Lords of Honor (91 page)

Mary gave him a small smile
.
“I should have noticed
.
I
should have realized what was happening.”

“Mother, I went out of my way to lie and hide everything from you
.
I’m fine now
.
I made a lot of mistakes, but everything has turned out well
.
I love Sophia
, and s
he loves me
.
And once we get home to Shevington Chase, Sophia and I will do our best to give you that heir you want so badly
.”
He grinned at his mother
.

“Wonderful!
” Mary Ravenscroft, Lady Amesbury
,
sniffed and
smiled softly
.
“
There is one more matter I must speak to you about, son.”

“Yes?”

“Julyan Trevelyan would like to
court your
sister
.
I told him I would speak to you first
.
Sarah is
very fond of
him, Lyon.”

Lyon
thought for a long moment
.
He gave her a nod
.
“And does Julyan
seem fond of
Sarah
, mother?”

“He
told me as
much
,
yes.
” Mary smiled.
He fears you do not
approve of
him and that you will not
give him permission to pay address
es
to
your sister
.
He is thinking of marriage, Lyon
.
This I know
,
for he told me
.
”

If they
were in love
, how could
Lyon
deny them
?
He
was in love with Sophia and she loved
him
.
How could he deny his sister such happiness
?
He could not
.
He smiled
.
“As long as Julyan
cares for
my sister
, and she cares for him;
I cannot deny
a courtship
.
As far as marriage
goes
, Julyan
is a Trevelyan, and can provide for her
; of that
I
’
m certain
.
I will give him my permission
to court Sarah
, mother
, a
nd to marry her if they both feel the same when the time comes.
”

Mary smiled
happily
.
She
lovingly
kissed her son’s cheek before he left to go to the dressing room
.
He stopped before he closed the door
.
“Take good care of my girl for me, mother,” he flashed his mother a wide grin.

“I will, son,” Mary smiled after
him
.
He
r son
was back
, t
ruly
back
.
The darkness in him was gone
.
Mary quietly sat in the chair next to the bed and looked upon the woman whom her son crawled out of the darkness for
.
Mary
smiled when she realized
she was fortunate to have such a fine you
ng woman for a daughter–in-law.

“Thanks to Gabriel and August, Madame Rosier gave us a wealth of information on the Knights of the Brown Order with the exception of the names of the leaders aside from Crow
, Davitt
and Crowhurst
.
She did provide two names of possible Knights, whom we will check out
.”
Harry paused as Lyon entered the room
.
“How is Sophia?”

“Better
, though still in pain
.
She
stayed
awake for awhile
this morning
,” Lyon smiled.

“Good
.
Join us, Lyon
.”
Harry continued, “The address
the Madame
gave us for Percy Davitt was correct, however, it appears Davitt cleaned out his belongings before
last evening
.
It seem
s
he did not plan to return
.”

Harry sighed deeply, “The man Tristan chased and brought back to Wychcombe
House
gave us some alarming information
.
He is a lower member of the Order
.
He was told upon being recruited that he must prove his loyalty to the Order by killing dangerous heretics when called upon. He
received
a message early yesterday that his presence was needed
.
He also told us, t
he Grand
Knights of the Brown Order number thirteen
.
There is also a High Council of five Supreme Knights
.
None of the lower members know who the Grand Knights
or their superiors are
.
They wear cloaks, hoods and masks
at all gatherings
.
We assume Crowhurst was one, and
possibly
Crow, for they both wore the rings with the brown
shield and white cross
.
W
e kept
those rings
.
We might need them at some point
in the future
.
Davitt did not wear one.
”

Harry paused
.
“
Pendarves and Carlyon are
investigating
any
questionable
deaths of gentlemen
or nobles
around the time Lyon shot one of the Grand Knights on the road outside Templecombe
.
That would give us the positive identification of one of the Grand Knights, though he
is
dead
.
F
ollowing a trail of his associations may lead us to more
Grand Knights
.
Pendarves and Carlyon are also checking to see if they can locate and follow any of Crowhurst’s and Crow’s associates or cronies. They will be watching who attends their funerals, as will the King’s men and the police
.
Percy Davitt is dead
.
Mr. Crow is dead
.
Lord Crowhurst is dead. There still could be twelve Grand Knights
left, for we do not know if Crowhurst or Crow were Grand Knights
.
We are fairly certain Lyon killed one
of them
outside of Templecombe the
night
he returned from London
.”

