Walter Paskuly and John Tucker came across.
'Time to get started?'
'Yeah.' Richard pulled his cloak about him and watched the two men climb into the belfry. Then he went into the vestry and collected a pile of surplices.
'Put these on.'
He hurled the white robes at the homeless men.
'We're going to celebrate matins.'
In the tower above his head, the bells of All Hallows began to toll. They rang loudly and went on ringing for a long time.
***
Harald Gascoigne and Sister Alice entered the monastery by a side entrance and walked through the cloister to the scriptorium. Brother Mathew was there to greet them. They entered a room lined with shelves and boxes. Two young men sat at the far end working at easels positioned to take advantage of the afternoon light.
Mathew gestured towards them. 'These are my assistants. Brothers Peter and Paul, named after two of our most holy saints.'
Alice felt certain she knew them. They would have been given biblical names when they entered the monastery. She searched her memory: Roger, Richard, Ralph ...
'This is Sister Alice,' Mathew interrupted her thoughts. 'She is here to inspect the sketches made by John Sifrewas.'
The young men stared at her in a way Alice found disturbing. There was something rakish about their appearance. The tops of their heads were shaved in the regulation manner but their remaining hair hung down in loose curls that didn't look natural. She suspected they were the sort of monks who used nude models when preparing sketches of Eve.
Mathew went to a shelf and removed a box. He set it down and took off the lid. A familiar aroma wafted up. Alice recognised lavender, put there to protect the contents from insects.
'This is one of his favourite studies.'
Mathew held up a sheet of parchment. One side bore a text from the psalms. The other had been scraped clean and reused. Alice expected a sketch in lead or charcoal. What she saw was a bird in full colour.
'A bullfinch.' Mathew placed the parchment on the table. 'Sifrewas attached the local name mwope to it. The one describes the bird. The other imitates its call.'
Alice was acquainted with both names.
'Did you know him?' she asked.
'I worked for him. We went to Honeycombe Woods and observed God's creatures in their natural estate. I made notes while he sketched. We recorded as much as we could ... the varied calls ... nesting habits and displays when searching for a mate.'
A muted chuckle interrupted the discourse.