‘Alice Willard told me this morning that the priory is hers, now.’
‘Damn her eyes,’ said Reginald.
‘So she’s right.’
‘Yes.’
‘You were going to let the Church have the priory back, Reginald.’
‘Don’t ask for sympathy from me, Julius. I’ve just lost four hundred pounds.’
‘Four hundred and twenty-four, Willard told me.’
‘Correct.’
Julius seemed to think the exact figure was significant, and Rollo wondered why, but he did not get a chance to ask. His father stood up restlessly and walked across the room and back again. ‘I’ll get Philbert for this, I swear it. He’ll find out that no one swindles Reginald Fitzgerald and gets away with it. I’ll see him suffer. I don’t know how . . .’
Rollo experienced a flash of inspiration, and he said: ‘I do.’
‘What?’
‘I know how to get revenge on Philbert.’
Reginald stopped pacing and stared at Rollo with narrowed eyes. ‘What have you got in mind?’
‘Philbert’s clerk, Donal Gloster, was drunk in the Slaughterhouse this afternoon. He’s been rejected by Philbert’s daughter. Drink loosened his tongue and resentment made him malicious. He told me that the Cobleys and their friends hold services.’
Bishop Julius was outraged. ‘Services? With no priest? That’s heresy!’
‘As soon as I took him up on it, Donal changed his story, and said they were only meetings; then he looked guilty and clammed up.’
The bishop said: ‘I’ve long suspected that the rats perform Protestant rites in secret. But where? And when? And who attends?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Rollo. ‘But Donal does.’
‘Will he tell?’
‘Perhaps. Now that Ruth has rejected him, he no longer has any loyalty to the Cobley family.’
‘Let’s find out.’
‘Let me go and see him. I’ll take Osmund.’ Osmund Carter was the head of the watch. He was a big man with a brutal streak.
‘What will you say to Donal?’
‘I’ll explain that he is suspected of heresy, and he’s going to be put on trial unless he tells all.’
‘Will that scare him?’
‘He’ll shit.’
Bishop Julius said thoughtfully: ‘This could be a good moment to strike against the Protestants. The Catholic Church is sadly on the defensive. Queen Mary Tudor is unpopular because of the loss of Calais. Her rightful heir, Mary Stuart, the queen of the Scots, is about to get married in Paris, and a French husband will turn the English against her. Sir William Cecil and his pals are going around the country trying to drum up support for the illegitimate Elizabeth Tudor as heir to the throne. So a clampdown on Kingsbridge heretics now would be a useful boost to Catholic morale.’
So, Rollo thought, we will be doing God’s will as well as getting our revenge. He felt ferocity boil up in his heart.
His father clearly felt the same. ‘Do it, Rollo,’ Reginald said. ‘Do it now.’
Rollo put on his coat and left the house.
