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reminded of God’s law and he said something about banishing lost souls to the eternal fires. But he’ll be back, my lady.’ His tear-reddened eyes met Helewise’s, and her heart turned over with pity.
    ‘Try not to worry, Brother Firmin,’ she said kindly. ‘Return to the Vale and to ministering to your pilgrims. Leave Father Micah to me.’
    She saw, with relief, that her words seemed to bring some comfort to Brother Firmin. She wished, as she watched him shuffle away, that she could say the same for herself.
    Josse’s return later in the day brought a very welcome distraction. Putting aside her own concerns, she asked him what he had discovered about the dead gaoler. Listening to his deep voice as he told her of the marks on the dead man’s throat, gratefully she turned her mind to the mystery.
    ‘Is it any way possible, Sir Josse, that one of the prisoners could have reached out through this trap door you speak of, where food is put into the cell?’
    ‘I think not, my lady. And, in any case, neither prisoner had noticeably large hands, apparently. One was an adult man, but short and slight, the other but a youth.’
    ‘And the cell door had not been forced?’
    ‘No. Opened with a key.’
    ‘The dead man’s own key?’
    ‘His colleagues believe so. But, my lady, they are a sorry lot and, I would guess, singularly dull-witted and unobservant.’
    ‘Hmm. I conclude, Sir Josse, as I am certain you do too, that the assailant came from outside, struck down the guard, took his key and released the prisoners.’
    ‘Quite so.’
    ‘But why? Who were they, Sir Josse? Were you able to discover?’
    ‘The other guards had little to offer on the matter.’ He sighed, and she could sense his frustration. ‘I dignify the three of them with the title of guard, but indeed two seemed to have been recruited merely to serve as bearers; they were on the point of removing the body when Augustus and I arrived. He’s a good lad, Augustus,’ he added. ‘Uses his head.’
    ‘I agree,’ she said quietly. Then: ‘You were saying, Sir Josse, that the guards had little to say?’
    ‘Aye, aye.’ He sighed again. ‘One of them reported that the prisoners were strangers. Foreign, he said. His friend the dead man had complained that they kept shouting out and he couldn’t make out what they wanted. Not that it would have made any difference, I imagine, since I’m sure he wouldn’t have given them what they were asking for even if he had understood what it was.’
    He was, Helewise observed, looking uncharacteristically dejected. ‘What is it, my friend?’ she asked gently. ‘What is bothering you?’
    ‘Oh – I’m being soft,’ he said, rousing himself to a brief smile. ‘It is entirely possible that those two prisoners were justly jailed, that they were guilty of some crime which deserved harsh treatment. But, my lady, you and I would not keep an animal in such conditions as I found in those cells, let alone a human being.’
    ‘I do not think that your compassion earns you the accusation of being soft,’ she said. ‘If, indeed, such is a matter of accusation. But, Sir Josse, could you gain no idea of what their crime was?’
    ‘No. The gaolers didn’t seem to know and, when Gus and I tried making a few enquiries among the villagers, they wouldn’t talk to us. They seemed afraid.’
    ‘Of the gaolers?’
    ‘Funny that you should ask, but no, I don’t think that was it. There was someone else they feared. One woman Gus spoke to kept looking over her shoulder as if she feared the Devil himself was going to leap out at her. And a small child broke out in sobs and said something about the black man.’
    ‘The black man? Black-skinned, do you think?’
    ‘Aye, maybe.’
    ‘Could these foreign prisoners have been dark-skinned?’ Eager now, she pursued the idea. ‘Perhaps a really tall, broad, black man came to rescue his friends, killing the gaoler with a huge hand and scaring all the villagers with his