyed him with abhorrence. The strong sense of evil, which had alerted me to his presence, remained with me and refused to be shaken off.
    'If it's a hunting knife, why did you try to kill me with it?'  
    The narrow, weather-beaten face took on a shifty look and he made no answer.  
    Grizelda said quietly, 'He probably thought it was me. Oh, he wouldn't really have harmed me,' she added swiftly, in explanation. 'He intended giving me a fright, that's all. He bears me a grudge.'
    I was appalled. 'And you're willing to let him go? The rogue should be handed over to the Sheriff and clapped in gaol.'
    'No,' she answered firmly. 'He has some reason for his resentment. It would be unjust to imprison him.' She looked straitly at the woodsman. 'This is your last chance for clememcy, Innes. My patience is wearing thin. If you don't go away from here and leave me alone, I shall take Master Chapman's advice and lay a complaint against you.' She tilted her head to one side and, as a shaft of sunlight struck between the branches of the trees, I saw something which, surprisingly, I had not noticed before; the faint, white puckering of a longhealed scar, running from her right eyebrow halfway down her cheek. She went on, 'I suppose it wasn't you who stole my hen, Félice?'
    Innes Woodsman spat viciously. 'I wouldn't touch that scrawny bird if you paid me.'
    Grizelda nodded. 'Very well, I believe you. But remember what I've said and go away from here or I'll carry out my threat. I mean it.'
    °I'm not going without my knife,' he answered sullenly.
    She turned to me. 'Give it to him, please, Chapman. He needs it to survive.' I complied, but with the greatest misgivings. She smiled her thanks and, when the man had sloped out of sight amongst the trees, took my arm and squeezed it.
    'Now, let's return to the cottage and I'll cook you those eggs.'

    I cleared my plate and scraped up the remains with a crust of black bread. The eggs, beaten and thickened over the fire, had tasted delicious, flavoured with the fat from a small lump of bacon. Grizelda, seated beside me on a bench I had dragged up to the table, pushed a plate of oatcakes and a crock of honey towards me.
    'Now that you've blunted the edge of your appetite, let me ask you a question. How did you know that Innes was there, in the woods? I'm sure you could neither have heard nor seen him from where you were standing, alongside the coop.'
    I spread honey, thick and golden, on an oatcake and bit into it before replying. 'I... I had a sensation of evil somewhere close at hand.'
    I half expected her to eye me askance, but she didn't. 'You have the sight?' she asked me.
    I took another bite of oatcake, wiping the honey from my chin with the back of my hand, and glanced furtively towards the open doorway, as though I were afraid someone might be outside, listening. I lowered my voice.
    'Not truly, no; but now and then, I have dreams, and, on occasions such as this morning, a sense of being threatened. You don't find that.., heretical?'
    She shook her head. 'I don't have the gift myself, but my mother did, a little.