Sir Tobias was keenly interested in the happenings of the day. William had outlined the main points, and he arrived at Barton Holding in the morning, delivering Luke for his schooling himself.
With Lady Alice not present, Matthias needed to be with his scholars until he had set them some copying which he could ask Martin to supervise.
Elizabeth had helped the child to dress in the clothes Lady Alice had found in Matthias’ chest. Matthias steeled himself to see his sisters’ garments on another child, but they were not the clothes he remembered very clearly….his mother had put away certain favourite robes and tunics from early childhood, and his sisters had been eleven and thirteen when they were taken by the sickness.
Elizabeth had done her best with the child. She was clean and tidy and had timidly eaten some bread and honey. She had spoken very little apart from disclosing her name – Ennis.
Sir Tobias met her in Elizabeth’s kitchen, where she felt most secure.
“Sir Tobias is a good man,” she told Ennis before he came in, treading softly. “He will help you. Just talk to him.”
Ennis pressed her lips together. She would not say anything which would allow anyone to take her back to the man.
Sir Tobias found Ennis surprisingly uncommunicative and was relieved when Matthias managed to join them.
“Hello, Ennis! You look better this morning. How are your hands?” Matthias began, cheerfully.
Ennis held them up. The scratches were still visible, but were drying up well. She looked at him with relief; Matthias she recognized, but Sir Tobias seemed too important for her to speak to.
“Where do you live when you are with your mother?” Matthias asked her gently.
“A long way away.” Ennis whispered, looking at Matthias only. She remembered she had felt safe on his horse. Maybe she could trust him.
“Over the sea?” Matthias asked.
Ennis smiled a little. “Oh no, we came here in a big cart. My mother was happy because she had found work.”
“With the man?”
Ennis shivered. She nodded.
“My mother is very pretty,” she volunteered, speaking directly to Matthias.
“Does she have fair hair, like yours?”
Ennis nodded again.
“The man was very angry that she had brought me with her, but I couldn’t stay alone. When my mother went out working with him I had to stay behind.”
“When did she work with him?” Sir Tobias asked.
Ennis looked at him, but now she had spoken with Matthias, she seemed more confident, and she put her head on one side as if considering.
“Quite a lot of days ago,” she said, slowly. “Then suddenly he was horrid…I saw him beat her…he hit her hard…she ran away but he caught her by the hair and dragged her back…” she stopped, tears coursing down her cheeks.
Lady Alice had told them that what Ennis had described sounded as though the child had witnessed a rape as well as a beating, and thankfully had not understood what she was seeing. There was no need to make Ennis re-live that.
Sir Tobias held out his hand and disclosed the burnt gem stone from Sir Allard’s ring.
“Do you remember seeing this with your mother?” he asked.
“The man gave it to her. He made her wear it when she went out one day to work, but it was on a ring….not just the pretty stone.” She looked puzzled. “Where is my mother? What happened to the ring?”
Sir Tobias exchanged glances with Matthias, who shook his head slightly.
“Will you stay here with Master Barton and his people? You will be safe here while I ride to Sherborne to talk to him.”
A look of pure fear crossed Ennis’ face. “You won’t bring the man here, will you,” she whimpered., suddenly very much the terrified child again.
“No. Elizabeth will look after you,” Matthias assured her.
He returned to the schoolroom with a heavy heart. Life was becoming so complicated. Sir Tobias had conferred with him before he had ridden off with William to Sherborne to accost the man. Ennis’ story had given them a much needed lead, but it was far from clear. How was this connected to Calais? Was Calais just a red herring? All it had achieved was to verify the death of Sir Allard, although that had been necessary. How had Allard become tangled up in this? And what was to become of Ennis? If her mother was indeed the burned corpse in the Abbey, then she needed shelter, comfort and a place to call home. He knew he was not able to offer that.
Sir Tobias called first at the Castle to talk with the custodian. He was deeply suspicious of the man Ennis had described, and who it appeared Matthias and William had encountered briefly. There were still a handful of soldiers lodged at the Castle, men of the Earl of Huntingdon’s company, remaining there on guard, although there was little to guard in the normally peaceful market town. However, the unrest in the town had caused some very real concern. Knives had been drawn, brawls had taken place, the rioting in the Abbey had been an unpleasant, ugly scene. The Earl of Huntingdon had seen fit to leave a small party of men at the castle to attempt to control rising tempers in the town. The butcher, Walter Gallor, had gone to ground; his shop was shut for, although he couldn’t afford to lose business, neither could he afford to lose his life. He decided to lie low until tempers cooled. He had supporters, but they had been less vociferous, at least for the moment.
William led Sir Tobias to the Golden Sun hostelry. It was shabby but clean, rushes on the floor were no more than a day old. There were several old men slouching on upturned barrels enjoying ale, their talk only of the riots in the Abbey, the Abbot’s demands for compensation and how things had been better when they were young. Younger men were not in evidence…no work would mean no pay, and few could afford that.
Sir Tobias called for the Inn keeper. He appeared, smiling ingratiatingly when he recognized the Coroner.
“My best ale for you, Sir?” he oozed.
“Thank you…not this morning. Tell me, what customers do you have overnight at present?”
The inn keeper’s face fell. He would like to have described the Coroner as a customer.
“Several, my lord Coroner. Might you be interested in someone particularly?” He held a greasy hand out hopefully. Sir Tobias ignored it.
“A fellow who had a young child with him….”
“ He left at first light. When you find him, bring him back…he left without settling his bill,” was the angry reply. “The child appears to have gone missing. He was trouble. A stranger, and rough with the child. He spent a long time looking for her yesterday, and came home without her.”
Sir Tobias laid a coin on the counter for the information; the inn keeper took it greedily.
“Would you like to see the room, Sir?”
“Have you checked it?” Sir Tobias asked him, anxious to waste no time in finding the stranger.
“I have, Sir. He left nothing.”
“Then we’ll not look ourselves. But should he return, unlikely I suspect, send word to the Castle.”
As they turned to go one of the old men caught William’s arm.
“He was a soldier. He had calloused fingers and strong arms and the marks of a wrist guard. I reckon he had been a bowman.”
“He was in a fair temper when he came in last night…” another volunteered.
Sir Tobias called to Mine Host..
“Give these valiant observers some more ale, inn keeper.” He tossed some coins on the table for them.
They spent most of the day checking hostelries, outbuildings and asking after strangers who had been seen with a child and possibly a fair haired woman. It was late in the day as they were returning to collect their horses when they finally had some useful information.
The horses had been stabled at the George Inn which had a small barn to one side for storage of hay. William looked in at the door of the barn as Sir Tobias unhitched their mounts. He noticed in one corner there was a small mound of hay which had been fashioned to form a nest, large enough for a person. He called the stable boy to him. There was no secret…the boy readily told him that there had been a man with a lady and a young child sleeping in there for two nights some three or four days ago. They had left and he had not raked the hay back into the main pile in case they returned. He had been given a few coins for his trouble.
No, he said, the man had not returned alone, he was sure because he slept himself in a far part of the barn and he would have heard him.
Sir Tobias recalled that the bogus Celeste had looked unkempt and tousled on her second visit, as if she had slept rough. He was sure they were now on to the right trail.