Hue and Cry (17 page)

Without waiting for his answer, she threw open the shutters, allowing the sunlight to scatter the dust.

‘Are not the pictures pretty, Master Cullan? All the bonny beasts and flowers, And look, upon the pippin tree, the linnet and the robin,
us
, you see. And here’s the lark and Katie wren. Oh Robin,
do you think,’ like a child she clapped her hands, ‘that we might name her Katherine, if the babe’s a girl?’

Her husband smiled and kissed her full on the belly. ‘Katherine Flett. It is a good name, Lucy Linn.’

Hew turned to examine the paintings. They were, in the light, unexceptional sketches: bright-coloured flora, animals and birds. Perhaps the painter shared his own ambivalence towards the merchant and his wife, for he thought he spied a sparrowhawk, shadowing the little birds below. For sure, the robin redbreast was puffed up to inordinate size, and the linnet curled below its wing had eyes upon a brighter bird astride a bigger tree.

‘The pictures are remarkable,’ he answered tactfully. ‘I thank you, sir, my father is still well enough. However he grows old, and is concerned for my sister. You were kind enough to offer her a home and he had hoped to see her settled here. But I fear in your present confusion, it may not be opportune.’

‘On the contrary,’ said Robin unexpectedly. He dropped his voice. ‘It will be most convenient. My linnet, I pray you, go ask the girl to fetch wine. You’ll drink a cup of claret. Hew? We’ll sit among the paintings. Here are stools.

‘Believe me, you are welcome,’ he acknowledged privately. ‘I’m glad to have your sister at this time. I have been at my wits’ end to know how to comfort Lucy while I’m gone. You see, she bears her frail condition ill . . .’

‘Frail!’ thought Hew.

‘. . . And I have put off sailing several times. Now the winds are strong, I can delay no longer. I shall speak plain. Margret has the falland evil – no, sir, do not frown, my youngest sister died with it; I see no shame. But nonetheless, you will allow, it is a
private
sickness, and in this it serves us well. My wife has want of friends. In truth, she has made friendships I wish to discourage, and I would not have her go among the world when I’m abroad. Well then, Meg shall be her company. Now, do not mind the works, for she shall share her bed with Linnet, where the air is pure and clean. It’s providential her affliction keeps them both confined.’

Confinement, thought Hew, was appropriate enough for this jewel-encrusted coffin of a house. Its freshness masked a dark sense of enclosure. He thought of Meg, and of the long-dead sister, nameless, kept indoors.

‘You understand?’ persisted Robin.

Hew murmured recklessly, ‘Like birds.’

His answer seemed to satisfy, for Robin gave a small tight smile. ‘I have had horoscopes drawn,’ he confided suddenly, ‘and am assured, no trace of this unhappy stain shall taint my child.’

‘The girl has gone to market.’ Lucy had returned, a banquet balanced on a tray, with all of the pride of an infant who bakes her first bannock. ‘Look what I found for us. Marmalades! Robin brings ships full of suckets and sugarplums, Hew, and I shall grow fat, you must help me. Here, these are cherries.’

She offered a sticky red sweetmeat, close enough almost to touching his lips. Hew felt a wave of nausea. He shook his head. He took solace in the sharpness of the wine, gulping deep to clear his thoughts. Robin, for his part, allowed his wife to sweeten him by sips, with the pressing of a nectarine, a pippin and a plum.

‘So Meg will come?’ said Lucy, and she clapped her hands again. ‘How soon?’

‘Tomorrow, if you will,’ Hew promised. ‘I can ride with her. I will be living at St Leonard’s, where I have taken employment as a regent, beginning next week. I think I may arrive a little early, for the man I am to share with is already in possession.’

Lucy nodded eagerly. ‘I have heard that the last regent there was taken for the murder of the Strachan boy, though the Strachans do not talk of it, and there is indeed a great mystery shrouds the affair.’

She sensed her husband moving to protest, and popped another candied plum into his mouth.

‘But I’ve heard very little of late,’ she pouted, ‘for Robin forbids me the town. I may not see my friends. He’s told the minister that I’m too frail for kirk, which as you see, is a wicked lie. Is aught spoken in the college of the crime?’

‘I have not had much converse there,’ Hew answered carefully, ‘as yet. But I believe I heard the rumour in the town. Forgive me, sir, for you must know the family. I do not mean to gossip on their grief.’

