The Outcast Dove: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery Read Online Free PDF

Solomon assured him. “Although you should have a new grandchild by the summer.”
    Hubert’s grin widened. “Say what you like about the English, Edgar does give my daughter fine children. Is he coming back?”
    “I don’t know,” Solomon answered. “If he thinks Catherine needs him, he may decide to stay until the baby arrives. I told him I’d be in Toulouse until after Easter but I’ll wait no longer than that for him.”
    “Ah, well,” Hubert began. “I might have a commission for you before then if you don’t mind a short trip.”
    “Anything you like, Uncle,” Solomon said.
    Gavi’s wife had been standing politely while they spoke, but she felt that she must show their guest some hospitality.
    “Would you like some beer and sausage, Rav Chaim?” she asked. “We would be honored for you to join us.”
    Solomon remembered that Hubert had returned to his Hebrew birth name and this was what the people of Toulouse would know him by. Chaim, a fitting name for one who had been born into a new life.
    He was amazed at the change in his uncle. As a young boy in Rouen, Hubert’s mother and sister had been killed by soldiers on their way to join the first expedition to the Holy Land. The other men of the family had been away. Hubert had been taken in by a Christian of Rouen, baptized, raised and married as a Christian. His father and brothers thought he was dead and it was many years before they found him again. By then he was part of the Christian community.
    Yet, in the autumn of his life, Hubert had returned to Judaism. It had meant leaving his children and grandchildren behind, knowing that he might never see them again. Leaving most of his wealth with Edgar and Catherine, Hubert turned his back on the life he had led for over fifty years. He had started in Hebrew school with boys of seven or eight, trying to pick up what he had barely started learning before his life had been torn in half.
    But that was only two years ago! How had he attained such respect in so short a time? Solomon was mystified.
    “Uncle,” he said as they sat at the table and Gavi poured the beer. “When I last saw you, you had scarcely begun your aleph-bet . What miracle has led you to the rank of teacher?”
    Hubert smiled sheepishly. “I’m rather embarrassed by that. It’s not my learning they seem to respect.”
    “Rav Chaim has become a parush, ” Gavi explained. “An ascetic who spends every hour of the day in study and prayer.”
    “Most days,” Hubert added. “Most hours.”
    “You are devoting your life to the study of the Torah,” Gavi’s wife, Nazara, said. “Such dedication to the words of the Creator is always to be honored.”
    “You forget that I have a lifetime of study to make up for.” Hubert was clearly ill at ease.
    “We’re all proud of you,” Solomon told him. “I even have a gift for you from your old friend, Abraham the vintner. ‘For the lost sheep,’ he said. ‘Who found his way home.’”
    Hubert smiled but seemed preoccupied.
    “Abraham was always a good friend,” he said.
    He finished his beer and, when Gavi started to pour more, put his hand over the bowl.
    “I am grateful for your hospitality, Mar Gavi.” He inclined his head to Gavi and his wife. “But I mustn’t stay. Solomon, would you walk back to the synagogue with me? I’ve been given a bed there while I am in Toulouse.”
    “Of course, Uncle,” Solomon answered. “Just let me put on my boots.”
    The two men walked in silence along the river before turning into the Cité, the part of town under the protection of the count.
    Just before they entered the gates of the Cité, Solomon rounded on Hubert.
    “Now that you have my guts twisted like a bloom of iron hot from the kiln, tell me what’s wrong,” he demanded.
    Hubert grimaced. “Clearly, I’ve lost the skill to hide my true emotions. The talents a trader needs most are a hindrance to the kind of study I’ve been doing.”
    “Uncle!” Solomon warned.
    “I