A Crowning Mercy

A Crowning Mercy
Bernard Cornwell

In a country at war, a secret inheritance reveals a dark conspiracy …On a sunlit afternoon in seventeenth-century Dorset, a young girl falls in love with a stranger.But when her Puritan brother tries to force her into an unbearable marriage she flees, taking with her only the gift left to her by her unknown father, a gold pendant sealed by an engraving of an axe, and the words: St Matthew.One of four intricately wrought seals – each holding a secret within – it can, when combined with the other three, bring great wealth and power. This power is her true inheritance – but it’s a perilous legacy others will kill for …

A CROWNING MERCY

BERNARD CORNWELL

and

SUSANNAH KELLS

Copyright (#ulink_12e766d2-e9e3-583d-8d9f-4f0ab98add0d)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain 1983

Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2003

Cover design by Holly Macdonald © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018 Cover image © The Print Collector/Getty Images (scene); Shutterstock.com (http://www.shutterstock.com) (texture)

Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780007168231

Ebook Edition © February 2016 ISBN: 9780007289998

Version: 2018-10-01

Dedication (#ulink_9d8865d7-4932-570f-9326-c5bb3fadba76)

For Michael, Todd and Jill

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, The bed be blest that I lie on, Four angels to my bed, Four angels round my head, One to watch, and one to pray, And two to bear my soul away.

Thomas Ady

Contents

Cover (#u54ab8be8-396e-554f-a0ac-7718895caf07)

Title Page (#u42e325ae-85ca-58d9-aef0-d31531293c7b)

Copyright (#ulink_b81cfcdc-afe7-578e-a95f-bf0c4a4fca2c)

Dedication (#ulink_5367136e-6a3d-5dca-bf72-140f8b46b9de)

Prologue 1633 (#ulink_33d65609-7edf-570d-93dd-85c21d238ee4)

Part One: The Seal of St Matthew (#ulink_3d676c63-e458-50a7-a3d3-2a9905d10249)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_9615689a-ba62-5e02-8e0a-646ae546e2ee)

Chapter 2 (#ulink_056c72d1-20d6-54b2-8c10-287547e68c71)

Chapter 3 (#ulink_c0869eee-250f-5aa6-bd7e-80c840084865)

Chapter 4 (#ulink_99588aa2-fcc0-5590-b341-e66196184564)

Chapter 5 (#ulink_69b98b69-b532-52ef-8d4d-154a57bc1b78)

Part Two: The Seal of St Mark (#ulink_cdc190ad-930f-5a45-89ce-c9f1a6d9b200)

Chapter 6 (#ulink_d70b8a00-6485-5663-bc9d-e2e7083ae1ce)

Chapter 7 (#ulink_cb2c7b60-a140-5d21-9c68-93cf62b09e22)

Chapter 8 (#ulink_70dbf428-5e02-5a69-94f9-7c5e0c2f3418)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three: The Seal of St Luke (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)