Bond of Blood (26 page)

"Yes, but there is no need to spend the night with Oxford. You have not been to court this past year, so perhaps the news has not come to you. Joan of Shrewsbury has fixed her talons into Oxford, and she loves you not."

With Leah present, there was nothing that Radnor could do but ignore the last part of Hereford's remark. "I cannot believe that she would have him. What pleasure or profit could Oxford give Joan? She likes her men to be men."

"Perhaps she has had enough of
men.
There are things, mayhap, that half-men know that big oxen do not. Look at William of Gloucester and see how he holds a woman in thrall."

Radnor was accustomed to Hereford's jibes and took this in good part, although it seemed to be more serious than usual. He replied only, "Or Hereford?" laughing and refusing to be drawn.

The young earl colored slightly. "That is neither here nor there. What is the point is that Joan has also heard that you intend to visit Oxford. Do you think she is likely to miss this chance to be revenged on you for casting her—"

"Hereford," Cain said sharply, glancing at Leah. "If we are talking of foolishnesses, let us speak of serious ones. Joan will not be at Oxford Keep when we are there and need not concern us. This business of Chester's is bound to fail. I will tell you straight out that it is no longer a secret. Philip of Gloucester knows, and he suspects—"

"Then Robert of Gloucester is more a fool than I thought him, to be telling that traitor of a son—"

"Hold your tongue! Do not missay Philip to me, and do not tell me that Robert approved of this madness."

Hereford looked aside sullenly. "I did not say that Robert approved. I said the matter had been broached to him."

Leah, not much interested in plots and counter-plots and also rather unsure of whether she was meant to hear these things, dropped behind and found herself beside Harry Beaufort. He smiled pleasantly at her and Leah smiled back.

"Have you ever been this way before, Sir Harry?"

"Oh yes. I come from Warwickshire and I have passed through Hereford often in following the tourneys."

"What is it like?"

"The keep or the town, my lady?"

"Oh," Leah replied, laughing, "both. I am very ignorant, for I have never been away from home before."

Sir Harry laughed too, but he was uncomfortably aware of Leah's warmth, and he looked away, unwilling to be tempted. It was impossible to be rude to his lord's lady, however, and he tried to answer her eager questions until, as they were topping a slight rise, Leah interrupted him, crying, "Oh, look!"

Instantly alert, with sword half drawn, Beaufort did look—ahead, behind, and to both sides—but he saw nothing except the church spires and the huddle of houses that made up the town of Hereford. The cry had attracted Radnor's attention too, and he turned in time to see Leah point ahead with the hand not holding the reins and ask an excited question of Beaufort.

Suddenly Cain felt that it was senseless to continue a conversation in which it was plain that he had made no headway. The only real lever he had to use was that of Pembroke's perfidy, a subject he could not broach anyway until he was sure there was no other way to save Hereford. In the meantime mere talk would not change Hereford's mind and he might as well spare his own digestion by occupying himself pleasantly.

Hereford, who was tired of being scolded, excused Radnor readily and said he would ride ahead to inform his mother of their imminent arrival. Radnor nodded and pulled his horse to a slower pace; Sir Harry fell away from Leah's side to make room for his master, and Leah flashed her husband a brilliant smile that showed the small, sharp teeth which had left their mark on him the previous night.

"I am so glad you have finished your talk with Lord Hereford. Have you time to speak with me? Sir Harry is very kind, but he knows nothing to the point. I ask about markets and he speaks of fortifications."

Cain laughed at the type of information she thought important and thought him capable of giving her. "I am in much the same case, Leah. It is the misfortune of men to be always thinking of fortifications, but I will try. What is it that Beaufort could not tell you?"

"First whether there was a fair in town—is there?"

"I have no idea." Leah's face fell so ludicrously and there was so much surprise in her eyes that Cain laughed heartily. "But Leah, there are many things I do not know. I am not God."

"Then what are all those booths with guild pennons that I see?"

