Dissolution

The last book contained records of land sales going back over the last five years. My heart began to pound and my body felt suddenly charged with excitement. I laid it on the desk and brought the candle close with a hand that trembled slightly, coughing as the wick smoked. Details of the parcels sold, the buyers, the prices and the dates the documents were sealed. I looked at the most recent. According to the book there had been four large sales in the last year which had not been recorded in the monastery's account books. They totalled nearly a thousand pounds, an enormous sum. One of them, the largest, was to Jerome's relative. I blew out my cheeks. This must be the book Singleton had seen.

I thought a moment, then took a paper and quill from the desk and rapidly copied the entries down. Copynger could be set to confirm these sales had actually taken place. I would have no more of tales of notes and projections; this time I would present Brother Edwig with evidence he could not wriggle away from.

I replaced the books and paced the room slowly, reflecting. Had the bursar and the abbot too, as he had custody of the monastery seal, been engaged in fraud? Surely they must know that if the monastery was surrendered and the Augmentations officials came in, they would be found out. Or could Edwig have gained access to the seal and used it without the abbot's knowledge? It would be easy enough. And where was the money? The proceeds of these sales constituted another half-chestful of gold. I stood looking at the backs of the old ledgers that lined the walls, wondering.

Something caught my eye. The candle flame was flickering. I realized there was a draught behind me; the door had been opened. I turned slowly. Brother Edwig stood in the doorway, staring at me. He cast a quick glance at his desk, which I was glad I had relocked. Then he pressed his palms together and spoke.

'I had n-no idea anyone was here, Commissioner. You startled me.'

'I am surprised you did not call out.'

'I w-was too astonished.'

'I am allowed all access. I decided to have a look at some of these ledgers you have round the walls. I had just begun.' Had he seen me at his desk? No, or I would have felt the draught before.

'I fear those are only old accounts.'

'So I see.'

'I am g-glad to see you, sir,' he said, giving his quick mirthless smile. 'I wanted to ap-pologize for my outburst this morning. I was upset by the ceremony's interruption. I beg you will take no note of w-words spoken in thoughtless heat.'

I replaced the ledger, inclining my head. 'I know many think as you do, even if they do not say it. But you are wrong. Such moneys as go to the Exchequer will be used by the king to benefit the commonwealth.'

'Will they, sir?'

'You think not?'

'In these days when all men are consumed by greed? Is it not said covetousness was never more attacked nor more seductive? His friends will pressure the king for largesse. And who can hold the k-king to account?'

'God. He has placed the welfare of his people in the king's hands.'

'But kings have other p-priorities,' Brother Edwig said. 'Pray do not misunderstand me, I do not criticize King Henry.'

'That would be unwise.'

'I mean k-kings in general. I know how they throw money to the winds. I have seen for myself how it is wasted on armies, for example.' There was an animated light in his eyes that I had never seen before, an eagerness to talk that made him appear at once more human.

'Have you?' I encouraged him. 'How is that, Brother?'

'My father was an army paymaster, sir. I spent my childhood as a camp-follower while I learned his trade. I was with King Henry's army in the war against France twenty years ago.'

'When the Spanish king deceived him, promising support and then abandoning him?'

He nodded. 'And all done for the sake of g-glory and conquest. I saw the armies rampaging through France, I s-spent my childhood looking at dead soldiers laid out in rows in camp, sir, their bodies going green, prisoners hanged at the g-gate. I was at the siege of Therouanne.'

'Warfare is a terrible thing,' I agreed. 'For all that many say it is noble.'

He nodded vigorously. 'And always the priests moved among the wounded, giving unction, trying to mend what man had torn as-s-sunder. I decided then to become a monk, put my f-figuring skills at the service of the Church.' He smiled again and this time it was a smile with life in it, a wry smile. 'People say I am mean, do they not?'

I shrugged.

'To me, every groat that goes to the Ch-Church is won for God from the sinful world. Can you understand that? It goes to support prayer and charity. But for what we give them the p-poor would have nothing. We have to give alms, because of our faith.'

'And for kings it is a choice, one they may choose not to make?'

'Just so. And the payment we receive for Masses for the dead, sir. It is good in God's eyes, it helps the dead in purgatory and brings merit for the giver.'

'Purgatory again. You believe in it?'