The Gallows Murders

madam?' 'Nothing at all.' 'And the night he died?'
    'He had been at home a great deal,' Mistress Undershaft replied. 'The Tower was locked and closed. City government had been suspended, the courts had not sat, so he whiled away most of his time digging in the garden or playing with the children.' She pointed to the stool Agrippa was sitting on. 'He had once been apprenticed carpenter. He kept up his old trade whenever he could.' 'And the day he died?' Benjamin insisted.
    (Now, my master was a kind man, the essence of courtesy to women, but his grim face and harsh tones showed his suspicions of Madam Undershaft.)
    'He stayed in most of the day,' she continued, 'but he became restless. The children were shouting-' 'How many children do you have?' I interrupted.
    'Four.' She smiled tearfully at me. "But they are not mine. Master…?' ‘Roger Shallot, madam,' I replied.
    She leaned a little closer, her bosom heaving quickly. 'Andrew had been married before,' she explained. 'His wife died about five years ago. I became handfast to him three years later. Anyway,' she continued, glancing quickly at Benjamin's impatient face, 'Andrew left the house. He said he was going to drink at the Gallows tavern.' She plucked at the cuff of her dress. That was all,' she concluded. "Later the next day a bailiff came here and told me what had happened.'
    "Madam.' I twisted my face into a most sympathetic grimace. ‘I had the unhappy coincidence of being at Smithfield when your husband's corpse was removed from the cage. I mean to cause you no distress, but it was dreadful’
    Again that tearful smile of understanding. 'How do you know it was your husband?’ I added.
    She stared at me, dry-eyed: she opened her mouth to speak but thought different.
    'Madam’ Benjamin asked, ‘Was there any distinguishing mark?'
    'Oh Lord have mercy!' she snapped. 'Of course not, sir! I recognised the sole of the boots and the iron guild chain he always wore round his wrist. But no, I could not take a solemn oath and say that he was my husband. Yet, if it wasn't, then I ask you, sir, where is Andrew Undershaft?' Tour husband was a wealthy man?' Benjamin asked.
    'He was prudent, sir. His will left me this house, all his possessions, as well as some silver he had with Thurgood the goldsmith in Cheapside.' Her voice faltered.
    'Madam,' I intervened. The tilers are busy on the roof, the house is freshly painted. Is this all your husband's legacy?' Mistress Undershaft made to object. ‘We are here on the King's business,' Agrippa declared flatly.
    'Andrew was prudent,' she hastily replied. 'He had certain money salted away. However, Thurgood the goldsmith came to visit me two weeks after my husband's death. He said he had received gold and silver from a mysterious donor who wanted to ensure that I lacked for nothing.' 'And who is this kind person?' I asked tartly.
    Mistress Undershaft glared at me. ‘I do not really know, sir, nor do I really care. My husband was murdered. Perhaps someone's conscience pricks them and this is their way of soothing it. I am a woman left to her own devices with the care of four young children. If Satan came up from Hell with a bag of silver, I'd take it. So ask Master Thurgood: I know nothing about it.'
    Benjamin asked, 'Before the sickness broke out and the Tower was closed and sealed, did your husband ever mention anything untoward happening in the fortress?' 'Such as?'
    Benjamin shrugged. 'Anything you can remember, madam.'
    'He talked little about his work,' Madam Undershaft replied. 'He did not like the Tower, and Sir Edward Kemble in particular. He found him a harsh disciplinarian who loved the exercise of power. Andrew thought the Tower was a cold, narrow place. Unlike his companions in the Guild, he spent as little time there as possible.'
    'Did he know the dead man?' I asked. The clerk of stores, Philip Allardyce?'
    'Andrew was there the morning he fell ill,' she replied. 'Allardyce came down to the Gallows tavern to break his fast. He complained of a thick head and pains in his body. My husband later visited him. He took him a small flask of wine but the fellow was already delirious. My husband recognised the symptoms. He never went back to the Tower again. Allardyce died and the Tower was sealed off.'
    'Did he ever mention anything about the Princes?' I asked.
    The woman's confused look and shake of her head showed she was no student of history.
    'Did you know the other hangman who was murdered? Hellbane?'