Brother Cadfael 05: Leper of Saint Giles

baron can have been no more than half a mile from his hunting-lodge, when Joscelin Lucy was being hunted along the Foregate to the hospital."
    Iveta took the last step that brought her to Joscelin's side, and slipped her hand into his, and he gripped it convulsively, unaware that he was hurting her, and drew breath into him so deep and hard that she felt he had drawn in the breath of new life for both of them.
    Agnes craned and peered towards the gatehouse, but still did not find what she sought. Her face was sharp and icy with malice, but she said never a word. Iveta had expected a blaze of disbelief, casting doubt upon both Brother Cadfael and his witness, even upon the evidence of the sheriff's men. People can be vague and imprecise about time, it is not so hard to argue about the difference a mere half-hour can make. But Agnes kept silence, containing her aching rage and uneasiness.
    Abbot Radulfus exchanged a long and thoughtful look with the sheriff, and turned again to Joscelin. "You promised me truth. I will ask you now what I have not so far asked. Did you play any part in the death of Huon de Domville?"
    "I did not," said Joscelin firmly.
    "There remains the charge he himself brought against you. Did you steal from him?"
    "No!" He could not keep the scorn out of his voice.
    Radulfus turned back to the sheriff with a faint, wry smile. "For the murder charge, Brother Cadfael will bring you to speak with this woman, and you will judge for yourself what trust to place in her. As for your own officers, there is no need to question their truthfulness. It seems to me that on this count this man must be held guiltless."
    "If this is confirmed," agreed Prestcote readily, "he cannot be the murderer. I myself will take this woman's testimony." He turned to Cadfael with a question: "She is still at the hunting-lodge?"
    "No," said Cadfael, not without some relish at the stir his answer would make, "she is now at the cell of the Benedictine sisters at Godric's Ford, where she has entered the order as a novice, and intends to take full vows."
    It was an achievement to have made even Abbot Radulfus blink; shaking the brotherhood was a routine success by comparison. "And you esteem her an honest witness?" asked the abbot mildly, recovering his control in an instant, while Prior Robert's patrician nose still looked pinched and blue with shock, and the ranks behind his shoulder still quivered.
    "As the day, Father. The sheriff will judge for himself. I am convinced that, whatever else she may be, she has no disguises, and does not lie."
    They would get from her, without conceal, the whole story of her life, of which she was not ashamed, and she could not but impress them. He had no fears on that head. Prestcote was a practical man, he would recognize her quality. "My lord," said Cadfael, "and you, Father, may we not understand that you accept - subject to questioning Mistress Avice and finding her testimony true - that Joscelin Lucy is altogether innocent of Huon de Domville's murder?"
    Prestcote had no hesitation. "That seems certain. The charge cannot stand."
    "Then - bear with me! - you cannot but accept, also, that this day he has been under constant watch by Brother Mark, as Mark himself has told us, and has done nothing to occasion suspicion or blame."
    The abbot was regarding him with searching attention. "That must also be granted. I think, brother, you have some particular reason for calling attention to it in this way. Something has happened?"
    "Yes, Father. Something I should have told you at once, if I had not blundered into these equally grave matters as soon as I rode in. Well for any man who can say that today, all day long, he had a good man watching him and seeing no evil. For there has been violence done once again, in the woods beyond Saint Giles. Not an hour ago, as I was coming home, I happened upon a riderless horse, but could not catch him, and following him, I came upon a clearing where another man lies dead, and as I think, strangled like the first. I can lead you to the place."
    In the horrified hush that fell, he turned slowly to confront Agnes, who stood wild-eyed but still as stone.
    "Madam, I grieve to bring you such news, but it is certain, even in the dim light, by the horse he rode ..."
    Chapter Eleven
    There was a moment of utter silence, while she stood blanched and stiff like a woman turned to ice. Then, as abruptly, she came to life with a piercing scream of rage and grief, and whirling in