After Richard came all the other brothers in their hierarchies. BrotherBenedict the sacristan, Brother Anselm the precentor, Brother Matthew thecellarer, Brother Dennis the hospitaller, Brother Edmund the infirmarer,Brother Oswald the almoner, Brother Jerome, the prior’s clerk, andBrother Paul, master of the novices, followed by the commonalty of the convent,and a very flourishing number they made. Among the last of them Brother Cadfaelrolled to his own chosen corner, well to the rear and poorly lit,half-concealed behind one of the stone pillars. Since he held no troublesomeparchment office, he was unlikely to be called upon to speak in chapter upon thevarious businesses of the house, and when the matter in hand was dull into thebargain it was his habit to employ the time to good account by sleeping, whichfrom long usage he could do bolt upright and undetected in his shadowy corner.He had a sixth sense which alerted him at need, and brought him awake instantlyand plausibly. He had even been known to answer a question pat, when it wascertain he had been asleep when it was put to him.

On this particular May morning he remained awake long enough to enjoyBrother John’s extraction of the last improbable ounce of drama from thelife of some obscure saint whose day fell on the morrow, but when the cellarerbegan to expound a complicated matter of a legacy partly to the altar of OurLady, partly to the infirmary, he composed himself to slumber. After all, heknew that most of the remaining time, once a couple of minor malefactors hadbeen dealt with, would be given to Prior Robert’s campaign to secure therelics and patronage of a powerful saint for the monastery. For the past few