Brother Cadfael 11: An Excellent Mystery

things are now, to carry alone.'
    Adam drew a long, slow, cautious breath. 'I will well, my lord. He was a fine man, so everyone reports of him. Old for her, but a fine man. It was great pity. She used to prattle about him, proud as if he was making a queen of her. Pity such a lass should ever take to the cloister. She would have been his fair match. I knew her. I'll ride with you in goodwill.' And to the husband and wife who stood close together, wondering and distrustful, he said calmly: 'Shrewsbury is not far. You'll see me back again before you know it.'
    It was a strange and yet an everyday ride back to Shrewsbury. All the way this hardened and resilient man-at-arms conducted himself as though he did not know he was a prisoner, and suspect of something not yet revealed, while very well knowing that two sergeants rode one at either quarter behind him, in case he should make a break for freedom. He rode well, and had a very decent horse beneath him, and must be a man held in good repute and trusted by his commander to be loosed as he pleased, and thus well provided. Concerning his own situation he asked nothing, and betrayed no anxiety; but three times at least before they came in sight of Saint Giles he asked: 'My lord, did you ever hear word of her at all, after the troubles fell on Winchester?'
    'Sir, if you have made enquiries round Wherwell, did you come upon any trace? There must have been many nuns scattered there.'
    And last, in abrupt pleading: 'My lord, if you do know, is she living or dead?'
    To none of which could he get a direct answer, since there was none to give him. Last, as they passed the low hillock of Saint Giles, with its squat roofs and modest little turret, he said reflectively: 'That must have been a hard journey for a sick and ageing man, all this way from Hyde alone. I marvel how the lord Godfrid bore it.'
    'He was not alone,' said Hugh almost absently. 'They were two who came here from Hyde Mead.'
    'As well,' said Adam, nodding approval, 'for they said he was a sorely wounded man. He might have foundered on the way, without a helper.' And he drew a slow, cautious breath.
    After that he went in silence, perhaps because of the looming shadow of the abbey wall on his left, that cut off the afternoon sun with a sharp black knife-stroke along the dusty road.
    They rode in under the arch of the gatehouse to the usual stir of afternoon, following the half-hour or so allowed for the younger brothers to play, and the older ones to sleep after dinner. Now they were rousing and going forth to their various occupations, to their desks in the scriptorium, or their labours in the gardens along the Gaye, or at the mill or the hatcheries of the fishponds. Brother Porter came out from his lodge at sight of Hugh's gangling grey horse, observed the attendant officers, and looked with some natural curiosity at the unknown who rode with them.
    'Brother Humilis? No, you won't find him in the scriptorium, nor in the dortoir, either. After Mass this morning he swooned, here crossing the court, and though the fall did him no great harm, the young one catching him in his arms and bringing him down gently, it took some time to bring him round afterwards. They've carried him to the infirmary. Brother Cadfael is there with him now.'
    'I'm sorry to hear it,' said Hugh, checking in dismayed concern. 'Then I can hardly trouble him now…' And yet, if this was one more step towards the end which Cadfael said was inevitable and daily drawing nearer, Hugh could not afford to delay any enquiry which might shed light on the fate of Julian Cruce. Humilis himself most urgently desired knowledge.
    'Oh, he's come to himself now,' said the porter, 'and as much his own master - under God, the master of us all! - as ever he was. He wants to come back to his own cell in the dortoir, and says he can still fulfil all his duties a while longer here, but they'll keep him where he is. He's in his full wits, and has all his will. If you have word for him of any import, I would at least go and see if they'll let you in to him.'
    'They', when it came to authority in the infirmary, meant Brother Edmund and Brother Cadfael, and their judgement would be decisive.
    'Wait here!' said Hugh, making up his mind, and swung down from the saddle to stride across the court to its northwestern corner, where the infirmary stood withdrawn into the angle of the precinct wall. The two sergeants also dismounted, and stood in close and watchful attendance