Chapter 24 The Letter from Gillanwick

The letter came on the seventy-eighth day, and it came on the cart that Brin brought in from Gillanwick, and it came wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string that had been cut and knotted twice, and it had the market's mark on it, and the mark was Mistress Ryley's, because Mistress Ryley ran the market and Mistress Ryley sent the letters that went to the mill and the croft and the smithy and the hall. Brin set the cart in the yard and he took the bundle down and he brought it in through the yard gate, and he put it on the wheel, and he said, "It is for you," and he said it to Kessin, and he did not say whose hand it was, because the string had come off and the paper had fallen open, and he had seen the corner of it. "It is for you," said Kessin, reading the address, because the address said Kessin Vellin, keeper, the Journeymen's Hall, Cawthorn, and it said nothing else, and the hand that wrote it was a small firm hand, and the paper was good paper, and the paper had the market's mark stamped in it. "From Mistress Ryley," said Turrel, from the kitchen. "From Mistress Ryley," said Kessin. "Or from someone who uses Mistress Ryley's paper," said Turrel. "Or from someone who uses Mistress Ryley's paper," said Kessin. "Someone who uses the paper would not use the string," said Brin. "The market ties with string," said Turrel. "Someone who uses the paper uses the string." "Then it is from the market," said Kessin. "Then it is from the market," said Turrel. Brin took his hat off and put it on the wheel and he sat down on the wheel, and Kessin took the letter from him and she set the cart aside and she went to the table, and she sat down, and she took the pen from the cup, and she tore the letter open, and she read it. It said: *To the keeper at Cawthorn. The market has heard that the hall is awake again. That is good. The market keeps a list of the halls that work the road, and the hall is on the list, and the list is long, and the halls on the list are owed the road. The market owes Cawthorn two shillings and fourpence for three years of nothing, and the market will not ask you for it, because the market does not ask. The market will say: bring us a card and we will give you the road, and the road is the lane and the lane is the hall. Yours, Ryley.* She read it twice and she set it on the table and she looked at Brin, and Brin looked at it, and he said, "The market owes the hall." "The market owes the hall," said Kessin. "Two shillings and fourpence," said Brin. "Two shillings and fourpence," said Kessin. "Then the hall owes the market two shillings and fourpence less," said Brin. "No," said Kessin. "The hall owes the market nothing. The market owes the hall." "The market owes the hall," said Brin. "And the hall owes eleven pounds and nine shillings." "The hall owes eleven pounds and nine shillings," said Kessin. "Then the hall has found one coin," said Brin. "And the hall has not paid the debt." "The hall has not paid the debt," said Kessin. Turrel came out from the kitchen with the coffee, and she took the letter and she read it, and she folded it and she put it in her apron, and she said, "Mistress Ryley wrote to the old woman three times in the last year." "She wrote to the old woman three times," said Kessin. "She wrote to the old woman three times," said Turrel. "And the old woman did not answer, because the old woman did not have the road, and the market did not write the road down because the road was the road." "The road was the road," said Kessin. "Then the road is the road," said Turrel. "And the road is worth the market, and the market is worth the list, and the list is worth the letter." "Then I will go to the market," said Kessin. "And I will take the letter back." "You will take the letter back," said Turrel. "And I will take a card," said Kessin. "You will take a card," said Turrel. "The card will be for the hall, and the hall will give the card to the market, and the market will give the road to the hall, and the hall will have the road." "Then the hall will have the road," said Kessin. She took the pen and she took a card of stiff paper, and she took the brass seal, and she wrote on it, and she wrote: Band. The lane and the four corners and the watch at night, to be walked and kept and given to the market at Gillanwick, so that the market may keep its list. Fare: two shillings and fourpence, and the road. Name: blank. She put the seal on it and she set it on the board, and the board had eleven cards on it, and the eleventh card was hers, and the tenth was white, and she stood at the board with the chalk on her thumb. "The eleventh card is not the seventh name," said Turrel. "The eleventh card is not the seventh name," said Kessin. "The eleventh card is work," said Turrel. "The seventh name is a person." "Then the seventh name will come," said Kessin. "Then the seventh name will come," said Turrel. Brin stood up and took his hat and he put it on, and he said, "I will walk it to Gillanwick tomorrow." "You will walk it to Gillanwick tomorrow," said Kessin. "And you will go with me," said Brin. "And I will go with you," said Kessin. "Because the market will have the list, and the list is the market, and the market is the road." "Then the market is the road," said Brin. They went to Gillanwick at seven the next day, and the frost was on the grass, and the mist was off the river, and the lane was walked by Peth the week before and the chalk was still white on the stones, and they walked it because the lane was the lane, and at the market Mistress Ryley was at her stall with her scales and her basket, and she took the card and she took the letter and she read both of them, and she put them in her apron, and she said, "The hall is on the list." "The hall is on the list," said Kessin. "The hall is on the list," said Mistress Ryley. "And the list is the list." She gave Kessin two shillings and fourpence, and she gave Brin a basket of bread, and she said, "The market has the card." "The market has the card," said Kessin. "And the hall has the road," said Mistress Ryley. "The hall has the road," said Kessin. Brin put the bread in the cart, and Mistress Ryley stood at her stall and she watched the two of them go, and the lane went away down the hill, and the chalk was white on the stones, and the hall had the road, and the hall had not paid the debt. "Two shillings," said Kessin, at the gate. "Two shillings," said Turrel. "Then the hall has two shillings and fourpence," said Kessin. "Then the hall has two shillings and fourpence," said Turrel. "And the hall owes eleven pounds and nine shillings." "Then the hall owes eleven pounds and nine shillings," said Kessin. "Less two shillings and fourpence." "Less two shillings and fourpence," said Turrel. "Then the hall is one step closer," said Kessin. "Then the hall is one step closer," said Turrel. ---