Page 187 of The Armor of Light

The pull was heavier than she had imagined, but the bell rang, and then, before she expected it, the bell swung back, pulling its rope up, unravelling the coil on the mat. If she had been standing on it she would have been tumbled.

When the rope stopped rising she pulled again, harder. Although she could not see the bell she felt its pendulum rhythm, and she quickly understood that she had to pull hardest when the bell felt heaviest.

Then it stopped.

Before she was ready Spade rang, quickly followed by the man on his left. The sequence went around the ring impossibly fast. The man to her right, ringing No. 6, was one of Spade’s weavers, Sime Jackson. As soon as Sime pulled on his rope, Sal did the same, heaving with all her might.

No. 7 rang too soon after No. 6. She had been over-hasty. She would get it right next time.

Next time she was too slow.

She could follow the changes well enough: No. 1 rang one beat later every row. But the time between pulls on the rope had to be exactly the same as the time between previous rings, and that was thedifficult part. She was concentrating hard and still not getting it quite right.

All too soon they were playing the last row, in which the sequence returned to 1234567. She nearly got it right, but not quite. She had failed. More fool me, she thought, for imagining I could do it.

To her surprise the men clapped.

‘Well done!’ said Spade.

Jarge said grudgingly: ‘I expected it to be a lot worse.’

Sal said: ‘I thought I got it wrong every time.’

‘You did, slightly,’ said Spade. ‘No one outside will have noticed. But you heard it, which shows that you have the ear.’

Sime said: ‘Perhaps she should join the group!’

Spade shook his head. ‘Women aren’t supposed to be ringers. The bishop would have a seizure. Keep this to yourself.’

Sal shrugged. She did not want to be a ringer. She was satisfied to have proved that a woman could do it. You fight the battles you can win, and walk away from the rest.

‘I think that’s it for the night,’ Spade said. As the men put their coats on he handed out the wages, supplied by the cathedral chapter: a shilling each, good money for an hour’s work. They got two shillings for ringing on Sundays and holy days.

Jarge said to Sal: ‘I ought to give you a penny out of mine.’

Sal said: ‘You can buy me a tankard of ale.’

*

Amos was working in the shop late in the evening, writing numbers in a large ledger by the light of several candles, when someone knocked at the door. He looked through the window but could see nothing, despite the street lights, because the glass was obscured by heavy rain.

He opened the door and saw Jane there. She looked so bedraggled that he burst out laughing.

‘What’s so funny?’ she said, irritated.

‘I’m sorry, please come in, you poor thing.’ She entered and he re-locked the door. ‘Follow me, and I’ll find you a towel or two.’ He led her to the kitchen, where the fire was still blazing. She took off her coat and hat and threw them on a chair, a gesture that seemed to him intimately domestic, almost as if she lived here, and that gave him a special thrill. She was wearing a pale-grey dress. He found towels in the adjacent laundry and helped her get dry.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘But what made you laugh?’

‘It’s just that you’re the best-dressed woman I’ve ever seen, but when I opened the door you looked like a drowned cat.’

She laughed too, then.

He said: ‘But why are you here? The righteous folk of Kingsbridge would be scandalized to know that you and I were alone in this house.’ In truth Amos himself was uncomfortable, although somehow thrilled as well. He had never been alone with a woman before. However, she would surely leave soon.

Jane said: ‘I got so bored at Earlscastle that I came to Kingsbridge in a carriage. But my husband is camping out with the militia on a training exercise. All the servants have gone to the tavern and the only person in the house is a corporal on guard duty in the hall. The place is cold and there’s no one to make me supper. I was so miserable and lonely that I had to get out of there. And so here I am.’

Amos realized she wanted him to offer her supper. Well, he could do that. The righteous of Kingsbridge would be even more shocked if they knew, but they would never know. ‘I can certainly give you something to eat. I haven’t had my supper yet. I’ll just heat up the pea soup. I have a housekeeper, but she doesn’t live in.’