Free The Midsummer Crown by Kate Sedley

news by the time we get there.’ He was plainly loath to draw attention to me, but, seeing no help for it, went on: ‘Master Chapman has been called in by my lord Protector to try to find the boy and throw some light on the mysterious circumstances of Tutor Machin’s death. The reason we’re here is because Master Chapman feels it necessary to discover something about his and young Master Fitzalan’s life in the days before they left for the capital last week, in company with the Duchess of Gloucester.’
    The housekeeper turned to me, looking bewildered. ‘There’s nothing to tell, sir. There were no unusual happenings, nothing out of the ordinary until the sudden summons for Master Gideon to go to London to wait upon the new young king. That was a surprise, I admit. None of us had foreseen such a request, as indeed why should we? If we’d thought about it at all, we’d assumed that His Highness would have his own attendants, brought with him from Ludlow; boys who’d grown up with him and been his playmates and fellow scholars for most of his life.’
    I glanced at Timothy and raised my eyebrows, but he at once gave a discreet shake of his head. There was no need, his look implied, to say more than necessity demanded.
    Mistress Blancheflower meantime rattled on, ‘He didn’t want to go at first. Master Gideon, I mean. And Gregory – Tutor Machin – was even more put out than he was. Carried on something dreadful about the lad falling behind with his lessons and growing up a dunderhead with his noddle stuffed full of nothing but pleasure and fine food and new clothes. That was when I saw the boy’s attitude begin to change. He suddenly decided that going to London might not be such a bad thing after all as long as Mother Copley and Piers were allowed to accompany him to attend to his well-being. He wasn’t best pleased, though, when he discovered that Gregory was also going with him.’
    â€˜And Dame Copley?’ I enquired. ‘How did she feel about London?’
    The housekeeper cocked her head on one side, absent-mindedly jingling the keys at her belt.
    â€˜To my surprise, she quite liked the idea. I’d expected her to complain that Gideon was too delicate – she was always dosing him with some concoction or another, poor child – and shouldn’t be exposed to the foul London air. But she didn’t. In the end, she was as eager to be off as he was. Although, she wouldn’t have been, of course, if she could have foreseen what was going to happen almost as soon as he got there.’
    Neither Timothy nor I volunteering any opinion on the matter, she finally took herself off with a parting instruction to present ourselves in the servants’ hall for supper in about an hour.
    â€˜Anyone will tell you where it is. Meantime, I’ll send one of the girls with hot water for you. You’ll no doubt be in need of a wash after your journey.’
    She was as good as her word, a young kitchen-maid arriving shortly afterwards, staggering under the weight of a heavy pail full of gently steaming water. A little later, having washed and changed my yellow tunic for the green one with silver-gilt buttons, I knocked on Timothy’s door and suggested that we spend the intervening time until supper by a turn in the fresh air.
    â€˜I need to stretch my legs. They feel cramped from all that riding.’
    Minster Lovell proved to be even bigger than I had at first imagined.. While the bakery, buttery, laundry, pantry and kitchens were all housed in the east wing, the stables, kennels and a handsome pigeon loft were located outside the main gateway. And it was while Timothy and I were idly watching the birds fly in and out of the loft, happy for five minutes or so to let our overcharged minds go blank, that young Piers Daubenay found us.
    â€˜I saw you go out of the gate,’ he said, ‘and I knew you wanted to speak to me,