Brother Cadfael 11: An Excellent Mystery

she had a way of holding people so that they felt they might miss some prodigy if they went away from her. No one had moved, no one had slipped into casual talk, all the movement there was in the court was of those still making their way out to join the press, and sidling softly round the periphery to find a place where they might see and hear better. There was only the softest rustling of garments and shuffling of feet as Hugh took the scroll. The seal would be immaculate, for it was also the seal of Polesworth's daughter cell at Godric's Ford.
    'Have I your leave, Father? It may well be something of importance.'
    'By all means, read,' said the abbot.
    Hugh broke the seal and unrolled the leaf. He read with brows drawn close in fixed attention. Round the great court men held their breath, or drew it very softly and cautiously. There was tension in the air, after all that had passed.
    'Father,' said Hugh, looking up abruptly, 'there is matter here that concerns more than me. Others here have much more to do in this, and deserve and need to know at once what is set down here. It is a marvel! Of such weight, I should have had to issue its purport as a public proclamation. With your leave I'll do so here and now, before all this company.'
    There was no need to raise his voice, every ear was strained to attend on every word as he read clearly: 'My lord Sheriff, ‘It is come to my ears, to my great dismay, that in my own shire I am rumoured to be dead, robbed and done to death for gain. Wherefore I send in haste this present witness that I am not so wronged, but declare myself alive and well, here arrived into the hospitality of the house sisters at Polesworth. I repent me that lives and honours may have been put in peril mistakenly on my account, some, perhaps, who have been good friends and servants to me. And I ask pardon if I have been the means of disruption and distress to any, unknown to me but through my silence. There shall be amends made.
    'As to my living heretofore, I confess with all humility that I came to doubt whether I had the nun's true vocation before ever I reached my goal, and therefore I have been living retired and serviceable, but have taken no vows as a nun. At Sopwell Priory by Saint Albans a devout woman may live a life of holiness and service short of the veil, through the charity of Prior Geoffrey. Now, being advised I am sought as one dead, I desire to show myself to all those who know me, that no one may go any longer in grief or peril because of me.
    'I entreat you, my lord, make this known to my good brother and all my kin, and send some trustworthy man to bring me safe to Shrewsbury, and I shall rest your lordship's grateful debtor.
    'Julian Cruce.' Long before he had reached the end there had begun a stirring, a murmur, an eddy that shook its way like a sudden rising wind through the ranks of the listeners, and then a roused humming like bees in swarm, and suddenly Reginald's stunned silence broke in a bellow of wonder, bewilderment and delight all mingled: 'My sister living? She's alive! By God, we have been wildly astray…'
    'Alive!' echoed Nicholas in a dazed whisper. 'Julian is alive…alive and well…'
    The murmur grew to a throbbing chorus of wonder and excitement, and above it the voice of Abbot Radulfus soared exultantly: 'God's mercies are infinite. Out of the shadow of death he demonstrates his miraculous goodness.'
    'We have wronged an honest man!' cried Reginald, as vehement in amends as in accusation. 'He was as truly her man as ever he claimed! Now it comes clear to me - all that he sold he sold for her, surely for her! Only those woman's trinkets that were hers in the world - she had the right to what they would fetch…'
    'I'll bring her from Polesworth myself, along with you,' said Hugh, 'and Adam Heriet shall be hauled out of his prison a free man, and go along with us. Who has a better right?'
    The burial of Brother Humilis had become in a moment the resurrection of Julian Cruce, from a mourning into a celebration, from Good Friday to Easter. 'A life taken from us and a life restored,' said Abbot Radulfus, 'is perfect balance, that we may fear neither living nor dying.'
    Brother Rhun came from the refectory with his mind full of a strange blend of pleasure and sorrow, and took them with him into the quietness and solitude of the abbey orchards along the Gaye. There would be no one there at this hour of this season if he left the kitchen garden and the fields