‘Tis no good thing. But aye,’ the man conceded, ‘I know Gilbert Strachan well, indeed we both have a part share in the
Angel
, which sets sail tomorrow. His loss affects him cruelly. Tis a pitiful sight, to see a brave man brought so low. So I confess I am uneasy to hear the matter talked of lightly.’

‘I have no wish to make light of it,’ Hew replied earnestly, ‘and I applaud your proper feeling. The truth is, I knew the last regent. As boys we shared rooms in the college. So I confess, I am uneasy to have heard him indicted for murder.’

Lucy’s eyes grew very wide. ‘You shared a bed?’

‘Whisht, Lucy, pray!’ It was as close as Robin came to irritation with his wife, and then at once he softened it, saying, ‘Shush, forgive me. I’m weary, my love, with so much to be done. And you mustn’t tell our cousin I have kept you from your friends, for you know how it pains me. You are indeed too ill for kirk. You seldom find the strength to dress before noon. I have spoken with the minister, and have asked him here to pray with you.’

Lucy sighed. ‘But might I not go once or twice to kirk, and Meg and Hew come with me, and put the seat nicely, and blankets and all?’

‘Well then . . . we shall see.’

Hew sensed him weaken, then revive. ‘As for the Strachans, I fear you must no longer count them as your friends.’

Lucy said appealingly, ‘But
Agnes
, Robin, and
Tibbie
, am I not to see them?’

He took both of her hands in his and said gravely, ‘come, Linnet, no. The lass is pert and loose. I would not have you there, nor yet our child, among such viciousness. For you are both of you too good,’ he brushed her cheek, ‘to suffer such corruption.’

‘Then we shall not be corrupted,’ she said sweetly.

‘Please me, Linnet; do not go,’ he countered in a sharper tone. And you, sir,’ directed at Hew, ‘would do well indeed to warn your sister from that place.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Master Cullan, please excuse me, but I was on my way out to the harbour when you came. I must oversee the loading of my ship. If the weather holds fair, we shall set sail at dawn. Walk with me, will you? We will talk a little more.’

‘No, Robin,’ Lucy cried pettishly, ‘our cousin has not finished his wine.’

Her husband scowled. ‘I cannot stay longer, my love.’

‘Then Hew shall keep me company until the girl returns.’

Hew glanced in mild entreaty from the husband to the wife. He had risen to his feet, the better to accommodate whichever won the clash of wills. It was of course Lucy, without another strand to her defence. Robin merely shrugged, ‘Then drink your wine. I shall see you, sir, at the harbour when you leave. Within the quarter hour,’ he added pointedly.

‘Well then,’ Lucy patted the stool beside her, ‘now he’s gone, I long to hear your news. All about that
villain
and his crimes. Why did he do it?’ She settled back complacently among the painted trees.

‘I’ve heard very little gossip, as I said,’ Hew said apologetically.

‘But you hear
some
?’

He conceded, ‘I did speak with the regent, Robert Black, who shared the villain’s room and his confidence . . .’

‘Aye?’ she pressed, ‘his confidence?’

‘He told me . . . though he would not have it spread . . .’

He made a brave show of reluctance, until Lucy begged him, ‘
Say
! Whoever should I tell it to?’

‘Aye, who indeed?’ Hew wondered. He relented. ‘Well, he did say that the villain thought we should be teaching Ramus’ logic now, in place of Aristotle’s. Which, according to our principal, must
prove
the man a scoundrel, or at least of dubious worth.’

She flushed. ‘I think you tease me, sir.’

‘A little,’ he confessed. ‘Forgive me, but I fear your questions might offend your husband.’

‘I care little,’ she said sulkily, ‘as long as they please me. Know that my husband, come tomorrow, will be far across the seas. Ah well then, if you won’t tell, I must forgive the cruelty. I think, sir, you are less severe than you pretend. But peace, we’ll talk about your sister. Will she like it here?’

‘Well,’ considered Hew, ‘for all the house is fine—’

‘You will not find a finer.’

‘—Meg’s love is her garden. She prefers to be outdoors. And living out of town, she has been free to wander where she will. I think to be confined may prove a problem. She has a need, at times, to be solitary. It may not fit well with your own expectations.’

Lucy looked thoughtful. ‘Meg has the falling sickness?’ she asked seriously.

‘Aye. You’re not afraid of it?’

‘It does not show to look upon her. Does she slaver and spew?’

He felt his face grow hot. ‘She takes physic, and controls the fits. I hope it won’t alarm you.’

‘She’s not violent?’

‘Not at all.’