"That is Hereford Market—oh, I understand what you want to know. Hereford is not like your home. It is so large a town that they have a market for buying, selling, and bartering twice a week, every week. London has a market that is open every day. A fair does come here, perhaps twice or thrice in a year, but that is for special goods—cloth and spices from the East, fine riding horses, foreign women … ah … and other things," Radnor concluded hastily, his tongue having run away with him.

Leah tactfully ignored the last statement. Perhaps it was just as well the fair was not in town. Besides, she wanted something and this was no time to start an argument about other women. She began a little hesitantly. "Do they dine very late at Hereford? Will there be time and light after we eat to go to the market?" Her husband made no reply; he had looked away towards the keep. "Would it be possible for me to go look—only to look, my lord?"

Radnor turned back to her, his face perfectly expressionless. "We will see," he said repressively.

Leah did not sigh or let her disappointment show. Experience had taught her that such behavior accomplished nothing; perhaps when they were alone dressing for dinner she could try again. She asked some further inconsequential question to make her husband talk and lapsed into thoughtful silence.

Entrance into Hereford Castle drove all thought of the market from Leah's mind. The keep was much larger than that of Eardisley, having eight towers connected by battlements set on the curtain walls rather than four, but this was not what took Leah's breath away. It was the interior of the manor house and the furnishing of the private sleeping quarters, which Hereford had temporarily ceded to Radnor as an honored guest.

Even though Beaufort had described the manor house, Leah had expected the interior to be dim. In the blaze of early afternoon sunlight, for three large windows with their shutters pushed all the way back faced due west, the hall was as bright—and more marvellous yet, as warm and dry—as the outdoors. But the private bedroom … Leah had stopped in the doorway, to which she was escorted by the friendly, maternal, clucking dowager Countess of Hereford, with a sigh of pure pleasure.

Here one large window each faced east and west while the fireplace took up part of the north wall; the room was very light, but it was also a blaze of color. On each side of the hearth, well away from heat or sparks, hung great tapestries worked in brilliant shades. One depicted Charlemagne and the twelve peers of the realm, the other a hunting scene. These were the work of Lady Hereford and her women. On the floor lay carpets in wools soft as silk. Great flowers unknown to Leah, strange birds and beasts foreign to the French or Celtic pattern were interwoven in deep reds and blues with touches of brilliant yellow that glowed like patches of true gold.

The countess, noting her young guest's awe and pleasure, explained that the rugs were prizes of war that her late husband, Miles of Gloucester, had won. They had originally come to France with knights who had returned from the First Crusade, then across the sea with some baron of William the Bastard's. Leah knelt to touch their surface reverently and showed a disposition to avoid stepping on them, which made Lady Hereford laugh and assure her that they had withstood many years of wear and would bear many, many more.

"But the tapestries … You say you made them?"

"Yes, child."

"It must be terribly difficult."

"Not at all, only slow, for the design must be drawn so that it may be divided into long strips, and the colors planned. Then the joining must be made so skillfully that no seam may be seen and no break in the pattern."

"Oh how I wish—" Leah stopped, fearful of being rude or presumptuous.

The countess smiled and patted the small hand she was holding. "What do you wish?"

"Could you—would you—do you think I am too stupid to learn how to make something like that? I am clever with my fingers, my mother says, but she loves me and might flatter. Is the working a secret?"

Lady Hereford was delighted with this child who showed interests of which she approved highly and she smiled again. "I can teach you, and there is no secret involved but hard work. Only I cannot give you a design unless you are able to copy these. The patterns were worked for me by a lay brother of the monastery not far from here. He painted the books for the monks, but he is long dead now. Still if you would like to learn, I will teach you when the men are at their talk tonight. It may well be that there is a man similarly skilled on your husband's estate. Now, here is your lord, and I will leave you."

The countess greeted Cain kindly a second time, giving him her hand to kiss and asking after his father. She did not linger many minutes after that, merely naming the dinner hour, which would be rather late because of the extra preparations caused by the unexpected arrival of her son. She had hardly closed the door, when Leah literally flew to Cain, stuttering in her eagerness to point out the beauties around them. He bore her tugging patiently with a quiet smile, but finally he touched her face gently and put her aside.

