Abbot's Passion Read Online Free PDF

thought.’ He started to rise. ‘By the way, how is your toothache?’
    I looked at him with astonishment. ‘How did you know about my toothache?’
    ‘You’ve been holding your jaw ever since you got here. And you bit on that sweet biscuit as though it contained stinging nettles.’
    I prodded my face with a finger. ‘Actually, it’s not as painful as it was.’ I looked suspiciously at my empty cup of herbal tea. ‘What have you given me?’
    ‘Just a mild sedative from the land of the infidel. If you are going to cross swords with the Bishop of Ely you will need something to deaden the pain.’
    ‘Samson doesn’t want me to deaden the pain. He thinks it will sharpen my wits. And who told you I was going to see the bishop?’
    ‘You did - just then,’ he grinned.
    I frowned at him. ‘You know sometimes, my brother, you are too clever by half.’
    His smile faltered only slightly. ‘Of course. It’s the only way I know to be a Jew and an Arab in a Christian country - and survive.’

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
    A FLY IN THE MARKETPLACE
    I hope I’m not going to regret telling Joseph what the abbot-legate said about him. Joseph’s not the sort to sit idly around waiting for things to happen. There’s no saying what he might do, the least likely being that he’ll comply with Abbot Eustache’s demands. My hope is that he’ll quietly disappear for a few days until the storm has passed just as he did eleven years ago. That time the threat had been against the Jews of Bury in general. This time it’s specific to him personally which is why I’m not sure he’ll be so passive. Whatever he decides I’m glad I won’t be here to witness it - not that he’d tell me even if I asked him.
    It was time I got back to the abbey. Abbot Eustache’s instruction was for Jocelin, Jocellus and me to meet him immediately after terce outside the Great Gate of the abbey. It was well past that by now. From Joseph’s shop I made my way over to the gate where I found Jocelin waiting alone. Poor old Jocelin. As usual when exposed to the wiles of the world he was looking vulnerable and apprehensive, more so than ever today. He seemed relieved to see me.
    ‘Ah, th-there you are at last, W-walter, thank God.’
    ‘All on your own, brother?’ I said cheerily. ‘Where’s Jocellus? Still busy with his fish merchants?’
    ‘B-both of you m-missed terce,’ he frowned. ‘I was beginning to w-wonder if I w-would be accompanying F-father Eustache on my own.’
    ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that. I had an errand to run. Not to worry. The abbot isn’t here himself yet.’
    ‘W-what do you suppose he wants us to do?’
    ‘Just to stand around looking supportive while he harangues the people of Bury, I imagine. If he’s expecting anything more from me he’s going to be disappointed. I’m not inclined to give a lecture on the immorality of Sunday trading. I wouldn’t know where to begin.’
    ‘I should th-think the abbot-legate would be c-capable of d-doing that unaided.’
    ‘Amen to that. But he won’t be popular with the market traders if he does. Sunday is their most profitable day of the week.’
    ‘F-father Eustache didn’t strike me as being one to w-worry too much about p-popularity.’
    ‘You don’t say.’
    He looked sheepish. ‘Brother, I’d like to apologize - for my intervention earlier when I spoke up about your brother Joseph. It was th-thoughtless of me.’
    ‘Oh, that’s all right. You didn’t reveal anything the good abbot didn’t already know - or rather what his clerk didn’t already know.’
    ‘Fidele, yes,’ Jocelin nodded. ‘A c-curious creature. Do you suppose he’s a mute? I haven’t yet heard him utter a s-single word.’
    ‘Well now’s our chance to find out,’ I said seeing him approach across the great court.
    If it wasn’t for his robe and his tonsure Fidele could easily be mistaken for a child although a child with an exaggerated gait as he waddled across the abbey