The Rufford Rose Read online

  It was mid-morning when one of the men went to collect some more wood from the store. When he returned he was smiling broadly.

  ‘There’s trouble brewing down there,’ he said, dropping the planks on the floor. ‘Abel’s gone with Ezekial to select the wood for the roof timbers and left, guess who, to supervise the fixing of the tie beam to the speres?’

  ‘Alfred?’ suggested one.

  ‘No, Harry,’ said another.

  ‘Neither. Will.’

  ‘Will!’ exclaimed several voices. ‘He’s not skilled enough.’

  ‘They’re saying Abel gave him strict instructions before he left, even laid the beams out on the floor for him, told him to have it in place by the time he returned his afternoon.’

  ‘So what’s happening?’

  ‘It won’t fit,’ was the gleeful reply.

  ‘What do you mean, it won’t fit?’ asked Cuthbert. ‘It fitted in the last place. What’s wrong with it here?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it won’t fit onto the pegs cut for it, the ones used before. They can get one end to slot into place but the other won’t reach.’

  ‘How can that be? It will have been made to fit perfectly originally. Unless, of course, there’s been some damage when it was taken apart.’

  ‘So what are they doing about it?’

  ‘Will is panicking. Doesn’t know what to do. I think he’s afraid of what Abel will say if the job’s not finished.’

  Cuthbert felt sure he wasn’t the only one who would not be too concerned if Will did get into trouble. He was not popular, and not only because of his treatment of Cuthbert. However, they had a house to build and they would all suffer if things went wrong. They looked at each other.

  ‘Do you think we should go and see if we can help?’ someone suggested.

  ‘There are plenty of them down there already. Won’t we be in the way?’

  ‘We’ve all done work like this before,’ said Cuthbert. ‘There may be a simple solution.’

  ‘If it was simple even Will could have found it,’ laughed another.

  ‘Still, I don’t see that having a look will be a problem.’

  ‘You’d better not go, Cuthbert,’ said Alfric. ‘You know what Abel’s said about you going in the Great Hall.’

  ‘Abel isn’t there, and besides he said I wasn’t to do any work, not that I couldn’t look.’ It seemed reasonable, so they all went down to the ground floor and into the Great Hall.

  All the other men were standing round the disassembled arch which was to be a major part of the structure of the eastern end of the hall. It was laid on the floor, the bases of the two speres in the correct position for when the whole arch would be hauled upright. The tie beam which would hold the two massive trunks together at the top was laid on the floor across the end but it was here that most of the men were standing, scratching their heads and looking puzzled.

  ‘What is the problem?’ asked Alfric.

  ‘Can’t get both ends on at once,’ explained Thomas. ‘We’ve had both ends on, but not at the same time.’

  ‘Are the speres the right distance apart?’ asked Cuthbert.

  ‘Yes, Abel checked them himself, several times to be sure. They are exactly right.’

  ‘So why won’t they fit?’ mused Cuthbert.

  He walked round the pillars, looking closely at the tops. He stepped back and looked at them from a distance. They were dead straight. He borrowed a measure and checked the space between the two. Correct to an eighth of an inch.

  ‘Could the wood have swollen getting it into here? It was pouring down earlier,’ asked Alfric.

  ‘It had stopped by the time we brought them in,’ snapped Will, who had been observing all the attempts from a distance. ‘Someone isn’t doing their job properly.’ He gestured at the men near the beam ends.

  ‘You checked the pegs and the holes?’ asked Cuthbert.

  There was a slight pause before Will answered.

  ‘Of course, I’m not stupid,’ he replied in a voice that betrayed a note of doubt. ‘Why are you in here anyway? I’ll tell Abel you disobeyed his order.’

  ‘Do you want this in place before he returns or not? You clearly can’t solve the problem on your own so we thought we would help, but if you want to explain why you couldn’t do the job you were asked to do, we’ll leave you to it.’ Cuthbert turned to leave and was halfway down the hall when Will called,

  ‘Stop! Wait. As long as you don’t tell Abel you did it, if you can that is, you can try. But I don’t expect even you can solve this.’ He was beginning to look smug as though he was planning to lay the blame on Cuthbert somehow if Abel returned and the beam was still not in place. ‘Can our brilliant master carver save me?’

  ‘Very well,’ said Cuthbert, ‘but I’ll need to have a closer look.’

  Will stood back and bowed as though condescending to the suggestion.

  Cuthbert knelt down gingerly by the top of one spere and examined it minutely, feeling with his fingers where the mortice and tenon joint should fit. Then he crossed to the other end of the tie beam and did the same there. Getting to his feet he looked at the beam itself, a huge timber that would span the distance between the two uprights. On the inside of the arch there was a bracing piece already fixed in place at each end to give the arch added strength.

  ‘So, what’s your solution?’ jeered Will. ‘There isn’t one is there. You can’t work it out, can you, master carver?’

  Cuthbert felt like hitting him but that wouldn’t solve anything. Instead he stood back and looked at the timbers once more, then stepped over the arch and looked at it from the other side. His expression changed and he crossed back and looked at the other side of the beam. He smiled.

