A Rose for the Crown (21 page)

Anne’s sobs soon quieted, and eventually she began to regain her self-control. She gently pushed Kate away, tidied her own dress, tucked a few strands of hair back under her coif, turned confidently on her heel and walked into her parents’ chamber. Kate followed her, neatening her appearance as she went. The room smelled of wet wool. Elinor, now richly clothed for her lying-in, was attended by Richard and Mary. Anne picked up the discarded dripping clothes, and as she prepared them for drying, she noticed Elinor’s headdress was missing.

“Mary, where is Mother’s headdress? She was wearing it this afternoon. I recall seeing her with it in the dispensary. I do not see it here among the hats and coifs, and she was not wearing it when they—” She stopped, catching her underlip, not wanting to conjure up the scene again.

Richard understood and went to her. “It may be at the bottom of the lake, Anne. ’Tis likely. The jewel was heavy. Someone will look for it in the daylight, fear not. Now, are you ready to go down to supper? In truth, you look very well composed. I am proud of you.” Richard gave her forehead a kiss and then offered her his arm. With as much dignity as they could muster, father and daughter descended the stairs and entered the great hall for the evening meal.

Edgar sat at the head table that night, and he and Richard laid out their strategy for finding Geoff the next day. Kate’s appetite had deserted her as she listened to the elaborate plans for the search for her brother. No stone would be left unturned, and the sheriff was to be summoned so that when they did find Geoff, a swift trial could be arranged. The two men moved on to the funeral plans and how they would announce the
death to the neighboring gentry. Richard turned to Kate and provided the miracle she and Anne had prayed for these past few months.

“Kate, my child, I am heartily sorry to have to tell you this, but your nuptials cannot proceed in light of Elinor’s death. We must observe a period of mourning. Your bridegroom must needs wait for you until after the Lenten season. You do understand?”

Kate had just taken a mouthful of ale and it was all she could do not to spew it across the table. She swallowed it so quickly that it brought tears to her eyes, making Richard believe she was sorry indeed to have to wait so long for wedded bliss.

“I will dispatch a messenger to Thomas tomorrow and likewise to your father. Thomas will want to be with you at this sad time, and if we find Geoff, your father will want to be here to await the trial. Geoff is your father’s responsibility after all. By my troth, I am sorry now I did not listen to Elinor regarding the boy. I see she was right to discipline him. He is wild, Kate, and now he is in deep trouble, I fear.” Richard looked stern and shook his head in disbelief again.

Kate’s heart cried in agony for Geoff. She had never felt so alone at Ightham Mote. Anne’s hand found Kate’s knee under the table, and Kate felt an encouraging squeeze from her cousin.

I hope Anne does not really believe Geoff could have done this heinous thing, Kate thought, turning to look at Anne and searching her brown eyes. In her sadness, Anne’s face had taken on a pinched look, and Kate was startled to see how much she resembled her mother at that moment.

She was relieved to escape to her chamber as soon as the meal was ended and the
amen
intoned. She was in her chemise and in a curled-up position under the bedcovers long before Anne came to join her. Her thoughts were with Geoff. Where was he? He must be cold and afraid, wherever he is. Please, God, keep him safe, she begged. Then she fell into a troubled sleep, with dreams of wading into a pond in her new bridal gown, Thomas waiting at the other side of the pond and an arm extending from the water waving a jeweled headband.

She woke long before dawn to find Anne snuggled against her for warmth, snoring gently. Extricating herself, Kate slipped out of bed,
took care of her needs in the vessel in the corner of the room and felt around for her stockings and overdress in the darkness. She dressed quietly, being careful not to wake Mary, who was sleeping in the truckle bed at the foot of the girls’ bed. Then she tiptoed to the door, took down her warm cloak from its peg and used both hands to lift the door latch silently. The door creaked slightly as she opened it just enough to slip into Richard’s room, where his squire was sleeping alone on a pallet. She remembered Richard was keeping vigil in the chapel. The man turned over in his sleep, and Kate held her breath, hoping he had not wakened. He grunted, and then his breathing returned to its natural rhythm. She lifted the latch on the door to the passageway and crept out, shutting it slowly behind her. She could see candlelight filtering under the door of the chapel and was glad she did not have to pass it to go down the stairs. The third stair always creaked, so she bypassed it, holding fast on to the banister. At the bottom of the stairs, she threw on her cloak and put up the hood against the frigid air. She exited the house through the door by the stairwell and into her favorite garden niche behind the great hall. From there she took the servants’ bridge over the moat, unlocking the door in the outer wall with the big iron key hanging on a nail under the eaves of the kitchen house. Replacing the key, she left the door unlocked, expecting to return before anyone would notice she was gone.

