Brother Cadfael 16: The Heretic's Apprentice

his own surprise, for he was unaware of the intention forming, Cadfael stopped fretting out the small weeds from between his herb beds, put away his hoe, and went to look for Brother Winfrid, weeding by hand in the vegetable garden.
    "Son, I have an errand to do, if Father Abbot allows. I should be back before Vespers, but if I come late, see everything in order and close up my workshop for me before you go."
    Brother Winfrid straightened up to his full, brawny country height for a moment to acknowledge his orders, with one large fist full of the greenery he had uprooted. "I will. Is there anything within needs a stir?"
    "Nothing. You can take your ease when you finish here." Not that he was likely to take that literally. Brother Winfrid had so much energy in him that it had to find constant outlet, or it would probably split him apart. Cadfael clapped him on the shoulder, left him to his vigorous labours, and went off in search of Abbot Radulfus.
    The abbot was in his office, poring over the cellarer's accounts, but he put them aside when Cadfael asked audience, and gave his full attention to the petitioner.
    "Father," said Cadfael, "has Brother Anselm told you what we discovered yesterday concerning the box that was brought back from the east for the girl Fortunata? And what, with reservations, we concluded from examining it?"
    "He has," said the abbot. "I would trust Anselm's judgment on such matters, but it is still speculation. It does seem likely that there was such a book. A great pity it should be lost."
    "Father, I am not sure that it is lost. There is reason to believe that what came to England in that box was not the money that is in it now. There was a difference of weight and of balance. So says the young man who brought it from the east, and so I say, also, for I handled it on the same day he delivered it to Girard of Lythwood's house. I think," said Cadfael vehemently, "that what we have noted should also be reported to the sheriff."
    "You believe," said Radulfus, eyeing him gravely, "that it may have some bearing on the only case I know of that Hugh Beringar now has in hand? But that is a case of murder. What can a book, present or absent, have to say regarding that crime?"
    "When the clerk was killed, Father, was it not taken as proven by most men that the young man he had injured had killed him in revenge? Yet we know now it was not so. Elave never harmed him. And who else had cause to move against the man's life in the matter of that accusation he made? No one. I have come to believe that the cause of his death had nothing to do with his denunciation of Elave. Yet it does still seem that it had, something to do with Elave himself, with his coming home to Shrewsbury. Everything that has happened has happened since that return. Is it not possible, Father, that it has to do with what he brought back to that house? A box that changes in weight, and one day handles like a solid carving of wood, and a few days later rings with silver coins. This in itself is strange. And whatever is strange within and around that household, where the dead man lived and worked for years, may have a bearing."
    "And should be taken into account," concluded the abbot, and sat pondering what he had heard for some minutes in silence. "Very well, so be it. Yes, Hugh Beringar should know of it. What he may make of it I cannot guess. God knows I can make nothing of it myself, not yet, but if it can shed one gleam of light to show the way a single step towards justice, yes, he must know. Go to him now, if you wish. Take whatever time may be needed, and I pray it may be used to good effect."
    Cadfael found Hugh, not at his own house by Saint Mary's, but at the castle. He was just striding across the outer ward in a preoccupied haste that curiously managed to indicate both buoyancy and irritation, as Cadfael came up the ramp from the street, and in through the deep tunnel of the gate tower. Hugh checked and turned at once to meet him.
    "Cadfael! You come very timely, I've news for you."
    "And so have I for you," said Cadfael, "if mine can be called news. But for what it may be worth, I think you should have it."
    "And Radulfus agreed? So there must be substance in it. Come within, and let's exchange what we have," said Hugh, and led the way forthwith towards the guardroom and anteroom in the gate tower, where they could be private. "I was about to go in and see our friend Conan," he said with a somewhat wry smile, "before I turn him