'They are particularly good for combating the chills of winter,' she explained. 'I intend to make an infusion and serve it at meal times.'

Rose hip tonic was no novelty to Harald but the same could not be said for all the things Alice had in her basket. There was a fungus that he believed to be poisonous and the root of a plant known to him as witches' balm. Alice said the fungus was used to treat certain skin conditions and the root was good for palpitations of the heart.

Harald didn't doubt her word. His concern was for what others might make of it. Elizabeth Baret had warned Alice about dabbling with potions and muttering prayers in obscure languages. She was even receiving warnings from within the monastery itself. The monk with the lecherous grin had advised her on the need for caution.

'You said Ralph Knowles told you to be careful?'

'Ralph said Bradford was furious with the people behind the almshouse charter. He sees it as part of a move to have Sherborne declared a royal borough. That would put an end to his powers,' Alice replied. 'He calls it a Trojan Horse and intends to stop it ... one way is to attack me.'

Harald placed a fungus in her basket.

'Did you ask him how he knew?'

'He said walls have ears.'

'Do you believe him?'

'Harald, I know you are suspicious of Ralph because of your feud with his cousin. But you have to understand that he's on your side. He admires you. He was greatly impressed by the way you stood up to William Bradford.'

The revelation came as a surprise. Harald thought that Ralph regarded him with contempt. It was the fate of all cuckolds.

'Ralph says he was asked to bear false witness,' Alice said. 'Roger Knowles wanted him to swear on oath that Judith had told him a very intimate secret.'

'What sort of secret?'

'That she'd lost her maidenhead to Guy in the hayloft above your stables.

Harald wondered if Ralph had said it to mock him.

'Ralph refused,' Alice said.

'Is that all?'

'No. His cousin Henry agreed to do it.'

Harald cast his mind around the extended Knowles family and identified Henry as an unpleasant young man with a predilection for greyhounds and gambling.

'He looks older but he's only twenty-two,' Alice continued. 'He would have been ten at the very most when this intimate secret was divulged. Ralph thinks you could make a lot out of that in court.'




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