Two of them, a fine, tall beast almost pure white, fit for anabbot, and a smaller, lighter, fawn-brown creature steppingdecorously a pace or two to the rear. But what caused Cadfael topull up and turn fully towards them, waiting in surprised welcomefor them to draw alongside, was the fact that both riders wore theBenedictine black, brothers to each other and to him. Plainly theyhad noted his own habit trudging before them, and made haste toovertake him, for as soon as he halted and recognised them for hislike they eased to a walk, and so came gently alongside him.
“God be with you, brothers!” said Cadfael, eyeingthem with interest. “Do you come to our house here inShrewsbury?”
“And with you, brother,” said the foremost rider, ina rich voice which yet had a slight, harsh crepitation in it, asthough the cave of his breast created a grating echo.Cadfael’s ears pricked at the sound. He had heard the breathof many old men, long exposed to harsh outdoor living, rasp andecho in the same way, but this man was not old. “You belongto this house of Saint Peter and Saint Paul? Yes, we are boundthere with letters for the lord abbot. I take this to be hisboundary wall beside us? Then it is not far to go now.”
“Very close,” said Cadfael. “I’ll walkbeside you, for I’m homeward bound to that same house. Haveyou come far?”
He was looking up into a face gaunt and drawn, but fine-featuredand commanding, with deep-set eyes very dark and tranquil. The cowlwas flung back on the stranger’s shoulders, and the long,fleshless head wore its rondel of straight black hair like a crown.A tall man, sinewy but emaciated. There was the fading sunburn ofhotter lands than England on him, a bronze acquired over more yearsthan one, but turned somewhat dull and sickly now, and though heheld himself in the saddle like one born there, there was also alanguor upon his movements, and an uncomplaining weariness in hisface, a serene resignation which would better have fitted an oldman. This man might have been somewhere in his mid-forties, surelynot much more.