The Whitechapel Interlude [35]

“Loathe as I am to make this request, I need you to get a haircut and visit our friends at Henry Poole & Co., there are matters afoot and forces in play that, unfortunately for you, require skills you willingly surrendered in exchange for your life here in the Order,” the woman sitting behind the plain oak desk began to speak the moment the man crossed the room.

The uncut hair and loose-fitting robe, standard dress in the Order, was favored by Brother Abbott, not the least for the effect of hiding most of his physical qualities and nearly all of his other strengths; it was not uncommon for a passerby to mistake him for a devout, pious and thoroughly innocuous member of a sect, the name of which seemed always just beyond quick recall, of course, the Mother Superior of the London chapter was very much not a stranger.

Brother Abbott felt the fabric of his robe whisper downwards as a deeply buried group of muscles awakened while another set relaxed; had there been an observer, one possessed of hearing sufficiently acute, they would have heard a sigh, of resignation not exhaustion.

“If, before I leave you and surrender this version of myself to tailors and barbers and footmen, allow me to retort: ‘Ephesians 4:22-24 ‘I am the person I have always been, in potential and in actuality, I only lacked the access to this power‘.

“We are aware that what we require of you is abhorrent, Brother Abbott, we very much appreciate, in a manner that may seem manipulative, your skills, no, your talents, honed to razor’s edge long before joining us; it is of a value only enhanced by their scarcity among those inclined to choose the life monastic.

“The devout have, by and large, a gentle charm, and few, if any, have commanded a stage and entertained an opera house full of skeptics and nay-sayers with a variety of diversions from singing bawdy songs to slight-of-hand, even to ventriloquism,” Brother Abbott barely had time to wonder how the woman had managed to leave her seat when she whispered into his ear, “Your quarry is a man of the world with the kind of power that can only come from breeding and wealth; while we will always value your ability to teach, I need the shepherd to become the wolf.”