Brother Cadfael 17: The Potter's Field

'And access is easy?' asked Brother Richard. 'It lies on the far side of the river from the highroad.'

"There is a ford a little way upstream, and a ferry even nearer to the field.'

"That land was gifted to Haughmond only a year ago, by Eudo Blount of Longner,' Brother Anselm reminded them. 'Is Blount a partner to this exchange? He made no demur? Or has he yet been consulted?'

'You will remember,' said Brother Matthew, patiently competent at every point, as was his way, 'that Eudo Blount the elder died early this year at Wilton, in the rearguard that secured the king's retreat. His son, also Eudo, is now lord of Longner. Yes, we have talked with him. He has no objection. The gift is Haughmond's property, to be used to Haughmond's best advantage, which manifestly this exchange serves well. There is no obstacle there.'

'And no restriction as to the use we in our turn may make of it?' demanded the prior acutely. "The agreement will be on the usual terms? That either party may make whatever use it wishes of the fields? To build, or cultivate, or keep as pasture, at will?'

'That is agreed. If we want to plough, there is no bar.'

'It seems to me,' said Abbot Radulfus, casting a long glance around at the attentive faces of his flock, 'that we have heard enough. If anyone has any other point to raise, do so now, by all means.'

In the considering silence that followed many eyes turned again, mildly expectant, to the austere face of Brother Ruald, who alone remained withdrawn and unconcerned. Who should know better the qualities of that field where he had worked for so many years, or be better qualified to state whether they would be doing well in approving the proposed exchange? But he had said all he had to say, in duty bound, and felt no need to add another word. When he had turned his back upon the world and entered into his desired vocation, field and cottage and kiln and kin had vanished for him. He never spoke of his former life, probably he never thought of it. All those years he had been astray and far from home.

'Very well!' said the abbot. 'Clearly both we and Haughmond gain by the exchange. Will you confer with the prior, Matthew, and draw up the charter accordingly, and as soon as a day can be fixed we will see it witnessed and sealed. And once that is done, I think Brother Richard and Brother Cadfael might view the ground, and consider its most profitable use.'

Brother Matthew rolled up his plans with a brisk hand and a satisfied countenance. It was his part to keep a strict eye upon the property and funds of the house, to reckon up land, crops, gifts and legacies in the profits they could bring to the monastery of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and he had assessed the Potter's Field with professional shrewdness, and liked what he saw.

There is no other business?' asked Radulfus.

'None, Father?'

'Then this chapter is concluded,' said the abbot, and led the way out of the chapter-house into the sun-bleached August grasses of the cemetery.

Brother Cadfael went up into the town after Vespers, in the cooling sunlight of a clear evening, to sup with his friend Hugh Beringar, and visit his godson Giles, three and a half years old, long and strong and something of a benevolent tyrant to the entire household. In view of the sacred duty such a sponsor has towards his charge. Cadfael had leave to visit the house with reasonable regularity, and if the time he spent with the boy was occupied more often in play than in the serious admonitions of a responsible godparent, neither Giles nor his own parents had any complaint to make.

'He pays more heed to you,' said Aline, looking on with smiling serenity, 'than he does to me. But he'll tire you out before you can do as much for him. Well for you it's near his bedtime.'

She was as fair as Hugh was black, primrose-fair, and fine-boned, and a shade taller than her husband. The child was built on the same long, slender lines, and flaxen like her. Some day he would top his father by a head. Hugh himself had foretold it, when first he saw his newborn heir, a whiter child, come with the approach of Christmas, the finest of gifts for the festival. Now at three years old he had the boisterous energy of a healthy pup, and the same whole-hearted abandonment to sleep when energy was spent. He was carried away at length in Aline's arms to his bed, and Hugh