Revelation

'I should like to meet them.' Guy stroked his chin. 'Something happened, something specific brought this on, I am sure. His dream is a clue. The people he saw from that coach said, "He is so bad, he is being taken to the depths." And I think he did know who was driving that coach in his dream. If I can find out who that was, that may help us on the path to saving him.'

'You can set too much store by dreams, Guy.'

'They are a guide to understanding. A way.' He shook his head. 'Strange to hear that poor pallid creature was once a strong, happy youth. But madness can distort the body as well as the mind.'

'Will you visit him again?' I asked.

'If you and his parents wish.'

'Yes.' I looked at him curiously. 'I did not know that you had worked with the mad.'

'It was part of an infirmarian's duties. And diseases of the mind have always interested me. Perhaps because there are so many different types, and no clear view as to what they are. There are those who say they are caused by an imbalance in the humours, a rush of bad humours to the brain.'

'Like corrupted black bile rising to the brain and causing melancholy?'

'Yes. Others see mental illness as caused by physical disorders in the brain, though no one has ever found any that I know of, apart from tumours, which kill.' He took a deep breath. 'And then there are those, like your friend Meaphon, who see some madness as possession by devils, which must be driven out.'

'And which school do you incline to?'

'I belong to another tradition, Matthew. The tradition of Vesalius, although he has had many intellectual forebears. An approach that starts not with the theory but with the disorder; examines it, studies it, tries to understand what it is. The crazy words and actions of the mad may hold secret clues to what is happening in their minds. And even with the mad one can sometimes use reason, commonsense.'

'That old woman we saw in the parlour, Cissy, Ellen seems to treat her in that way, trying to bring her from her inner world into the everyday one, giving her simple sewing tasks to do.'

'Yes, that may help with melancholies. Forcing the mind away from dark thoughts, into the everyday.'

'I wonder,' I said, 'whether Roger's killer may be suffering some form of madness. To kill someone so brutally, apparently pointlessly.' Twice, I thought, but did not say, for I knew it could be dangerous for us both if I breached Cranmer's injunction not to tell Guy about Dr Gurney.

'It is possible,' Guy said. 'Unless Master Elliard gave someone cause to take such a terrible revenge, which having met him, I doubt.'

'That is impossible.' There was something I could ask him about, I realized. I took a draught of wine.

'Guy, you said some of the monastic infirmarians used dwale. Do you know of any infirmarians in London who might have?'

'I did not know them, Matthew. Remember I came to London from Sussex when my old monastery was dissolved.' He looked me. 'You are thinking of those monks who were driven out of their wits when they were thrown out of the monasteries?'

'Yes,' I admitted.

'Then I should tell you that the use of dwale was mainly restricted to the Benedictines. And the only Benedictine foundation that had an infirmary in London was Westminster Abbey. But as I said before, its use is not a secret.'

'Its expert use?'

'There may be many healers who still use it.' I could see that Guy found the whole idea of Roger's killer being an ex-monk distasteful as well as improbable.

'Its basis is opium, is it not? Poppies would need to be grown and cultivated. Whoever it is would need to have a garden.'

'True. Though many grow poppies in their gardens for their bright colour. And I myself grow them in my herb garden to make opium.'

I wished I could tell him this was not just a matter of finding someone with the motive to kill Roger. Again, I hoped fervently that Barak and Harsnet had caught him already.

'How is Mistress Elliard?' Guy asked.

'Bereft.'

'You are fond of her.'

'She has always been my friend.'

'A woman of courage, I think.'

'Yes, she is.' I thought, with frustration, I cannot tell Dorothy the full story either. I drained my wine.

'I have to go,' I said. 'Thank you, Guy, for seeing Adam. I will arrange for you to see him again, and meet his parents. Will you come to the court hearing next week, give evidence as to his state of mind, asking that he be kept in the Bedlam for now?'

'Yes, I will. May I bring Piers?' I gave him a look of surprise. 'I want the boy to see all aspects of the physician's work. I know he is only an apprentice apothecary, but he has a very good mind. I am thinking of sponsoring him to study as a physician.'

'Could you afford that?'

'It would not be easy. But my earnings are growing since I have been accepted as a physician myself, and I still have my pension as an ex-monk. And poor people with ability deserve to find sponsors, to find patrons, do they not?' His look was challenging.