Candlemas Read Online Free PDF

through. It is Roger’s contention, that if his master’s blade had buried in so far, the wound could not be stopped, and John Blair would have died of it, statim , there and then.’
    â€˜And is there any truth to it?’ It was rare enough that Giles was unequivocal, and it was clear to Hew that he was not so now. His antipathy to Roger made manifest, perhaps, his own internal doubt.
    Giles answered honestly. ‘It is, to be sure, an exaggeration. A man may cut his arm off, and survive, with proper care. But, I will confess, it gave me some concern. I come to the conclusion, that JohnBlair’s exertions on the night he died caused the vein to tear, severing completely the place that had been cut. Roger is correct that it does not satisfy, and yet it seems to me the only explanation. The fatal error was in bloodletting at all.’
    â€˜It is not an explanation,’ Roger argued, ‘that has any credence, more than witchcraft does. You will not deny, whatever else you think of me, that I am an expert in using knives on flesh, from long years of experiment.’
    â€˜That is true enough.’ Hew supported him.
    â€˜Therefore, I ken its properties. Am I not to judge, how the thing was done? And I would chance my life, my master had no hand in that savage piece of butchery. That was not his work.’
    â€˜The pity then,’ said Giles, and the sadness in his voice revealed no relish for the argument, ‘is that he says it was.’ And Roger had no answer to this final word.
    â€˜Well,’ reflected Hew, ‘whatever is the cause, I think that I must talk to Ann Balfour. For if the boy accused her for a witch, then it must be proved, or the rumour quelled, before it can take hold. I will call on her tomorrow.’
    Giles consented, ‘Aye, it grieves me that you must. Be conscious of her age, and gentle with her, Hew. Meanwhile, you should go to see the candlemaker’s wife. The body has been taken to their house, which is on the North Street very close to here. She is most indignant at her husband’s death, for which she holds the surgeon firmly to account. I telt her we were looking into it most properly, and you would likely come by to investigate. Which seemed to ease her mind.’
    â€˜Then I shall go now, before I leave for home.’
    â€˜Will you not come, first, to talk to Sam?’ Roger begged. ‘Allow him the chance, the better to explain himself. Or else you will have her damn a man unheard.’
    â€˜Tsk,’ objected Giles. ‘We will not have that.’
    But Hew responded coldly; he needed to be certain Roger understood. ‘I will talk to him. But you should be aware, whatever happens next is likely to have consequence. There is no turning back, if you do not like the truth. I cannot promise things will turn out well for Sam. They may well be worse.’
    The surgeon’s house was situated in the Market Street, conveniently close to the apothecary. A small consulting chamber opened to the street, scarcely out of place among the other shops, where the nature of its business was exposed to public scrutiny, and passers-by could judge the surgeon by his wares. Here, a man might watch the pulling out of teeth, and in the balmy shadows of an afternoon in spring, when the wind was warm and the weather temperate, a crowd would formoutside, spilling down the street, for the pleasures of phlebotomy. On fair days, it surpassed all other entertainments.
    It was in this chamber Roger had left Hew, while he went inside to fetch the barber-surgeon. The house behind was small, a single room in width. Roger slept above, in a narrow loft, a modest home enough for a man to lose, when all his future hopes had been invested there. The chamber now was dark, the shutters closed defensively against the craning street. Roger had left Hew the light of a lantern, and its shadows lit upon the metal glow of instruments, stacked upon shelves and hanging