  ‘Can we lever it up a little?’ he asked and several willing hands came forward and lifted the tie beam slightly off the floor. ‘That’s enough,’ said Cuthbert and knelt down, pushing his hands to the underside. A smile spread across his face. ‘Put it down again,’ he said, and got to his feet. ‘Perhaps if you turned it round it might work,’ he suggested.

  ‘What!’ exclaimed Will. ‘What do you mean, turn it round?’

  Cuthbert pointed. ‘Try putting this end at that side and the other end over here. See if that fits.’

  ‘It’s an arch!’ shouted Will. ‘Either end will fit.’

  ‘Just try it.’ Cuthbert tried to keep his temper. He wasn’t sure but it might work.

  With the help of several of the men it was lifted and turned through a hundred and eighty degrees and laid on the ground again.

  ‘Now try it,’ said Cuthbert, and watched as the two ends were manoeuvred into position. Heaving and grunting the men eased the beam into position on the spere ends and it slotted into position easily. Men stepped forward to hammer the wooden pegs in place to make it secure. A cheer went up from those watching and Cuthbert was clapped on the back. He turned to look at Will who was standing at the far end. The smile on his face was gone to be replaced by a look of astonishment and then fury.

  ‘I was going to suggest that,’ he said, stiffly. Nobody believed him.

  ‘Would you like a hand hauling it upright?’ asked Cuthbert, an innocent expression on his face as he saw Will struggling to hold his temper, but it was several voices together that called out in agreement. Ropes had already been brought into the hall and these were quickly attached to the speres. Others were holding props of wood which they would use to support the heavy arch as it rose slowly aloft. With others guiding the bases into the holes dug for them in the ground there was a concerted effort as as many as possible, including Cuthbert, hauled on the ropes and the whole arch slowly rose. Props were pushed into place to stop it toppling back to the ground. Everyone was heaving with all their strength, and finally the bases slid into their holes and the arch came to rest. The tie beam fitted perfectly, extending beyond the speres to reach the wall plate at either side, the beam which rested along the top of the walls. Ladders were quickly put in place and men ran up
to insert pegs in the beam to hold it in place. Only when it was secure were the ropes removed and everyone stood back to admire the massive arch created. The wooden props were left in place too for the time being.

  ‘We’d better get back to work then,’ said Cuthbert, and started towards the west wing, passing Will on the way. He received a furious glare and saw him clench his fists but with so many standing nearby Will dared not do anything more. Cuthbert could almost feel the hate in his expression.

  Back at work on fitting a window shutter, Alfred came quietly up to him.

  ‘He didn’t like that,’ he murmured, as he held the shutter in place whilst Cuthbert fixed the hinges. ‘How did you work out the beam was wrong way round?’

  ‘When I felt the mortice and tenon joints on the floor, one side was larger than the other. With it wrong way round they wouldn’t match up, they would never have gone together. I also noticed the marks left by the original carpenter didn’t match. They were only faint, you could barely see them but one end had marks with three stripes, the other end had two. When it was turned the marks matched, but the most obvious difference was the decoration. There is carving in the bracing pieces under the arch but only on one side. The way Will had got the arch the carving was on the back of it as you faced it from the hall. Who would decorate the back of a piece and not the front?’ Cuthbert glanced at his companion who was smiling.

  ‘Trust a master carver to notice the detail of the carving. I expect most of us just saw an arch and didn’t compare back and front, especially Will. Should we tell him?’

  ‘No, at least not yet. Let him stew for a while. He probably thinks we will tell Abel what we did. Let him suffer for a while.’

  ‘He’s going to be watching you even more closely. You’ve got the better of him again and he won’t like that. Do be careful, Cuthbert.’

  ‘I am already.’ He looked round to make sure no one was near enough to listen to him. ‘When we were putting the crossbeams in in the other wing I was up a ladder guiding a beam into place when the ladder moved and I would have fallen if I hadn’t caught hold of the wall. Will was just walking away. I didn’t see him move the ladder, but somebody had, and I saw the marks in the ground later. Everyone was watching us up above so nobody saw him.’

  ‘You must be careful, Cuthbert. I wouldn’t put it past him to do you some real harm. It is as well you are staying at the forge, nobody will get past Jehan and Jacob, especially a weakling like Will.’

  ‘My thoughts exactly. I am being careful and I’ve moved all my tools there as well. They are very special to me, they belonged to my father.’

  ‘It will be interesting to hear what he tells Abel when he returns.’

  ‘I am saying nothing. It’s not worth it. Abel has me in his bad books anyway so I’ll not add fuel to that fire.’

  ‘Still, the other lads and I will keep an eye out for you.’

  ‘Thanks, but I don’t expect he will try anything so soon, he’s too devious to be trusted. Anyway, let’s finish these shutters or Abel will be complaining about us.’

  It was much later when Abel returned with Ezekial and went straight to the Great Hall.

  ‘Well done!’ he cried when he saw the arch completed. ‘Any problems?’

  ‘No,’ said Will immediately. ‘Just dropped into place.’ The men nearby gaped at this blatant lie but said nothing.

