“I’m sure.”
“We may need him later.”
Edgar was intrigued. He did not follow Aldred’s thinking. He asked: “But why?”
“Be patient. It’s not clear in my own mind yet. Let’s go and talk to Robert.”
They left the monastery. Until now they had not been seen together in Combe, but Aldred seemed too excited to worry about that this morning. Edgar led the way to the beach.
Edgar was excited, too. Although he was baffled, he guessed they were nearer to solving the mystery.
The Norman cargo vessel was being loaded. On the beach was a small hill of iron ore. Men were shoveling the ore into barrels, carrying the barrels out to the ship, and emptying them into the hold. Monsieur Robert was on the beach, supervising. Edgar noticed that a leather purse bulging with coins was securely attached to his belt. “That’s him,” Edgar said.
Aldred approached the man and introduced himself, then said: “I have something important and private to tell you, Monsieur Robert. I think you were cheated last night.”
“Cheated?” said Robert. “But I won.”
Edgar shared Robert’s mystification. How could he have been cheated when he came away with a purse full of cash?
Aldred said: “If you will come with me to the jeweler’s house, I will explain. I promise you won’t feel it a wasted journey.”
Robert looked hard at Aldred for a long moment, then appeared to decide to trust him. “Very well.”
Edgar led them to the home of Wyn, a stone house that had survived the Viking fire. They found the jeweler at breakfast with his family. Wyn was a small man of about fifty with receding hair.He had a young wife—his second, Edgar recalled—and two little children.
Edgar said: “Good morning, sir. I hope I find you well.”
Wyn was amiable. “Hello, Edgar. How is your mother?”
“Feeling her age, to tell the truth.”
“Aren’t we all? Have you come back to Combe?”
“Just a visit. This is Brother Aldred, the armarius of Shiring Abbey, who’s staying at Combe Priory for a few days.”
Wyn said politely: “I’m glad to meet you, Brother Aldred.” He was puzzled but patient, waiting to find out what was going on.
“And this is Monsieur Robert, the owner of a ship in the harbor.”
“Happy to meet you, monsieur.”
Aldred then took over. “Wyn, would you be so kind as to weigh some English pennies that Monsieur Robert has acquired?”
Edgar began to see where Aldred was heading, and he became riveted.
Wyn hesitated only for a moment. To do a good turn for an important monk was an investment that would be repaid one day. “Of course,” he said. “Come into my workshop.”
He led the way and the others followed, Robert looking mystified but not unwilling.
Wyn’s workshop was similar to that of Cuthbert at the minster, Edgar saw, with a hearth, an anvil, an array of small tools, and a stout, ironbound chest that probably contained precious metals. On the workbench was a delicate-looking balance, a T shape with trays dangling from each end of the crossbar.
Aldred said: “Monsieur Robert, may we weigh the pennies you won at Cynred’s house last night?”
Edgar said: “Ah.” He was beginning to see how Robert might have been cheated.
Robert took the purse from his belt and opened it. It held a mixture of English and foreign currency. The others waited patiently while he picked out the English coins, all with a cross on one side and the head of King Ethelred on the other. He closed the purse carefully and reattached it to his belt, then counted out the pennies. There were sixty-three.
Aldred said: “Did you win all these coins last night?”