‘Then it won’t alarm me. But if she likes to be solitary, and I like to have company, then we shan’t be friends. And our garden you know is a dry little drab of a thing that scarcely sees the sun. Meg will be unhappy here.’

‘I fear it,’ Hew said simply.

‘And yet . . . I see a way,’ she mused. ‘Meg could take her walks upon the shore. It’s quiet when the boats are out, and she might have her solitude.’

‘Then you would be alone,’ he pointed out.

‘Tis true. I do not like to be alone.’ Her sighs seemed almost artless. ‘Oh!
Unless
of course . . .
unless
I called upon my friends.’

Silently, Hew gave applause to Lucy’s cunning. The flight from the birdcage was prettily done.

‘I notice that you do not share your husband’s scruples,’ he observed.

Lucy sighed impatiently, ‘I allow them pertinent, yet cannot feel them sharp. Do you?’

‘In conscience, I confess,’ he said in seriousness, ‘that they do prick. Perhaps you might tell me a little more about these friends of yours, the weavers and the dyers, just to help to put my mind at ease?’

She gave a full radiant smile and, with alacrity, deprived of gossips as she had been for the space of several days, helped him to another glass of wine.

‘It is so unreasonable of Robin,’ she complained, ‘who fostered the friendship, to forbid it when it blossoms, and when Agnes has the need of all her friends. For in truth, Gilbert Strachan has soured to his brother, and Archie as a consequence is bear-headed and cruel to her. Why at the lykewake, I would swear it, I saw bruises to her arms, as if he had used her roughly, though she hid them with her sleeve. As to the dyers,’ she wrinkled her nose, ‘I know nothing of them, save that the dead one made himself most noisome in the kirk. Oh Hew, you must persuade my husband to allow me to the kirk! I hear no news without it. Tell him you will take us!’

‘Meg may wish to go,’ he said judiciously. ‘Then Agnes was your friend?’

‘Aye, and her daughter Tibbie. Robin introduced us, when first he brought me here upon our marriage, that Agnes might be as a mother to me, who have none. And in truth, she was kindness itself. Tibbie too, a bright and lively lass, is full of the lore of the town. The Strachans of course have converse with the dyers; they can hardly help it, for they must do business there. Archie was ay thick with them. Tis true enough, he is not gentle like his brother.’

‘Because he works with his hands, and has dealings with dyers?’

‘Aye,’ she answered, guileless as a child. Hew smiled to himself. ‘When did the brothers fall out?’

‘After Alexander died. Gilbert felt his brother was to blame.
A mite unfair, I grant, for
Gilbert
chose the tutor, yet because it happened in his brother’s house, he held him responsible. Archie did not care much for the boy.’

‘In what sense?’ Hew asked her, interested. ‘Did not care for him, or failed to give him care?’

‘Robin says, both. He said we might have better lodged him
here
. Which I cannot count it sense, for it would
not
have been convenient to have had him here, and besides, the boy would still have had the tutor, and the tutor still have killed him, don’t you think? How horrible!’ Her eyes had opened wide, ‘to have found him dead here in our bed! I wonder Robin could have wished it!’

‘I’m sure,’ Hew interrupted hastily, ‘that he did not. He must be close to Gilbert to have thought of it.’

‘He’s close to Gilbert, aye. Which is why he takes his part against his brother.’ Lucy heaved a sigh. ‘It was the selling of the cloth they took amiss. The boy was found inside a bolt of wool, and Archie traded off the colour. It was
quite
the vogue,’ she added wistfully. ‘Though I suppose, it was not kind.’

‘It was not kind,’ Hew said severely.

‘No. But the colour was rare. Archie keeps sheep and deals in their wools, which Gilbert takes, both fleece and cloth, to market overseas. And in return, he brings him back finer cloths, ribbons and lace, that can be bought from Strachan’s booth here in the marketplace.’

‘Then he cannot have a licence for their sale,’ observed Hew.

‘I know nought of that.’ She sounded bored. ‘He does not sell to strangers. But for those who want them, there are pretty trinkets to be had. If Meg would like a lace or pair of ribbons while she’s here, I’ll introduce her.’

‘So you might. I am sure that would please her. In truth, she ought to have a gown, for at home she has nothing but country things.’

Lucy nodded slyly. ‘I’ll take her there myself. Because for Meg to make a purchase in the shop is not to offer friendship, in my husband’s sense. We need not go into the house.’

‘Indeed, you need not,’ he agreed.

‘And if I were to feel a little faint, on account of my condition, and required a cup of something and to sit upon the bed, that too could scarcely count as converse.’