  ‘Well done, lad. I knew you would manage. Come let me buy you a drink at the ale house. We’ll call it a day now, carry on tomorrow.’

  The men were pleased to be finishing a little earlier than usual and there was much talk amongst themselves as they made their way back to lodgings, a meal and an early bed. It was going to be interesting to see what was said tomorrow.

  Cuthbert, Alfred and Thomas walked along by the Mere in companionable silence. It was a still evening, not a breath of wind to ruffle the water. Cuthbert paused at the water’s edge and gazed across it. There was a perfect reflection in the water of the scanty trees further along the shore. Thomas and Alfred had carried on a little way before they noticed Cuthbert wasn’t with them. They returned and stood beside him.

  ‘What is it?’ they asked.

  ‘Look at the reflection in the water. See, you can even see those birds roosting in the branches. It is rare that it is so clear.’

  ‘I have never noticed before,’ admitted Thomas. He looked at Cuthbert’s intent gaze. ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘I am trying to remember every detail. If I had my sketch pad with me I would try to draw it, so that I could use the image somewhere, sometime.’

  ‘That’s amazing!’ said Thomas. ‘You mean, you could carve what you are seeing?’

  ‘Not as a complete picture but I would use certain elements of it. See how that branch dipping towards the water arches gracefully, the size of the leaves diminishing the nearer they are to the end of the branch. It would serve as a frame for some other part of a panel or something. I could place an animal or a bird below.’ Cuthbert was framing the view with his hands as his imagination took over and he was lost in the composition in his mind. Thomas and Alfred looked askance at him.

  ‘You really see a complete piece in your mind from looking at that?’ whispered Alfred in wonder.

  Cuthbert relaxed suddenly and blushed.

  ‘Sorry, I get completely carried away when I am planning. My mind races ahead as I look and I see other bits that I could add to the overall piece.’ He grinned at his friends. ‘Don’t mind me. When I see something to attract my attention I forget everything else, even that you were there.’

  ‘That’s amazing. I have to have something to copy, a drawing at the very least. I could never start from new on what you are describing. If you drew it for me first I could make a fair copy but what you are doing is ……. well, astonishing. Does Abel know how you do this?’

  ‘No, he’s not interested, not even in my drawings. He has a set of designs and he won’t stray from those. A great pity in my opinion, but I don’t think he looks at things around him for inspiration. A shame because there is so much if he would only look.’

  The peace was broken by a peal of laughter from somewhere along the bank.

  ‘It seems we have company,’ murmured Thomas.

  More laughter followed and three young girls appeared among the trees further along the bank. It was clear they were related, all had the same auburn hair which glistened with lighter highlights in the fading sunshine. One was slightly taller than the other two and all three were dressed in the simple linen dresses of country folk, belted with a colourful band of material around slender waists. The two younger ones had a garland of flowers in their hair and were carrying posies of flowers in their hands. They were listening to the older girl who was telling them something which they found hilarious and their laughter pealed out again, causing them to skip around her and beg for more of her tale. It was an enchanting picture as they moved between the slender trunks of the waterside trees.

  Suddenly they spotted the three men and stopped in their tracks, standing close together as if for protection. They had probably been told not to talk to the workmen at the house.

  ‘Hello,’ called Thomas, and waved self-consciously. ‘Are you enjoying your walk?’ What a stupid thing to say, he thought as they clearly were. ‘It’s a lovely evening.’

  The older girl took a wary step towards them.

  ‘You are from the house, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘I’ve seen you about.’ She indicated the two girls. ‘These are my sisters, Martha and Mary and I’m Jennet. Our father is the woodsman.’

  ‘Ezekial is your father?’ said Cuthbert, stepping forward. ‘I know him. We have worked together. I am Cuthbert and this is Thomas and Alfred.’

  ‘Cuthbert? The master carver. Father has told us about you. You have come to do great work on the house. He says you are famous.’ Jennet moved towards them until they were just feet apart. ‘Are you famous?’

  ‘I was brought to Lord Hesketh’s attent
ion by Lord Derby, if that is what he meant, but I don’t know about famous.’

  ‘He said you did marvellous work at Whalley Abbey,’ said one of the younger girls.

  ‘I worked there, yes,’ replied Cuthbert, but his eyes were on Jennet rather than the sister who had spoken.

  ‘Do you often walk by the Mere?’ asked Thomas.

  ‘Yes, we love it,’ said the second sister. ‘Jennet tells us wonderful stories when we walk. She makes them up herself.’

  ‘You sounded to be having a good time,’ said Thomas. ‘What was it about?’

  ‘Oh, just some silly tale I made up,’ said Jennet, quickly. ‘It wouldn’t interest you, and anyway, we must go back before father wonders where we are. Come along, I’ll chase you.’ The three girls turned abruptly and ran off through the trees the way they had come, their laughter fading away as they disappeared from view.

  ‘Pretty girls,’ commented Thomas. Cuthbert was still staring after them, apparently oblivious to Thomas’s remark. ‘I said, “pretty girls”.’ Thomas gave him a gentle push. ‘Are you listening?’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Cuthbert. ‘What did you say?’