Page 77 of The Armor of Light
He was lying on top of the bedclothes, and Hornbeam was shocked to see that he was dressed mostly in bandages. One leg and one arm were strapped in splints, and there was a dressing around his head. Blood was seeping through in patches. He looked terrible.
He spoke thickly, as if his mouth was hurting. ‘Come in, Mr Hornbeam.’
Pauline stood at the door with her hands on her hips and said to Hornbeam: ‘This is your fault.’
Hornbeam was angered. Keeping his temper, he said coldly: ‘That will be all, Miss Nash.’
She ignored that. ‘I hope you’re here to make amends for what you’ve done.’
‘I’ve done nothing.’
Nash said: ‘Go back to the shop, Pauline. You’re losing money, standing there.’
Looking cross, she left the room without curtsying.
Hornbeam said to Nash: ‘What the devil happened to you?’
Nash did not turn to look at Hornbeam – perhaps it hurt to move his head. With his gaze fixed on the ceiling, he said: ‘This morning before dawn, when I went out to the cowshed to start work, I was attacked by three men with masks on their faces and cudgels in their hands.’
This was what Hornbeam had feared. And he felt sure Spade was behind it. ‘You’ve seen the surgeon, evidently.’
‘He says I’ve got a broken arm and a cracked shin.’
‘You seem very calm.’
‘I was the opposite of calm until he gave me laudanum.’
Laudanum was opium dissolved in alcohol.
Hornbeam pulled up a chair and sat close to Nash. Suppressing his rage, he spoke in a measured voice. ‘Now, think carefully,’ he said. ‘Although they had masks, did any of the men seem familiar?’ He did not imagine that Spade was among them: the man was too sly for that. But perhaps the perpetrators were men who could be linked with Spade.
‘It was dark,’ Nash said in a tone of hopelessness. ‘I hardly saw a thing. In no time I was on the ground. All I could think of was getting away from those cudgels.’
‘What did you hear?’
‘Just grunts. None of them spoke.’
‘Didn’t you cry out?’
‘Yes, until they smashed my mouth.’
‘So you can’t identify them.’
Nash was indignant. ‘Yes, I can. They were the people who formed the Socratic Society.’
‘Of course they were.’
‘They’re furious because of Hiscock’s flogging and somehow they know I was responsible. Even so, they might have accepted a dozen lashes. But you went too far.’
Hornbeam ignored the criticism. ‘We can’t establish guilt if you didn’t recognize anyone. You can’t get up in court and say they beat you up because you were spying on them for me.’
‘So I’m supposed to do nothing? What shall I tell Sheriff Doye? He’s bound to come here asking.’
‘Don’t worry about Doye. Just tell him you were set upon by men in masks. Did they steal anything?’
‘They took my bag of change, all pennies and halfpennies. It didn’t amount to five shillings.’
‘Men have been killed for less than five shillings. That will do as a story for theKingsbridge Gazette. But in truth your assailants didn’t want the money. They took it just to make the assault look like a robbery and divert suspicion from the Socratic Society.’
