The Fifth Knight(84)

The boy came out, gave Theodosia a confirming nod, then lost himself in the crowd.

“Wait here.” She raised a finger to Palmer. “Whistle if you see Oswin return.” She went into the reeve’s office.

Forcurse it, she’d done it now. Oswin would have her carted off if he caught her. Palmer watched the crowd for any sign of the reeve. What could she be doing in there? He hoped to his boots she wasn’t stealing something. The man was a leech, but a leech with the King’s authority.

He caught the bob of a greasy head on its return journey through the crowd. With two fingers between his lips, he blew a sharp whistle.

She didn’t come out.

Oswin pushed his way through, a sheen of sweat on his angry face.

Palmer took a quick look over his shoulder. Still no sign of Theodosia. He squared his shoulders. She’d left him with no choice. Avoiding Oswin’s line of sight, he made straight for him.

“Oof!”

Oswin’s stomach bounced against his elbow. “I beg your pardon, sir.” Palmer turned to the breathless reeve.

Oswin’s eyes opened wider as he recognized who’d thumped into him. “Clumsy fool! Can’t you look where you’re going?”

“I beg your humble pardon, sir. My companion’s got lost. I’m worried she’ll come to harm in this rough place.”

“Then you’re blind as well as a fool. She’s right behind you.”

Palmer turned to see Theodosia, breath quick but with a pleased look. “Ah, you’re there,” he said through set teeth.

“Get yourselves out of my sight, the pair of you. Ragged ruffians like you can be up to no good. Now clear off before I have you arrested. This is your last warning.” The reeve headed back to his shop, rubbing his stomach.

“What have you done to him?” she whispered to Palmer.

“I thwacked into him to stop him. He’s not hurt — he’s lined with his own blubber.”

To his surprise, she caught back a giggle. “Let’s do as he says. We do not want to make him any more suspicious.”

“No. I can’t believe you just did that. If he’d caught you, it could’ve been the end of everything. What did I tell you about doing as I say?”

“But he did not.” She raised her clear gray eyes to his, cheeks flushed in pride as they walked away from the reeve’s office. “I think I have discovered the name of the boat.”

“How?” he asked in surprise. “Was there someone else in there?”

“Oswin has a full record of all the sailings,” she said. “Either he was too lazy to check them or he thought we were too lowly to bother with. I simply read them for myself.”

“But the record wouldn’t have listed your mother or Edward as passengers. He told you that.”

“No. But I looked for boats traveling to France in the next week without a taxable cargo. I found two: the Seintespirit and the Stella Maris.”

“Then it could be either of those.”

She shook her head. “The Seintespirit doesn’t sail for a full seven days. But the Stella Maris goes tomorrow night. A Jacob Donne is the captain. To Cherbourg. What do you think?”

He forced down his envy that he couldn’t have done what she had, even if he sat in front of the documents for the rest of his life. “That reading and writing can be useful once in a while?”

“Oh, shame on you, Benedict Palmer. They are useful all the time, the key to freedom. Where is your acknowledgment of my quick wits?”

“Not too bad, for a nun.”

Frown at the ready, Theodosia drew a breath to reply.

He held his hands up. “I’m only teasing. I’m full of admiration.”

Her frown eased.

“But,” he continued, “we still need to find this vessel, and there’s scores here.”

“That’s easy.” She pointed to the nearest ships. “ Trinité, Grace de Dieu, Katrene, Constance. I can read them as fast as we can walk.”

“Then God bless those wits of yours. Let’s go.”

She was as good as her word. She reeled off names quickly and quietly as they made their way along. How she did it, he didn’t know. His squire master used to pride himself as a man of letters. But each word used to be a battle in itself, with Lullworth holding a finger beneath each letter, making a comedy of sounds till he got its meaning. For Theodosia, the marks on the ships’ sterns could’ve been calling their names out to her, she was that quick.

“That’s it.” She stopped with a caught breath. “Stella Maris. The star of the sea. Another name for Our Lady herself. It must be a sign, a blessing.”