The Weaver's Inheritance Read Online Free PDF Page B

convinced,’ Adela said quietly, having followed our conversation thus far with interest. ‘And most likely neither do you, Roger.’
    I looked at her, half in annoyance, half in admiration.
    My mother-in-law shifted uneasily. Although an acute woman herself, and inclined, on occasions, to be acid-tongued, she was nevertheless unshakeable in her belief that a single man should be flattered and complimented until he proposed marriage and the knot was tied – after which, of course, there was no further need for prevarication.
    ‘I’m sure Roger is always eager for the truth,’ she reproved her cousin. ‘Aren’t you, my dear?’
    I smiled a little shamefacedly. ‘I’m afraid that in this case Adela may be right. I’ve always been so certain that Clement Weaver is dead that I’m not anxious to be proved mistaken.’ I added another log to the fire, watching the resin as it caught and spluttered. I sat for a moment or two, staring into the flames, before straightening my shoulders and once again addressing my mother-in-law. ‘But there must be something more than his looks to persuade the Alderman that his man is his son. He must know something of Clement’s childhood; of the years before that ill-fated visit to London. Has Goody Watkins anything to say on this head?’
    ‘Only that he seems to have enough knowledge to satisfy Alderman Weaver.’
    ‘But not Mistress Burnett and her husband?’
    ‘Ah!’ Margaret rose and fetched three wooden cups from a shelf near the door, carefully filling them with ale, milk and spices which she had been mulling over the fire for the past half-hour. ‘According to Maria Watkins, there lies the nub of the matter.’
    ‘What nub? What does she mean? And how reliable is her information?’
    My mother-in-law answered my second question first. ‘In all that relates to the Weavers, I think you may trust her. Haven’t you ever noticed that Goody Watkins is very friendly with Dame Pernelle?’ When I shook my head, Margaret sighed. ‘No, I suppose you wouldn’t. You’re so often absent.’
    ‘Who is Dame Pernelle?’ asked Adela.
    ‘She’s housekeeper to Alderman Weaver, and the third such since his wife died, more than seven years ago now.’
    Adela sipped her posset. ‘It must be,’ she agreed. ‘I remember you sending me a message that Mistress Weaver had died at Michaelmas, a few months after I married Owen. A kinswoman of the Alderman, Marjorie Dyer, you said, had moved in to take care of him and the children.’
    ‘Of course!’ my mother-in-law exclaimed excitedly. ‘What’s the matter with me? I’m forgetting that you knew the Weavers! You’ll be able to give your opinion as to whether or not you think this person really is Clement.’
    ‘No.’ The younger woman was emphatic. ‘My memory, after all this time, simply isn’t good enough. However hard I try, I can’t recall either of the Weaver children in any detail.’
    ‘Mother,’ I said, interrupting with some impatience, ‘what does Goody Watkins mean by “the nub of the matter”?’
    Margaret looked confused for a moment, then recollected.
    ‘Well, according to Dame Pernelle, who told Maria, who told me, this young man who says he’s Clement Weaver does indeed know quite a lot about the family, and also about incidents in his childhood. That’s one of the reasons why the Alderman is so sure he’s his son, and accepts so readily the story of the lost memory and its sudden restoration. But Alison and William Burnett are convinced that he has been well informed by someone with intimate knowledge of them and their history. The question is, by whom?’
    ‘And also why?’ The mulled ale and milk slid down my throat like satin, and the aromatic scent of the spices teased my nostrils. ‘As Alison became her father’s sole heir on the death of her brother, what could anyone else, apart from the young man himself, possibly have to gain from such an imposture? Who would take the trouble to find and