“She’s dying, and she wants to beg your forgiveness.”

Ragna sighed. Such a request was hard to refuse, even when it came from the woman who had ruined Ragna’s life.

She told Cat to watch the boys, and left with Hildi.

In the town the pure white of the snow had already been defiled by garbage and muddy footsteps. Cat led the way to a small house behind the bishop’s palace. The place was dirty and smelled bad. Agnes lay in the straw on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. On her cheek, beside her nose, was a hideous red lump with a scabbed crater in its center.

Her gaze roamed around the room as if she did not know where she was. Her eyes fell on Ragna and she said: “I know you.”

It was an odd thing to say. Agnes had lived with Ragna for more than a decade, but she spoke as if they were distant acquaintances.

Hildi said: “She gets confused. It’s part of the illness.”

“I’ve got a terrible headache,” Agnes said.

Hildi addressed her. “You asked me to bring the lady Ragna to see you so that you could tell her how sorry you are.”

Agnes’s face changed. Suddenly she appeared to have all her mental faculties. “I did a wicked thing,” she said. “My lady, can you ever forgive me for betraying you?”

The plea was irresistible. “I forgive you, Agnes,” Ragna said sincerely.

Agnes said: “God is punishing me for what I did. Hildi says I’ve got Whore’s Leprosy.”

Ragna was shocked. She had heard of this disease. It was spread by sexual contact, hence the name. Starting with headaches and dizziness, it caused mental deterioration and eventually drove the sufferer mad. In a quiet tone she said to Hildi: “Is it fatal?”

“In itself, no, but the sufferer is so weakened and accident prone that death comes soon from other causes.”

Ragna raised her voice and spoke to Agnes. “Did Offa have it?” she asked incredulously.

Hildi shook her head. “Agnes didn’t get it from her husband.”

“Who, then?”

Agnes said: “I sinned with the bishop.”

“Wynstan?”

Hildi said: “Wynstan has the disease. It’s progressing more slowly with him than it did with Agnes, so he doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve seen the signs. He’s tired all the time and he gets dizzy spells. And he has a lump on his throat. He tries to hide it under his cloak, but I’ve seen it, and it’s just like the one on Agnes’s face.”

Ragna said: “If he finds out, he’ll keep it deadly secret.”

“Yes,” said Hildi. “If people knew he was going mad he might lose his power.”

“Exactly,” said Ragna.

“I will never tell anyone. I’m too frightened.”

“Me, too,” said Ragna.

Aldred felt a little dazed as he looked at the stacks of silver pennies on the table.

Brother Godleof was the treasurer of King’s Bridge Priory, and he had brought the money chest from the safe in Cuthbert’s old workshop and placed it on the table. Together they had counted out the silver coins. They could have weighed them faster, but they did not have a scale.