Crispin: The Cross of Lead

To avoid arousing the soldier’s suspicions, Bear and Crispin dance and play music as they reach the gate. People applaud, and the soldiers let them into the city.

Within the city, Crispin is amazed by the huge number of people as well as the stench: Gutters filled with waste run alongside the road. They pass shops and houses, many of which are several stories high. A black cloth with blue and gold ribbons appears throughout the city, and Bear explains that it marks someone’s death. Bear leads Crispin inside a tavern known as the Green Man, explaining that he has business to attend to inside.

Within the tavern, Bear greets a large woman known as Widow Daventry behind the bar; she playfully returns his greeting. He introduces Crispin as his orphaned apprentice. Widow Daventry shares news of Lord Furnival’s death two weeks prior. He left no heirs, though rumors suggest he had illegitimate children. Following his death, his widow Lady Furnival remains in power.

Widow Daventry asks Bear about his travels. Before he answers, Bear asks for the key to his usual room, which Widow Daventry gives him. Bear leads Crispin upstairs to a small room with a table and some hay to sleep on. Widow Daventry appears, bringing food for Crispin. Before going downstairs to talk with Widow Daventry, Bear shows Crispin a secret compartment where he can hide if needed. Crispin asks Bear what kind of work he does. Bear responds, “I’m a fool because I should like to be in Heaven before I die” (158). Bear makes Crispin promise to stay in the room until he comes back.

After a while, Crispin decides to take a short walk around the town and return before Bear misses him. Taking Bear’s dagger with him, Crispin sneaks out a side door into a waste-filled alleyway.

Feeling happily independent, Crispin wanders the city, enjoying its sights and sounds. At one point, a boy with a trumpet heralds a noble lady, who is mounted on a horse and guarded by six men. The people show respect as she passes. Crispin learns she is Lady Furnival.

For the rest of the afternoon, Crispin continues to wander. Eventually, he comes to the central town square, a large open area with a cathedral on one side and a large stone building marked with flags and guarded by soldiers on the other. Within the square, people buy and sell all kinds of goods.

Crispin enters the cathedral and is overwhelmed by its beauty and size. Crispin falls to his knees to worship when he spots Aycliffe among the other worshippers. Aycliffe spots Crispin at the same moment. Aycliffe shouts for someone to capture Crispin, but Crispin escapes into the town square and runs quickly but aimlessly. As he passes through a narrow alleyway, a man appears in front of him and tells him to stop.

Crispin stops and turns to see another man approaching from the other direction; both men are armed. Crispin manages to escape but loses Bear’s dagger in the process. He runs further but stops to rest in a deserted area. Thinking over what happened, Crispin decides to leave the city, but he has no idea which direction to go. As night falls, he finds his way to the city wall, which he plans to follow to the gate. Just when Crispin arrives at a gate, the church bells ring, and the gate closes. A pair of soldiers at the gate tell Crispin to go home since curfew has started. As rain falls, Crispin wanders back into the city. At one point, he hides from a group of passing soldiers he recognizes as Aycliffe’s men, now decorated with Lord Furnival’s insignia. Crispin recalls hearing that Aycliffe is related to Lady Furnival.

When Crispin spots someone approaching him, he turns to run, but the person calls out his name.

Crispin realizes that the person approaching him is Bear. Relieved, he runs forward and hugs him. Bear gently scolds Crispin for running away but becomes concerned when he hears about Crispin’s encounter with Aycliffe. He leads Crispin back to the Green Man, where Widow Daventry informs Bear that a man named John Ball is in the kitchen. Bear leads Crispin back upstairs. He sits and thinks for a while. Crispin asks whether Bear will forgive him, but Bear replies, “There’s nothing to forgive” (181). When Widow Daventry appears and reminds Bear that Ball is waiting for him, Bear leaves Crispin alone in the room.

After eating, Crispin takes out Asta’s lead cross and prays for his parents’ souls and for Bear’s safety. He begins to wonder what business Ball and Bear have together. Sneaking downstairs, he overhears Ball, who appears to be a priest, telling Bear about the possibility of apprentices rising up against their masters to secure higher wages; based on what he saw during his travels, Bear remains skeptical and wonders if the timing is right. When the subject turns to Lord Furnival’s heirs, Bear speaks too quietly for Crispin to hear.

Crispin returns to the upstairs room and thinks about what he heard. When he opens the window, he spots a figure standing in shadow across the street. He falls asleep before he has a chance to tell Bear.

