‘But they are long-past mistresses, Maeb. I think you have no need to worry. I have seen how Pengraic looked at sweet Adelie, and I have seen the way he looks at you and, no, you have no need to fret.’ She smiled a little. ‘I admire you for the courage of asking the question, and am heartened that you knew to ask the question.’
I wanted to ask her more, but just then two men wandered over. It was Saint-Valery and the tall, dark, brooding man in the plain white tunic.
‘Ah,’ said Alianor, ‘our court poet, as well as my lord d’Ecouis.’
Saint-Valery bowed, then took my hand and kissed it. ‘Jewels suit you, my lady.’
I blushed, wondering if criticism underlay the remark. ‘The world has turned upside down since last we met, my lord.’
‘And my heart inside out. We shall need to talk of it later. My lady, I believe you have not met Sir Fulke d’Ecouis. Forgive his plain apparel — he is of the Templars and has foresworn frippery.’
The Templars. My heart gave an uncomfortable flip. I had half lifted my hand, expecting d’Ecouis to follow Saint-Valery’s example and kiss it, but d’Ecouis stood his ground, not even giving me a nod, let alone a bow.
‘Countess,’ he said, grinding the word out as if under torture. ‘There was another of your brothers upstairs,’ I said, if only for words to utter.
‘Ah, you spotted him,’ said Alianor brightly. ‘That is my husband’s kinsman, Gilbert.’ She waved a hand in the air. ‘Lord of some vast estate somewhere or the other.’
Alianor’s kinsman by marriage was a Templar? My heart sank. I did not trust the Templars, for I blamed them for keeping my father too long in the Holy Land, and our family’s difficulties because of it.
Suddenly d’Ecouis’ patent disapproval of me and his boredom at having to endure being presented to me, spurred my anger. ‘My father rode with your Order for some years,’ I said to him. ‘It was too much for him, and he died well before his years.’
Finally, I had caught d’Ecouis’ attention. ‘To die within the Order and at its work is to be assigned a place at God’s right hand,’ he intoned sententiously. ‘May I enquire as to your father’s name?’
‘Godfrey Langtofte,’ I said, meaning to say that he had not died in the Order’s service, but was stopped precipitously by the look on d’Ecouis’ face. He had gone completely white, almost as white as his spotless tunic.
‘You are Langtofte’s daughter?’ he said. ‘I —’
‘My lady,’ Saint-Valery said, ‘the king’s household chamberlain is seeking your attention.’
I looked to where he indicated, and saw a man standing by the entrance to the chamber beyond the hall gesturing at me.
‘It is time for us to go, my lords,’ said Alianor smoothly, standing up and sliding her arm through mine as I, too, rose. ‘The king has returned.’
‘I hope we have time to speak at more length later, my lady,’ Saint-Valery said, and I gave him a smile, shot d’Ecouis a more ambiguous glance, then walked toward the chamberlain with Alianor.
‘Your father was a Templar?’ Alianor murmured.
‘Only for a few years. After my mother died he went as a pilgrim to Jerusalem and stayed, joining the Order as a sergeant. Then ill-health plagued him, and he came home and died soon after.’
‘Does your husband know this?’
Did Raife know? Raife had never asked about my father, save on that very first day we’d met. I couldn’t imagine that he cared overmuch and, besides, my father had never held any office of importance within the Order — he had done little but count the Templars’ coin from one table to another.
‘I doubt he cares,’ I said. ‘Mention it to him,’ Alianor said, and then we were at the chamberlain, who waved us through into the king’s privy chamber.
The hunting party had returned, and were filled with jovial humour and much flattery as each praised another for their bravery and skill in the heat and blood of battle. Alianor and I shared a glance, laughed, and rolled our eyes.
‘The ladies dispute our skills!’ said Edmond. He was standing by a small table on which stood a bowl of water. Both he and Raife, standing with him, had stripped back to their linen braes and hose and were splashing water over their chests and faces as they washed away the sweat of the chase.
A servant handed each of them a towel and they dried off with rough, impatient strokes.
‘You mistake us, my lord king,’ said Alianor. ‘We were so overcome with the joy of seeing you safe after your dangerous adventure our eyes rolled as we near fainted in relief.’
Raife had donned his linen shirt, and, taking his richly embroidered tunic from the servant, pulled it on as he walked over. ‘Did you spend your morning well, wife?’ he said.
‘Very well, my lord. My Lady Alianor has been a good friend.’
The skin about Raife’s eyes relaxed a little.
The king had similarly donned his tunic — he was garbed as richly as Raife now — and walked over. ‘We dine at nones,’ he said. ‘My lady countess, will you do me the honour of accompanying me at table?’
Such a suggestion, even early this morning, would have had me in a tremble of nerves, but after the experience of the past hours, and Alianor’s gentle instruction, it did not frighten me overmuch. I dipped in courtesy.
‘I thank you, sir. You can tell me how my husband managed at hunt.’
The king smiled. ‘He may tell you himself now, and then I shall tell you later, and you can decide for yourself how well the two accounts marry. Pengraic, we wait an hour or two until we dine. Why don’t you show your wife the chapel?’
As much as I liked Alianor, and had grown somewhat easier with the number of people at court, it was a relief to spend some time alone with Raife. We walked arm in arm out to the northern gallery, then toward the north-east tower where we turned down the eastern gallery which led to the chapel.
‘You encountered no problems today?’ Raife said as we came toward the entrance to the chapel.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Alianor has proven a good friend. Thank you for her introduction. And I have kept my tongue well, my lord.’
He gave my arm a soft squeeze. ‘Thank you, Maeb.’
We walked through into the chapel, and we stopped as I took in a deep breath.
It was stunning. A large vaulted chamber of cream stone that glowed in the sun streaming through its upper windows. A succession of thick columns created two aisles, and supported a large gallery above. The walls and columns were painted in bright colours, as were the two rood screens. Candles flickered at the altar where gilt and gold glowed, and somewhere incense burned.
‘The chapel of Saint John the Evangelist,’ Raife said. ‘Often the one peaceful place to be found within the tower.’
We walked slowly through the aisles.
‘What did you discover this morning,’ he said to me.
‘Two of your mistresses.’
He stopped, looking at me. ‘Long past, now.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘I also found a Templar, of uncertain temper.’
Raife chuckled as we resumed our slow pacing.
‘I did not know they were in England,’ I said.
‘They arrived a few years ago. They have a church on Holbournestrate but are petitioning Edmond for a parcel of land just outside Lud Gate. Their wealth and influence grows. I do not like them. Edmond does not like them either — their loyalty is to the pope, not to him. But I fear we shall have to endure their presence.’
‘My father was a member.’
‘Your father?’
We had stopped again, and now Raife looked at me curiously.
‘After my mother died he went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There he joined the Templars.’
‘He was in Jerusalem? Among the Knights of the Temple?’ Raife’s interest had sharpened.
‘Not a knight, and I do not know if he was at the Temple. He was a sergeant, involved only in coin counting, and I believe he soon became disenchanted with the Order. He returned home, where he died soon after.’
‘The Order is rigorous, and not for all.’
‘I think he missed his home.’
Raife had lost his interest in my father now, and began pointing out the devices on some shields hung on the walls. I asked him if he had enquired of the king why he was at the Conqueror’s Tower rather than the palace at Westminster, and Raife said that the king had felt it necessary to stay in London while the plague threatened the country.
‘To show his people that he does not run and hide,’ Raife said. ‘And also, probably, because if there is civil unrest in London, as there has been in the south-east of the realm, then Edmond is more directly placed to respond to it.’