Next morning at breakfast, Great Hall was abuzz with the events of the previous night, though nobeast could venture an explanation or solution to it all. When the meal was finished, Abbess Meriam rapped the table with a spoon, calling the Redwallers to order.

“Silence, please. Stay where you are, everybeast, I have something to say to you all, and to one in particular. A terrible thing has happened. Never, in the history of our Abbey, has anything like this ever occurred. Last night our hogwife Myrtle was very close to death. She had been poisoned, but not by any accident. It is my opinion that Myrtle was poisoned by somebeast sitting here in our midst this morning!”

An uproar and clamor arose until Skipperjo thwacked the oak tabletop several times with his hefty rudderlike tail. “Order, mateys! Give order an’ let the Abbess marm ’ave ’er say!”

Meriam continued in a loud clear voice. “There is a poisoner among us, but whatever beast did this awful deed will not escape justice. Sister Withe!”

The slender mouse stood up, trembling slightly; she was not accustomed to public speaking. She piped up in a reedy voice, which grew bolder as she proceeded. “Whoever poisoned Myrtle used wolfbane, a plant that I know much about. If our poisoner knew much about wolfbane then he, or she, would have used gloves. Let me tell you why. Two days ago I picked the wolfbane, but I forgot to wear gloves to protect my paws. This morning when I woke to come down to breakfast, I looked at my paws. See!”

Withe held up both paws for all to look at. They were a deep crimson red, as though they had been dyed. She explained to the hushed audience. “If you hold wolfbane with bare paws it will permanently stain them within two days of holding the plant. Luckily I learned to make up an herbal wash to remove the stain; I have a basin of it in the infirmary. After breakfast I will wash away the scarlet stains in my solution, but the poisoner has no such wash to do this simple task. So, friends, within the next day, or by early tomorrow, we will know who the poisoner is!” Withe held up her reddened paws again.

“The creature with paws that look like this!”

*   *   *

Veil let his paws drop slowly below table level, though he dearly wished that he could have raised them to wipe away the sweat that was beading upon his nose. Chairs scraped and dishes clattered as the Redwallers rose to go about their day’s chores and pastimes. Veil remained seated. He felt stunned—this time he would not be able to deny his guilt. Unless he could sneak up to the infirmary and wash his paws in the special herbal bath.

Bryony and Togget practically leapt up from the table, skipping from Great Hall as they called to Veil.

“Come on, Veil, the strawberries are ready to pick!”

“Hurr, ee Froir Bunny sayed us’n’s c’n gather strawbees, tho’ ee doan’t loik us to eat ’em all, hoo hurr!”

“C’mon, Veily, is your bottom stuck to that seat?”

The young ferret was gazing at his paws as he replied, “You go, I’ll catch you up later.”

*   *   *

By midafternoon Veil was convinced that his paws were beginning to redden. He had rubbed them hard on the grass by the south wall, scrubbed them more than a dozen times in the pond, and at one point even used a piece of sandstone to scour at them. His paws were sore, and the more he looked at them, the more he believed they were turning red. More than once he had wandered near the stairs to the infirmary, only to find squirrels and otters sitting, chatting on them. They showed no signs of moving, and the young ferret had to make himself scarce, or they would be suspicious.

At supper Veil’s seat was empty. Bryony leaned across to Togget as he shoveled up woodland trifle with all the gusto of a hungry young mole. “Have you seen Veil? It’s not like him to miss supper,” she said.

Togget paused to down a half beaker of pear cordial. “Ummm, ee’m wurn’t lukkin’ too gudd this arternoon.”

Heartwood the old otter joined the conversation. “That young Veil you’re talkin’ about, meself an’ Brother Barlom saw ’im not an hour since, sittin’ in the bushes o’er by south wall. I tell you, he looked a bit pasty to me’n’Barlom, we sent him off to bed. Hah! Looked to me like he’d been eatin’ too many strawberries.”

Bryony helped herself to some woodland trifle. “Oh, is that all? He’ll be all right after a good night’s sleep. Did you send him off to his room?”

“No, we let him have the little foldin’ bed in the gatehouse, nice an’ quiet in there if yore not feelin’ up t’the mark.”

*   *   *

After supper Bryony and Togget walked across the Abbey lawns to the gatehouse. The mousemaid knocked, calling, “Veil, it’s me, Bryony. Can I come in?”

The reply was loud and surly. “No y’can’t. Go ’way—I’m trying to sleep!”

“B’ain’t you well, maister?” Togget called back. “Zurr ’eartywood, ee said you’m eated too many strawbees, hurr, oi never can eat enuff of ee strawbees, oi dearly do luvs em!”

Something struck the other side of the door. It sounded as if Veil had thrown a beaker. “Go away, I said. Go away! Why can’t you leave me alone?” His voice was shrill with temper.

