'Then there's the death of your man,' the physician added slyly.

'Ah, yes, poor Cerdic' Monck gave a sour smile. 'He left here late in the afternoon. The next morning his decapitated corpse was found on the beach, his head impaled on a pole. Again there were no footprints or hoof marks and no signs of violence.'

'Enough!' Gurney rapped the table top and looked warningly down at Selditch. 'Hugh, you left the king at Swaffham?'

'Yes. He and the court were to move on to the Virgin's shrine at Walsingham.' 'And afterwards?'

'The king may stay in the area or he may travel on to Norwich or Lincoln.'

Catching the pleading look in Gurney's eyes, Corbett turned the conversation away from the murders and on to the gossip of the courts. But Selditch, however, was not so easily put off. Ranulf made the mistake of commenting on the physician's ink-stained fingers. Selditch held them up admiringly.

'Oh, yes,' he said. 'I am more of a scholar than a leech. I seek learning' – he preened himself – 'rather than gold.' He smiled coyly at Corbett. 'The king should be careful in these parts,' he said.

Monck sighed in exasperation.

'Why is that?' Corbett asked.

'Don't you know your history, Sir Hugh? The king's grandfather, John, crossed these lands with his army. He was fleeing from his barons with his treasure loaded on sumpter ponies. He attempted to take a short cut across the Wash near the river Nene, but the tide came in rapidly. The king and his lords escaped but the treasure was lost together with its guards and all the sumpter ponies.'

Corbett smiled. He could tell by the look on the faces of the others that Selditch's airing of his knowledge was a constant source of vexation.

The meal drew to an end. Dame Cecily apologized but said she had to return to the convent and Gurney offered servants to escort her.