Crispin awakens to the sound of church bells ringing, announcing the Feast of John the Baptist. Bear continues to sleep. Feeling restless, Crispin goes downstairs to find the main room of the tavern filled with people who are eating and drinking. Suddenly, the one-eyed young man Crispin and Bear encountered in Lodgecot enters the tavern and looks carefully around the room; Crispin retreats up the stairs before the young man sees him, and the young man leaves a moment later. Crispin goes upstairs to tell Bear, but Bear is still asleep. Feeling scared, Crispin sits on the stairs.

After a while, Widow Daventry spots Crispin and takes him down to the kitchen, where she warns him to remain hidden. She then puts him to work baking pies. One pie falls to the ground and breaks. Seeing nowhere to hide it, he quickly eats it. When Widow Daventry returns, she sees that a pie is missing. She tells Crispin to start baking bread but not to eat anymore.

Later, Crispin helps Widow Daventry clean the tavern’s main room. As they clean, she tells him to stay close to Bear and to encourage Bear to focus on entertainment instead of politics for both of their safety.

Eventually, Bear wakes up and comes downstairs. Widow Daventry gives him breakfast, and he asks her to keep Crispin busy while he attends to business elsewhere. She asks him whether he plans to meet with Ball again; he gives an evasive answer.

Before leaving, Bear tells Crispin to practice his music and stay out of sight. When Crispin tells Bear about the one-eyed man and the shadowy figure across the street, Bear tells him not to worry and adds that they will leave the city that night. As Bear leaves, Crispin looks out on the street, where he spots the one-eyed man point Bear out to one of the Furnival family’s soldiers. Leaving the Green Man by the back alley, Crispin follows Bear, intending to warn him.

Crispin follows Bear through the crowded streets and then down a series of narrow alleys. Bear then enters what appears to be a shoe store. Over the next few minutes, several other men enter as well. Not wanting to reveal his disobedience to Bear, Crispin decides to keep watch outside in case any soldiers or the one-eyed man show up. After seeing no signs of trouble, Crispin is about to leave when he recognizes Ball entering the shop.

Overcome by curiosity, Crispin sneaks around the back of the shop and climbs two walls to enter the courtyard behind the shop. There, through an open door, he overhears Ball describing desired reforms, including freedom for serfs, lowered taxes, and a democratic decision-making process. Recognizing the rebellious nature of the discussion, Crispin decides to return to the Green Man. As he's about to leave, he spots Aycliffe and the one-eyed man leading a group of soldiers.

Crispin returns to the courtyard and enters the shop by the back door. He enters a room where Ball is addressing seven men, including Bear. Crispin shouts to warn them of the approaching soldiers. The men run into the courtyard, where Bear lifts them over the wall one by one. As he leaves, Ball invites Bear to meet him at the White Stag tavern later that night. Last of all, Bear lifts Crispin up the wall. As Bear begins climbing the wall himself, soldiers appear in the garden behind him. Bear tells Crispin to run. For a moment, Crispin listens as Bear struggles against the soldiers. After the noise ends, Crispin peeks over the wall to see the garden now empty. Crispin enters the shop to find it in a state of disarray. When he encounters a soldier still in the shop, Crispin flees back through the courtyard, climbs over the wall, and runs away.

Determined to locate Bear, Crispin asks people where the soldiers went; they point him toward the town square. Arriving at the square, Crispin spots Aycliffe and the soldiers taking Bear inside the large stone building across from the cathedral. Crispin asks a passerby what the building is and learns that it is the Furnivals’ palace. While Crispin watches, Aycliffe stands on the building’s balcony, scanning the square for him. Crispin realizes that Aycliffe intends to use Bear to capture him.

Crispin returns to the Green Man. In the upstairs bedroom, Crispin plays the recorder and wonders what to do. Suddenly he hears a loud commotion downstairs. He hides in the secret compartment Bear showed him as soldiers search the tavern for him. After they go, Crispin emerges and steps into the hallway. He hears someone crying below.

Arriving downstairs, Crispin sees the tavern's main room in ruins. Widow Daventry, who is bruised and bleeding, sits on the floor, crying. Crispin asks her what happened, and she explains that soldiers from the palace came looking for him and that they intend to kill him. When Crispin tells her about Bear’s capture, she speculates that they will torture him to get information about Crispin. She tells Crispin to hide until night, then leave the city. Crispin returns to his hiding place upstairs.