Pressing her face to the door, Bryony spoke softly. “Poor Veil, I’m sorry we disturbed you. Have a nice sleep if you don’t feel well; see you in the morning. Good night.”

There was no reply, so the mousemaid and her mole friend made their way back to the Abbey.

*   *   *

It had long gone midnight, and the skies were cloudy and moonless. A faint chill breeze caught Veil as he stole quietly from the gatehouse, a length of rope over one shoulder. Silent as a fleeting shadow, the young ferret crossed the Abbey lawns, rounding the south side of the great building. Veil stood back and looked up to the sickbay window. It was shut. He gnawed at his lip, looking desperately for a way in. Then he saw it. Bella’s room was next door to the sick bay, and the window was half open.

Veil was strong and agile, and he found he did not need the rope. There was a small corner angle where the stonework was bumpy and rough. Wedging his back against one side and jamming his body into the wall angle, Veil found he could climb quite easily. There was no lack of pawholds, and soon he was up to the broad first-floor sandstone ledge which served as one long windowsill for all the rooms at that level. The stone here had been cut and dressed smoother than at the base. Veil lay flat and crawled along until he reached the open window. Holding his breath the ferret inched it open wider. It creaked slightly, but not very loud; he slipped inside.

Myrtle lay on the bed, covered by a quilted counterpane. Bella snored gently, lolling in the deep armchair that she seldom left these days. Veil stood on the cushioned window seat and allowed his eyes to adjust to the gloom inside. He saw a faint strip of light coming under the door, and slowly, softly, he made his way to it, taking care not to knock against any object he felt in his path. Then he was outside in the small corridor, which was dimly lit by a single lantern on a wall bracket. Closing Bella’s room door carefully, he turned his attention to the door of the sick bay, which was slightly ajar. Veil put his eye to the space and peered in.

The sick bay was still and quiet, and it seemed unoccupied. For the first time that day a sly smile was on the young ferret’s face. Luck was finally with him.

There, in the dim shaft of light thrown from the barely-open door, he could see a table. A glint of copper told him that the basin of herbal solution stood on the tabletop. He opened the door wider and paused a moment—still no sound from within the sickbay. Good! Placing one footpaw carefully in front of the other, Veil made his way slowly to the table. With a deep sigh of relief, he let his paws sink into the dark, cool herbal mixture; now he was safe.

“Give ’em a good scrub, old lad—nothin’ worse than guilty paws. Wot, wot!”

Veil went stiff with shock!

Before he could make any movement, the door banged wide open and the sick bay was flooded with light. Abbess Meriam, Skipperjo, and Redfarl strode in, lanterns held high. Jodd was already in the room, sitting on a bed with a pillow plumped up behind his long ears. He winked at Veil. “Caught red-pawed, I’d say, laddie buck!”

Veil’s paws were indeed red, as deep a red as Sister Withe’s paws had been at breakfast last morning. The herbal mixture was red too, a dark, purple-tinged crimson. Sister Withe entered the sick bay and, brushing past Veil, she dipped a paw in the mixture and licked it.

“Beetroot juice, not very herbal, but it dyes red, as you’ve just found out. Poisoner!”

Veil snarled, and launched himself at her, teeth bared. Jodd moved like a blur; one swift hard kick from his long footpaw connected with the ferret’s chin, knocking him spark out. They moved aside as Bella shuffled into the sick bay and glanced at the prone figure on the floor.

“So, the trick worked,” she said. “Our culprit fell into your trap, Jodd. Well done!”

The squirrelhare made an elegant leg. “All done by brains and beauty, marm. Where’ll we put this foul felon until you’re ready t’deal with him, eh?”

Abbess Meriam took a key from her rope belt. “Bral Hogmorton, our Cellarkeeper, has cleared out one of his storecaves. Lock him in there for tonight.”

Meriam escorted Bella back to her room, and the silver badger plumped down wearily into her armchair. “It seems we made a wrong decision all those seasons ago, Meriam. The ferretbabe grew up bad.”

The Abbess glided over to sit on the edge of Myrtle’s bed. “So he did, but we tried our best. It’s Bryony I feel sorry for. She reared Veil, and no matter what he does, she still has very deep affection for him. We should never have let her raise him; he will break her heart.”

Bella nodded sadly. “What could we have done, friend? Neither you nor I would have refused to take a helpless babe into this Abbey. I think we both saw him as Bryony did, a pretty little thing, like all small creatures. Though I remember my father, Boar the Fighter, used to say, ‘When rocks have crumbled to dust, vermin will still remain vermin.’”

Meriam sat with Bella until the ancient badger fell asleep. Before she left the room, the Abbess picked up a faded scrap of parchment from where it poked out beneath the rush floormat. She stared at it.