The Christmas Wassail Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’s bound to be more of a hindrance than a help.’
    So as soon as breakfast was finished, I set out with the two of them for Redcliffe Wharf. Before leaving, I gave Adela a smacking kiss and the purseful of money I had made the preceding day. Pleasurably surprised by the amount, she not only returned my embrace with interest, but actually conceded that perhaps, after all, I had earned those extra two beakers of ale in the Green Lattis.
    Early as it was, the streets were already crowded as people began their last-minute preparations for the holy day on the morrow. As we made our way across the bridge and along Redcliffe Street the crowds grew thicker, and several times Hercules was obliged to growl menacingly at strangers who jostled us too closely. Like ourselves, many of those on foot were making their way towards the quayside where the Yule logs were being handed out. My hopes of getting one exactly suited to my wife’s requirements faded.
    We had just turned into one of the narrow alleyways which run between Redcliffe Street and the Backs, when a great shout went up from some of the people ahead of us. ‘A mill! A mill!’
    Every man loves a good fight, and immediately all those behind us began surging forward. I hauled Hercules up into my arms, told Nicholas to hang on to my cloak and on no account to let go, then used my height and bulk and strength to heave aside my neighbours and push us clear of the alley.
    A circle of spectators, about eight deep, had already formed about the two contestants, but I edged my stepson to where a pile of Yule logs, a little apart from the rest and so far unnoticed by others, formed a platform from which the fight could easily be viewed in comfort.
    To my astonishment, this was no bout of fisticuffs between a couple of crane workers or dock-hands – which was not an unusual sight along the Backs – but a set-to between two young men who, judging by their clothes, were of some wealth and standing. The savagery of the blows which they were inflicting on one another argued an enmity deeply felt and of long duration, but they had, at least, chosen to fight with their fists rather than their daggers or swords which, together with their cloaks and hats, were piled at the feet of an onlooker.
    It was not easy to distinguish between them. They were of a similar age – somewhere, I guessed, around nineteen or twenty. Both were of slender build and both had brown curly hair. Indeed, except for the fact that one wore a blue tunic and the other a green it would have been almost impossible to tell them apart.
    After a few minutes watching them, it became apparent that ‘blue tunic’ was getting the worst of it. He had been knocked to the ground twice in the last few seconds and was obviously tiring. His opponent, on the other hand, still seemed fresh and ready to continue handing out punishment indefinitely. And perhaps he would have done had there not, at that moment, been an interruption.
    Some of the spectators were suddenly and violently scattered by a horse and rider plunging between them. A whip flashed, catching ‘green tunic’ across the shoulders, and a stentorian voice shouted, ‘Stop this! Stop it at once!’
    It was Sir George Marvell.

THREE
    S ir George threw himself from his horse and seized ‘green tunic’ by the scruff of his neck, at the same time bellowing, ‘You great oaf! You young bully! Leave your uncle be!’ He then gave the lad a shove which sent the latter sprawling on the ground and turned to the other, who appeared to my eyes as the slightly younger man. But if he had expected sympathy, he was disappointed. ‘Get up, for Sweet Christ’s sake, Bart! What are you, a man or a jellyfish? If you can’t stand up to a lout like James, God help you! You should be ashamed of yourself!’
    The man in the green tunic, referred to as James, got to his feet and gave a snort of laughter.