Trevan spoke
.
“We are still in
danger
.
We can remain certain
the Knights of the Brown Order still want what we have
.
We know they covet the scrolls, the sapphire and the Holy cruets
.
Harry and I have spoken at length
this morning
.
We feel all of us and our families will be safer at Menadue
.
Strangers coming into Cornwall will
now
be noticed, and I will hear about
any intruders
– especially if I send the word
to
my kinsmen to be watching for them
.
It is unlikely anyone could sneak up on us at Menadue now.
”

Trevan continued in his booming voice, “
We need to finish interpreting the scrolls and
the
Secretum Domini
, and try as we might
,
we have not
found the
time to accomplish that
.
Learning what knowledge is contained in those documents
will give us more of an understanding of why we are being pursued
.
There is still the possibility
of relics belonging to Jesus being hidden at Glastonbury somewhere
that Micah found mentioned in one of the Greek scrolls
. Harry and I spoke to Sir John and the King’s emissaries before they left an hour ago
.
I’ll allow Sir John to give you a summary on what we
have planned to lure the
Knights of the
Brown
Order to us
in Cornwall
after we learn what those documents hold
.”

“Thank you, your Grace,” Sir John stood.
“Once you are all at the home of the Duke of Penrose, and the scrolls and
Secretum Domini
have been interpreted,
there shall be
an announcement made of
a grand and R
oyal ceremony in Cornwall displaying the
treasures, or at least the Society’s
decoys of the treasures
.
The King, or someone he sends in his stead, shall come to accept
The Avalon Society’s discoveries
from the Duke of Penrose
.
We have not decided on a location to display the treasures
as yet
;
but with the long reaching arm of the Duke of Penrose and his kinsmen, we feel Cornwall is the safest place to hold this grand event
.
We shall display the items
publicly
for a week
prior to the
official ceremony where the
Avalon Society turn
s
them over
to the Crown
.
More than likely the location will be in Truro.
”

Sir John cleared his throat and continued, “
There will be a
Royal B
all and a grand celebration to mark the
receipt of the Glastonbury Treasure
by the Crown
.
Much shall be written of it and distributed in London
.
We feel certain the Brown Knights of the Order will make to steal them before they are turned over to the
King
.
A Royal
search for the
murderous
Grand Knights of the
Brown
Order
will
be publicized before that point
.
Our intention in doing so
is
to make
those of high rank in the Order
nervous
.
We are hoping they will
attend the festivities to avert suspicion being cast upon them
.
It has become clear from the information we learned
last night
that the Supreme Grand Knights of the
Brown
Order hold prominent positions in London and possibly within our government.
”

“Are we
truly
turning our treasures over to the Crown?” Newt asked.

Sir John smiled
.
“The Crown will take the decoys
.
The location of the true
treasures shall remain unknown
.
N
othing will be made public knowledge
until
after
the scrolls and Secretum Domini are studied and interpreted
by
the Avalon Society
.
They will be hidden safely away, along with the sapphire and holy cruets.
”

Newt
gave a satisfied nod
.

“We are still going to hunt down the Grand Knights
.
At the present time, Pendarves and Carlyon and their men will be working on that
.
Some of you may have to help them at a later date.” Trevan provided.

“Lac
h
lan Douglas will remain in London with family until he
is well enough to travel
.
Chilcompton’s physician feels he will recover
,” Micah said
.
“If the physician declares my wife and Lady Amesbury fit to travel tomorrow, Lyon and I shall be joining you when you depart for Devon tomorrow
.
Otherwise we shall have to miss Charlie’s funeral, and be delayed.”