慪es,?says Janet. 慡o sad. It wasn抰 even closed during the plague, you know. I still come into the grounds to meditate. I抦 living here.?
慖n the cathedral??says Ruth. She remembers the laugh in Janet抯 voice when she said that her new house was in the 慸ead centre?of town. She wouldn抰 put it past Janet to be living in the cathedral with its multiple graves and coffin-filled crypt. People must still be living in the close, although there抯 no sign of life this afternoon. Kate runs across the manicured lawns like a captive freed from prison. Ruth and Janet watch her.
慖t抯 good to have a child in the place,?says Janet. 慉 few of the senior church-people live here but there are no young children.?
慦here are you living??says Ruth. 慖t抯 all very mysterious.?
慖抣l show you,?says Janet.
They pass through the stone archway and cross the empty street. In front of them is the famously crooked fa鏰de of Augustine Steward抯 House, the timbers leaning so far to the left that you feel as if the earth has shifted on its axis. There抯 a shop downstairs saying 慣ourist Information?with a closed sign across it. Janet points to an upstairs window, where the house joins another to form Tombland Alley.
慣here,?she says.
慪ou抮e living in Steward抯 House? Above the tourist centre??
慪es. They wanted someone to live there and keep an eye on the place. I volunteered. There are lots of empty houses in Tombland Alley.?
Ruth remembers Janet telling her the story of the Grey Lady, the woman who died after being locked up in this building. I抳e often sensed something. A shadow, a presence, sometimes just a feeling of intense sadness. People don抰 like to work there after dark. Ruth wouldn抰 live above Steward抯 House for a million pounds and an English Heritage grant.
慡o what have you discovered??she asks. She抯 still feeling rather guilty about being out in the open, talking to someone outside her tiny family group （which now seems to include Nelson）。
慖t抯 this way.?Janet leads them into the alleyway. The houses seem to lean in, as if glad of their company. A poster in the information centre offers 慣he Top Ten Places to Visit in Norfolk? Ruth wonders if any of them are open to visitors now. Perhaps the abbey grounds at Walsingham or the beaches of Hunstanton. But all the stately homes and historic churches will be closed. Norfolk is closed.
Janet stops by a low wooden-framed window. 慙ook at the bricks there.?
Ruth peers down to examine the wall. She recognises the Tudor bricks immediately, shallow and uneven, filled with lime-rich mortar. Patterned brickwork was fashionable at the time and, for a moment, she thinks this is what she is looking at, but then she realises that the shape is actually that of a door, sunken into the ground.
慣he strange thing is,?says Janet, 慖 can抰 see where it comes out the other side. It should open into the undercroft but there抯 no sign. It did make me think. There are stories about people being bricked up, about tunnels leading to the cathedral. All that stuff.?
慣he other side was probably just plastered over,?says Ruth. 慦e can have a look inside when restrictions are lifted.?If they ever are, she thinks. Will there ever be a time when Covid-19 is as distant as the plague?
The alleyway leads into a grassy space, fringed by lilac bushes and surrounded by topsy-turvy houses. Are they really all empty? Kate has wandered away and is picking lilac. Should Ruth tell her to stop? Is anyone watching?
慖 saw your student a couple of days ago,?says Janet.
慦hich student??asks Ruth. Though she thinks she can guess.
慣he bearded one. Joe Whatshisname. The one you were asking about.?
慦hat was he doing??
慡tanding right here. Looking up at the houses. I waved but I don抰 think he saw me.?
Who knows what he thought if he saw a woman waving from one of the sightless windows, thinks Ruth. Beware the Grey Lady.