"Yes, I know. I have seen them many times before and we have such stuffs at Painscastle, although they are not used. You may have them all to amuse yourself with when we go home. Just now, take this." He handed Leah a rather heavy purse, which she held quietly, expecting that Cain wanted his hands free for some purpose. Instead, he stood looking at her as if waiting for something.

After a little silence, Leah asked, "What must I do with it, my lord?"

"What you like. It is yours, as are its contents. There is no pleasure in looking at what you cannot have, so if you intend to go to the market, you must needs have the wherewithal to purchase what you see."

Down went the purse on the floor and up went Leah's arms about her husband's neck. Tiptoe to reach his face, which she still fell an inch or so short of, she pulled energetically at him until he lowered his head so that she could kiss him, on his chin and cheek and nose before she reached his lips. Aware that the danger into which such thanks might lead them would keep them from getting to the market at all, Radnor disengaged himself.

"You have not even looked to see what coin is there," he chuckled, well pleased. "Mayhap I have given you but coppers worth nothing."

"Then I will buy sweets for us both. I care not for the coin, only that you are so kind as to grant my wish to see the market." She opened the purse then and looked with wonder at the silver pieces. "Cain?" she said shyly.

"Yes?"

There was caution in the question. One way or another, every woman he had ever known had been mercenary. Had she expected gold in spite of the pretence of indifference?

"What are they worth? How does one count money?"

Radnor roared with laughter and sat down in the nearest chair. The girl was one continual delight to him, her warmth, her innocence, and her wisdom being always exhibited in the most unexpected ways. He pulled her down on the rug beside him and spread the money out in his lap to explain.

In the market Leah recalled her mother's behavior and showed not a bit of her newly cast-off ignorance. She wandered about for a while just enjoying the sights and taking her bearings before she instructed her groom in gentle but lofty tones to find the booths of the sellers of needles, pins, and thread. Radnor rode beside her, his lips twitching now and again as he strove to maintain his gravity.

The contrast between his wife's public dignity and her hoydenish behavior in private was nearly too much for him, and he would not for the world hurt her feelings by seeming to laugh at her. Preceded by her groom and attended not only by her husband but by Giles, Cedric, and Odo, all well armed, Leah decorously rode to the section of the market indicated. When she entered the booth, Cain lounged in his saddle just outside and the armed men watched the crowd narrowly. Even in the town of a friendly lord like Hereford there were dangers from thieves, bands of market-day drunks, and personal enemies, and it was well to be prepared.

The merchant laid out his wares. Leah took from her purse three squares of cloth—fine silk, linen, and wool. Through these she passed the appropriate needles, noting the holes they made, whether they caught in the cloth or pulled the threads, and whether a piece of thread went smoothly and ran easily through the eye without catching. Radnor watched from his saddle with surprise and pleasure as his wife chose six needles and twelve pins that suited her.

Thus far, all had gone smoothly, but when the merchant, not blind to the youth of the girl and the doting looks of the man, named his price, the moments of harmony were over. Leah lifted her brows coldly in simulated surprise. She said that she was not purchasing golden needles or silver pins but inferior stuff, which the merchant should be glad to give away. She made a counter offer of less than half the merchant's demand and the man, recognizing his mistake, settled down to chaffer in earnest. Radnor was still amused, but not so well pleased at this display of his lady's shrewdness. When Leah, heated but exultant in a good bargain, mounted up to leave, he protested.

"Leah, it is beneath the dignity of a great lady to chaffer. I am a very rich man. A few pennies more or less are of no account to me."

His wife, usually so docile to him, now faced him with surprising determination. "But, my lord, it is not a question of a few pennies. That much I might throw in charity to the crowd on a feast day. If a thief were to try to steal your purse, you would defend yourself even if it contained but a few pennies, would you not? Why then should you be robbed by a merchant who sets the price of his goods far above their value?"