Brother Cadfael 03: Monk's Hood

assembled household, "to inform the sheriff of what has happened, as I am told this death - madam, I grieve for your loss! - is from no natural cause, but brought about by poison. This terrible thing, though clearly reflecting upon our house, has taken place outside the walls, and outside the jurisdiction of our abbey court." He was grateful for that, at least, and well he might be! "Only the secular authorities can deal with this. But we must give them whatever help we can, it is our duty."
    His manner throughout, however gracefully he inclined towards the widow, and however well chosen his words of commiseration and promises of help and support in the sad obligations of burial, had been one of outrage. How dared such a thing happen in his cure, in his newly acquired abbacy and through the instrument of his gift? His hope was to soothe the bereaved with a sufficiently ceremonious funeral, perhaps a very obscure place in the actual church precincts if one could be found, bundle the legal responsibility into the sheriff's arms, where it belonged, and hush the whole affair into forgetfulness as quickly as possible. He had baulked in revulsion and disgust in the doorway of the bedchamber, giving the dead man only a brief and appalled reverence and a hasty murmur of prayer, and quickly shut the door upon him again. In a sense he blamed every person, there for imposing this ordeal and inconvenience upon him; but most of all he resented Cadfael's blunt assertion that this was a case of poison. That committed the abbey to examine the circumstances, at least. Moreover, there was the problem of the as yet unsealed agreement, and the alarming vision of Mallilie possibly slipping out of his hands. With Bonel dead before the charter was fully legal, to whom did that fat property now belong? And could it still be secured by a rapid approach to the hypothetical heir, before he had time to consider fully what he was signing away?
    "Brother," said Robert, looking down his long, fastidious nose at Cadfael, who was a head shorter, "you have asserted that poison has been used here. Before so horrid a suggestion is put to the sheriff's officers, rather than the possibility of accidental use, or indeed, a sudden fatal illness - for such can happen even to men apparently in good health! - I should like to hear your reasons for making so positive a statement. How do you know? By what signs?"
    "By the nature of his illness," said Cadfael. "He suffered with prickling and tingling of lips, mouth and throat, and afterwards with rigidity in those parts, so that he could not swallow, or breathe freely, followed by stiffness of his whole body, and great weakness of his heart-beat. His eyes were greatly dilated. All this I have seen once before, and then I knew what the man had swallowed, for he had the bottle in his hand. You may remember it, some years ago. A drunken carter during the fair, who broke into my store and thought he had found strong liquor. In that case I was able to recover him, since he had but newly drunk the poison. But I recognise all the signs, and I know the poison that was used. I can detect it by smell on his lips, and on the remains of the dish he ate, the dish you sent him."
    If Prior Robert's face paled at the thought of what that might all too easily have meant, the change was not detectable, for his complexion was always of unflawed ivory. To do him justice, he was not a timorous man. He demanded squarely: "What is this poison, if you are so sure of your judgement?"
    "It is an oil that I make for rubbing aching joints, and it must have come either from the store I keep in my workshop, or from some smaller quantity taken from it, and I know of but one place where that could be found, and that is our own infirmary. The poison is monk's-hood - they call it so from the shape of the flowers, though it is also known as wolfsbane. Its roots make an excellent rub to remove pain, but it is very potent poison if swallowed."
    "If you can make medicines from this plant," said Prior Robert, with chill dislike, "so, surely, may others, and this may have come from some very different source, and not from any store of ours."
    "That I doubt," said Cadfael sturdily, "since I know the odour of my own specific so well, and can detect here mustard and houseleek as well as monk's-hood. I have seen its effects, once taken, I know them again. I am in no doubt, and so I shall tell the sheriff."
    "It is well," said Robert, no less frigidly,