Brother Cadfael 16: The Heretic's Apprentice

shifted.
    "I'm grateful to you for letting me see so fine a piece of craftsmanship," said Anselm, relaxing with a sigh. "It's the work of a master, and you are a fortunate lady to possess it. Master William had an eye for quality."
    "So I've told her," Girard agreed heartily. "If she should wish to part with it, it would fetch her in a fair sum to add to what it has inside."
    "It might well fetch more than the sum it holds," Anselm said seriously. "I am wondering if it was made to hold relics. The ivory suggests it, but of course it may not be so. The maker took pleasure in embellishing his work, whatever its purpose."
    "I'll go with you to the gatehouse," said Cadfael, stirring out of his private ponderings as Girard and Fortunata turned to walk along the north range on their way out. He fell in beside Girard, the girl going a pace or two ahead of them, her eyes on the flags of the walk, her lips set and brows drawn, somewhere far from them in a closed world of her own thoughts. Only when they were out in the great court and approaching the gate, and Cadfael halted to take leave of them, did she turn and look at him directly. Her eyes lit on what he was still carrying in his hand, and suddenly she smiled.
    "You've forgotten to put away the key to Elave's cell. Or," she wondered, her smile deepening and warming from lips to eyes, "are you thinking of letting him out?"
    "No," said Cadfael. "I am thinking of letting myself in. There are things Elave and I have to talk about."
    Elave had quite lost by this time the sharp, defensive, even aggressive front he had at first presented to anyone who entered his cell. No one visited him regularly except Anselm, Cadfael, and the novice who brought his food, and with all these he was now on strangely familiar terms. The sound of the key caused him to turn his head, but at sight of Cadfael re-entering, and so soon, his glance of rapid enquiry changed to a welcoming smile. He had been reclining on his bed with his face uplifted to the light from the narrow lancet window, but he swung his feet to the floor and moved hospitably to make way for Cadfael on the pallet beside him.
    "I hardly thought to see you again so soon," he said. "Are they gone? God forbid I should ever hurt her, but what else could I do? She will not admit what in her heart she knows! If I ran away I should be ashamed, and so would she, and that I won't bear. I am not ashamed now, I have nothing to be ashamed of. Do you think I'm a fool for refusing to take to my heels?"
    "A rare kind of fool, if you are," said Cadfael. "And every practical way, no fool at all. And who should know everything there is to be known about that box you brought for her, so well as you? So tell me this - when she plumped it in your arms a while ago, what did you note about it that surprised you? Oh, I saw you handle it. The moment the weight was left in your hands it jarred you, for all you never said word. What was there new to discover about it? Will you tell me, or shall I first tell you? And we shall see if we both agree."
    Elave was gazing at him along his shoulder, with wonder, doubt, and speculation in his eyes. "Yes, I remember you handled it once before, the day I took it up into the town. Should that be enough for you to notice so small a difference when you had it in your hands again?"
    "It was not that," said Cadfael. "It was you who made it clear to me. You knew the weight of it from carrying it, living with it and handling it all the way from France. When she laid it in your hands you knew what to expect. Yet as you took it your hands rose. I saw it, and saw that you had recorded all that it meant. For then you tilted it, this way and then that. And you know what you heard. That the box should be lighter by some small measure than when last you held it, that startled you as it startled me. That it should give forth the chinking of coin was no surprise to me, for we had just been told at chapter that it held five hundred and seventy silver pence. But I saw that it was a surprise to you, for you repeated the test. Why did you say nothing then?"
    "There was no certainty," said Elave, shaking his head. "How could I be sure? I knew what I heard, but since last I had that box in my hands it has been opened, perhaps something not replaced when they put back what was in it, more wrappings, no longer needed... Enough to change the weight, and let the coins within move, that were tight-packed before, and could not shift. I needed