The Guilt of Innocents Read Free Page A

he’d been engaged in a struggle before he fell into the water.’
    ‘I’d not heard of this,’ said Campian.
    ‘The wounds had been cleansed by the cold waters,’ said Henry.
    ‘Then this earlier struggle might be why he fell in?’ The abbot nodded to himself.
    ‘Perhaps,’ said Henry.
    Jasper stepped closer to Drogo in the abbot’s shadow. Slashes, they looked like, made by a very sharp blade. ‘Perhaps this did not happen on the barge, my Lord Abbot,’ Jasper said, keeping his voice low. ‘One of my fellows said he’d looked ill when he arrived at the barges.’
    ‘Did you see him arrive?’ asked Campian.
    Jasper shook his head.
    Abbot Campian thanked Jasper, then took Brother Henry aside.
    ‘What are you suggesting?’ the abbot asked the infirmarian.
    ‘Perhaps this man had a falling out with someone else besides Hubert de Weston’s friends,’ said Henry loud enough that Jasper could hear him, ‘someone armed and far more aggressive than the boys.’
    Campian frowned down at the ground. ‘Why then did he go to the barges, I wonder?’
    ‘He felt safe amongst his friends?’ Henryshrugged. ‘He might not have realised how badly injured he was, how weak.’
    ‘I’d thought it an unfortunate accident, but it certainly looks otherwise,’ said Campian. ‘Still, the lads should be taught a lesson.’
    Sensing a disturbance behind him, Jasper glanced back. Master Nicholas Ferriby was making his way through the crowd towards Drogo. He bent close to the drowned man, whispering a prayer.
    It was not Master Nicholas but a man close behind him and a little to one side who gasped and then cried out, ‘He bleeds!’
    To Jasper’s astonishment he saw blood oozing from the wounds on the man’s face and neck. He glanced back up to see the schoolmaster’s reaction.
    Master Nicholas looked towards the crowd with a puzzled frown and then down at Drogo. He staggered backwards with a cry. ‘Sweet Mary and all the saints!’ He crossed himself.
    ‘Holy Mother of God,’ a boy cried. ‘Master Nicholas drew blood from the corpse.’
    His exclamation was repeated throughout the crowd accompanied by gasps and cries of dismay.
    Nicholas turned to the young speaker, his eyes flashing in the lantern light. ‘I did nothing but pray for his soul.’
    ‘Drogo is not dead,’ Brother Henry loudly reminded them.
    Abbot Campian stepped forward, and takingNicholas by the elbow he guided him aside. ‘The crowd’s mood grows dangerous. I advise you to withdraw into the abbey close as soon as you can do so without notice,’ he said softly, though Jasper heard it, and apparently so did some of the monks who had drawn near, for they silently shifted just enough to give Master Nicholas cover in which to withdraw.
    ‘Am I to be a scapegoat for Master John’s scholars?’ Nicholas protested.
    ‘Accept my offer or be damned,’ hissed the abbot.
    ‘Forgive me, my Lord Abbot,’ Nicholas murmured, and with head lowered slipped away.
    Abbot Campian turned to address the crowd. ‘This is no corpse,’ he said in an arrestingly authoritative voice. ‘This man yet lives.’
    ‘But he was not bleeding before Master Nicholas approached him,’ cried a woman.
    ‘His wounds were so chilled by the waters of the Ouse that the blood clotted,’ said Brother Henry. ‘We have managed to warm him enough so that it flows again.’
    But the murmuring in the crowd was not friendly.
    ‘A corpse bleeds when the murderer is near,’ a man far back in the crowd shouted.
    ‘A corpse, perhaps,’ said Henry. ‘Not a living man.’
    Abbot Campian put a hand on Henry’s arm. ‘I’ve sent for the bailiffs. I don’t like the temperof the crowd. Such confusion is a sign of trouble.’
    ‘God help us that the scholars’ charitable intention should turn so foul,’ said Henry.
    ‘Where is Master Nicholas, my Lord Abbot?’ a man asked much more loudly than necessary. Others echoed the question. There was much jostling, and angry words