The Tainted Coin Read Online Free PDF Page A

an’ never wed again. ’Though I have seen a woman about ’is place the past weeks. My Alfred told John ’twas dangerous work, to be on the roads alone with the goods in ’is cart. Said evil would come upon John soon or late.”
    “Had the chapman a brother or sister?”
    “Aye, sisters, I think.”
    “Do they reside hereabouts?”
    “Don’t know. ’E never said much of ’em. Poor John only lived ’ere on the street since Lammastide. Didn’t talk much, an’ was never ’ome for long.”

    I thanked the woman for her time and turned my attention to the chapman’s house. Perhaps within the dwelling there might be some evidence of the sisters to whom the contents of the chapman’s cart might now belong. The windows were small, and covered by shutters which seemed fragile and easily torn aside. Prosperous families lived on East St. Helen Street, but John Thrale’s house was one of the meanest, and in need of some repair.
    I did not wish to call to myself the attention which pulling down a shutter would bring, so tried the door. It was securely shut, as I expected, even though there was no lock. It was barred from within. This being so, there must be another door, with a lock, at the rear, in the toft, else there would be no means of entry to the place.
    I circled the house and saw my assumption correct. The rear of the house had but one small window, shuttered like those in the front, and in the middle of the wall was a door secured with a heavy iron latch. A large keyhole was centered in this lock, and when I tried the latch handle it would not move.
    I had found no key in the chapman’s cart, nor did Thrale carry it upon his person. Who would? Such a key is as long as my hand and the iron would weigh heavily upon a man.
    My eyes found the barn at the rear of the toft and I left the house to search the place for a key. If I was the chapman, I thought, where would I hide a key that no man might discover it?
    I would not hang it upon a nail, no matter how well hidden it might be. Such a place would surely be sought first.
    The interior of the barn – which, in truth, was little more than a shed – was dark, stinking of manure, and shaded from the setting sun by the roof of the neighboring house. My eyes did not readily conform to the shadows, but when they did I surveyed the interior before moving to seek a key.
    I saw a rusted nail, driven part-way into a corner post, which in such place could serve no purpose but to hang upon it some object. But no key was there. Perhaps some time past Thrale, or some earlier inhabitant of the house, had hung a key there and some miscreant found it and looted the house while the owner was away. I saw no key in any other place, so began to search under beams and in hidden, shadowy places. I found no key.
    Was the chapman a careless, slovenly fellow? Or had he allowed his beast’s manure to accumulate upon the befouled straw so as to ensure no man was likely to plunge in his hand seeking a key beneath the filth? In a corner of the small barn I saw a shovel and rake, which tools the chapman must have used when he did clean the stable. I seized the rake and began to pull aside the fouled straw. Half-way across the shed I felt the wooden teeth of the rake strike some solid object. It was the key.
    A moment later I entered the chapman’s house. The interior was near pitch-black, for the autumn day was fading and the shutters over the windows were closed, permitting only narrow slivers of light to illuminate the place. The house was like those of most of King Edward’s more prosperous subjects, however, so I did not require much light to find my way about.
    The house had two rooms upon the ground floor, and the larger of these could be warmed by a fireplace. This was a puzzle, for itinerant chapmen do not usually possess such wealth as to afford a house of two floors, complete with fireplace, even if the house was in some disrepair.
    In one corner of the larger room was a table,