Chains of Folly Read Online Free PDF Page A

my tenants, not much of a temptation even had she been alive. Very ordinary. Brown hair, brown eyes, a mole near the end of her right eyebrow, and a full bosom… Oh, sorry, Holdyn, did I offend you by noticing that?”
    “No, no, of course not,” Father Holdyn said stiffly, but he scrambled the remainder of the documents together and pushed them hurriedly into a large leather satchel. “I will attend to the matter of St. Columba’s church as you decided, and I will speak to the dean of St. Paul’s about better controlling the churchyard vendors.”
    “Good,” Winchester said. “Thank you.” And as soon as the door closed behind Father Holdyn, sighed to Bell, “He is such a good man. Not only is he a wonderful administrator but he is a good priest, truly compassionate to the worst sinners. But why does he believe that taking holy orders caused me to go blind? I vowed to be chaste, not an idiot.”
    Bell chuckled. “No, my lord, and even if you took a vow to be an idiot, I doubt you could keep that one. Besides, I suspect it was not the temptation of the woman’s bosom that made you think of it but what I found beneath it.”
    The bishop sighed. “You may be right, Bell.” He stiffened for a moment—Bell guessed he was repressing a shiver—and added, “Thank God you decided to examine her to see if she had any other wounds. If we had just sent her over to St. Mary Overy… That accursed letter would have been common knowledge.”
    “Well, the infirmarian would have had to tell the prior, of course, but Prior Benin is no fool. He might well have sent the letter directly to you or asked you to come for it. Still, I agree that it is much better that only you and I know of it. It leaves you free to do as you like.”
    “Unfortunately it does not. What I would like to do would be to put that parchment in a fire, but I dare not.”
    Bell looked offended. “My lord, if you think that I—”
    “Do not be ridiculous. If betrayal was ever your intention, you could have put that letter in your pouch and I would never have known about it. You called me and showed me that she had something wrapped in her breastband. It is nothing to do with you, Bell. It has to do with how many others know of the letter. Gloucester knows, of course. How many in his court know he wrote it? If it were destroyed, what might be said of its contents—that we were in agreement that I would support him?”
    “I see.” Bell gnawed gently on his lower lip. “At least if you have the letter, you can prove that it was in fact, harmless. Only sympathy over the way the king cheated you by not naming you archbishop and a wish, if it is possible, to be your friend.”
    Winchester’s lips twisted. “Not so harmless with those two thoughts together.” Then he shook his head. “I cannot believe it. I cannot believe that a common whore would be carrying a letter from Robert of Gloucester wound up in her breastband. And dead. Seated at my table in my bedchamber. Is it possible, Bell, that the woman was killed here just to make sure that there would be a scandal?”
    “She was not killed here, my lord. I showed you the marks of the rope on your windowsill. The body was drawn up by a rope and whoever put her in the chair then went out the same window to escape. They came over the outside wall, too. This morning before I went to Magdalene’s I examined the wall around this house. Two horses were tied down at the far corner in the alley; they were grazing and there were hoof prints where the earth was soft. I also found signs on the wall where the men climbed over.”
    “But why would a whore have a letter from Gloucester? And why should Robert write me such a letter?”
    “Because you are the pope’s legate and Gloucester hopes you will hold neutral if he should invade? Because he knows of your influence with your fellow bishops? My lord, surely you know the possible answers to that question better than I. And there is another possibility.