Outside he stops to watch a fight. A stonemason and the bricklayer's gaffer are swiping at each other with battens. He stands in the ring with the throwel men. 'What's it about?'
'Nuffing. Stone men have to fight brick men.'
'Like Lancaster and York?'
'Like that.'
'Have you ever heard of the field called Towton? The king tells me more than twenty thousand Englishmen died there.'
The man gapes at him. 'Who were they fighting?'
'Each other.'