no fire burning now. Towards the back of the room, the pallets were occupied by four or five young boys, who were arranged head to foot like a row of herring on the monger's slab, tugging the blankets towards them as they fought one another in their dreams.
Talbot paused by two women who lay side by side whispering to each other.
'Here,' he said in a gruff whisper. 'Ma's taken in another bub. Find her a corner, will you, Luce. Tomorrow, take her in hand and show her the rules. She's only to clean for now, nothing more. And, Luce, mind you treat her like your own sister. She belongs to the Bullock.'
A dark-haired girl, with large doe eyes, propped herself up on one elbow.
'Belong to Master Raffe, do you? Aren't you the lucky one! What's he like then, the Bullock? They say he's got tricks that not even a ship's whore knows.' She tugged at the wet, muddy hem of Elena's skirts. 'If we're to be sisters you must tell everything he does in bed, I want every detail, mind.'
Elena snatched her skirt out of her grasp. 'I haven't . . . I've never let him touch me. He's an old man.'
Luce laughed. 'You wait till you see some of the wrinkled old cocks we get in here, you'll think Master Raffe a pullet compared to them. What's your name, kitten?'
'El—'
Elena was stopped mid-word by a heavy cuff from Talbot. 'Goose-head! You don't ever give your real name to anyone in here. Here, Luce,' he said, shaking his head as if he despaired of her stupidity, 'you give her a name.'
The girl chuckled softly. 'Prickly little thing, isn't she, and with hair that red, we'd best call her Holly. Tell you what, with flame on top like that, there'll be no hiding her light under a bush, not even a roomful of bushes.'
Talbot laughed.
Luce glanced around the room, then pointed to a pallet opposite her own.
'Take that one, next to Apricot; just chuck her bundle on to the top of that box. She's always spreading herself out.'
Elena picked her way across to the vacant pallet and, struggling out of her sodden shoes, lay down fully clothed, her scrip still fastened around her waist. Her teeth began to chatter and she shivered uncontrollably.
'You not got any covers, Holly?' A coarse blanket came flying through the air, hitting Elena in the face. 'Get out of your wet clothes, you'll catch your death.'
Elena gratefully drew the blanket over her, but she still made no attempt to peel off her damp clothes, though she longed to be warm and dry. To be naked in this place would be to admit she was now one of them and she wasn't. She wouldn't ever allow herself to be.
Luce glanced at Talbot and shrugged. Talbot, shaking his head as if he could never understand women, lumbered from the room.
Ma poured a goblet of wine for herself and pushed the flagon across her table towards Talbot. He shook his head, as he usually did. Talbot could down his own bodyweight in ale of an evening and still remember every word of gossip he'd picked up in the Adam and Eve Inn, but he'd never had the stomach for wine.
He hovered uneasily in front of Ma's table. He knew the signs; that silent and too concentrated paring of an apple with her razor-sharp knife meant Ma was not happy, and if she wasn't happy, you could be certain she'd make damn sure he wasn't either.
'So, my darling,' Ma said. 'Why don't you tell me why I'm really risking my neck taking in this girl? And don't say you're just doing a favour for the Bullock.'
Talbot grinned. 'She's a pretty wench, has an innocence about her some men would love to spoil in more ways than one. She'll earn you good money.'
'I never take in girls who don't bring me money. What else?' The rubies on Ma's stubby fingers flashed in the candlelight as she scraped her long talons down the pewter goblet.
Talbot's grin faded instantly. He knew when Ma's patience was wearing thin.
'All right, Ma, if you must know, back in the spring Raffe told me that a lass in the manor had overheard a man talking about bringing French spies into England. She didn't recognize who was talking, but it turns out the rat was none other than Hugh of Roxham, Osborn's little brother. Raffe wouldn't report it for fear Hugh would get to the lass first. And