The Pillars Of The Earth Page 0,400

do, I'll kill Aliena and her lover, he thought; and he looked into the fire, so that his mother should not meet his eyes and read his thoughts.

"I'm not sure you can," Waleran said.

"I've done it before-why shouldn't I do it again?"

"Last time you had a good reason: the fleece fair."

"This time it's the market. They've never had King Stephen's permission for that either."

"It's not quite the same. Philip was pushing his luck by holding a fleece fair, and you attacked it immediately. The Sunday market has been going on at Kingsbridge for six years now, and anyway, it's twenty miles from Shiring so it ought to be licensed."

William suppressed his anger. He wanted to tell Waleran to stop being such a feeble old woman; but that would never do.

While he was swallowing his protest a steward came into the room and stood silently by the door. Waleran said: "What is it?"

"There's a man here who insists on seeing you, my lord bishop. Name of Jack Jackson. A builder, from Kingsbridge. Shall I send him away?"

William's heart raced. It was Aliena's lover. How had the man happened to come here just when William was plotting his death? Perhaps he had supernatural powers. William was possessed by dread.

"From Kingsbridge?" Waleran said with interest.

Regan said: "He's the new master builder there, the one who brought the Weeping Madonna from Spain."

"Interesting," said Waleran. "Let's have a look at him." He said to the steward: "Send him in."

William stared at the door with superstitious terror. He expected a tall, fearsome man in a black cloak to stride in and point directly at him with an accusing finger. But when Jack came through the door, William was shocked by his youth. Jack could not have been much past twenty. He had red hair and alert blue eyes which flickered over William, paused on Regan-whose frightful facial sores arrested the glance of anyone who was not used to them-and came to rest on Waleran. The builder was not much intimidated by finding himself in the presence of the two most powerful men in the county, but apart from that surprising nonchalance he did not seem very fearsome.

Like William, Waleran sensed the young builder's insubordinate attitude, and reacted with a coldly haughty voice. "Well, lad, what's your business with me?"

"The truth," Jack said. "How many men have you seen hang?"

William caught his breath. It was a shocking and insolent question. He looked at the others. His mother was leaning forward, frowning intently at Jack, as if she might have seen him before and was trying to place him. Waleran was looking coldly amused.

Waleran said: "Is this a riddle? I've seen more men hang than I care to count, and there will be another if you don't speak respectfully."

"I beg your pardon, my lord bishop," Jack said, but he still did not sound frightened. "Do you remember all of them?"

"I think so," Waleran said, and he sounded intrigued despite himself. "I suppose there is a particular one that you're interested in."

"Twenty-two years ago, at Shiring, you watched the hanging of a man called Jack Shareburg."

William heard his mother give a muffled gasp.

"He was a jongleur," Jack continued. "Do you recall him?"

William felt the atmosphere in the room become tense all of a sudden. There was something unnaturally frightful about Jack Jackson; there had to be, for him to have this effect on Waleran and Mother. "I think perhaps I do remember," Waleran said, and William heard in his voice the strain of self-control. What was going on here?

"I imagine you do," Jack said, and now he was sounding insolent again. "The man was convicted on the testimony of three people. Two of them are now dead. You were the third."

Waleran nodded. "He had stolen something from Kingsbridge Priory-a jeweled chalice."

A flinty look came into Jack's blue eyes. "He had done nothing of the kind."

"I caught him myself, with the chalice on him."

"You lied."

There was a pause. When Waleran spoke again his tone was mild but his face was as hard as iron. "I may have your tongue ripped out for that," he said.

"I just want to know why you did it," Jack said as if he had not heard the grisly threat. "You can be candid here. William is no threat to you, and his mother seems to know all about it already."

William looked at his mother. It was true, she did have a knowing air. William himself was now completely mystified. It seemed-he hardly dared to hope-that