Dawn was casting its slate light over the stableyard as she skirted the moat by the lane. She had decided she would borrow a horse and go looking for Geoffrey, even though she only knew the way into Ivy Hatch and the village of Ightham beyond. She slipped into the still darkened stable and was careful to avoid the sleeping stable lads, scattered like sacks of feed among the hay.

She crept into the stall of her favorite jennet, Rosey. The horse stirred at the unexpected visitor. Kate quickly calmed her and stroked her velvety nose. The horse nuzzled Kate, and they stood thus for a minute or two until Kate’s eyes became accustomed to the half-light and she could see where the bridle and reins were hanging on a peg. She had never ridden bareback before, but as she had neither the strength nor the knowledge to attempt saddling the animal, she would have to take a chance. She got the horse to take the bit, tied the bridle as best she could and tugged gently for Rosey to follow. No one moved in the hay, and she held
her breath as she walked the horse to the door. The clip-clop of hoofs seemed deafening to her even on the soft dirt floor of the stable, but no one stirred.

Safely out in the open air, she led Rosey to the mounting block. She was pondering how to mount alone when she felt a firm hand grip her arm. She gave an involuntary shriek and jumped. It was Ralph.

“Where be ye agoing, mistress?” he asked, not unkindly. “’Tis a mite early for a ride, methinks. Be ye thinking to go ahunting for your brother? Be that what’s in your mind?”

“Ralph! Unhand me!” Kate tried to sound imperious. “’Tis none of your business where I am going. Let me go, I beseech you!” She pulled against his grip. He released her arm but then took both her shoulders and shook her lightly.

“Mistress Kate, Master Haute would be right angered with me if I let you ride off. I cannot let you take one of the horses without his permission. Besides, it be not seemly for a young lady to ride out alone at this time of the day. There be thieves and vagabonds everywhere.”

Kate’s heart skipped a beat. “Aye, so there are!” At his words, she suddenly remembered the figure she had seen in the woods the morning before. “And I think ’twas a vagabond who pushed Mistress Elinor, not my Geoff.” The idea suddenly became a real possibility. “I did see someone hiding in the wood by the lake yesterday, Ralph, I swear I did. I thought perchance my eyes were fooling me, but now I know I must have seen someone. I must tell Master Richard!”

“He be keeping vigil just now, mistress. Do not disturb him at his prayers. You can tell him after he has broken his fast.” Ralph scratched his unshaven chin and nodded slowly. “I do think you be right in this matter. Geoff would not harm anyone, especially not a lady. He be a strong boy, Kate, and I cannot tell a lie when I say he do have the strength to do it, even with a lame arm, but I do not believe he has the heart or the mind.” Ralph was earnest. “We must think how we can prove he were not there. But for now, be a good girl and run on back to the house before you be missed.”

Kate promised to wait until after breakfast to give Richard her new theory. She handed Ralph Rosey’s reins and ran off in the direction of the house. Ralph turned and went back to the stable and so did not see Kate
double back into the herb garden and disappear from sight in the direction of the lake.

It was now quite light, and she went quickly, not wanting anyone to see her from an upstairs window. The night had not been as cold as the night before, and frost only covered some of the unexposed areas of grass and plants around the stewpond. She made her way around the lake and easily found the place where Elinor’s body had been dragged up onto the bank. The water had muddied the ground at the spot, and many footprints were visible. She walked slowly back towards the woods, staring hard at the ground to see if there were other footprints, but the earth was hard and revealed nothing.

She wended her way through the trees until she found the one behind which she had been convinced she had seen a brown cloak. She examined the area around it, and her heart leapt as she saw something wedged under a fallen branch at the foot of the tree. She knelt down and looked more closely at the object. It was a dirty scrap of rough material wrapped around something lumpy. She wondered what to do next. If she took it to the house, no one would believe she had found it under the tree. If she left it and brought Richard to see it, how would he know she had not put it there? Oh, why had she not asked dear, kind Ralph to come and search the wood with her. But it was too late now.

She suspected the bundle contained some kind of food, and if it was not discovered soon by a person, it most certainly would be found by an animal, and her proof would be gone. She straightened up and made up her mind. Glancing furtively around, she took the rag out of its hiding place and opened it. She was right; it was food. A half-eaten apple, a small piece of moldy cheese and some beechnuts were the unappetizing remains of somebody’s last meal and certainly not from the Hautes’ rich larder. In his haste to run away, the vagabond had abandoned his meager supply of food. Kate reached up to the lowest branch of the tree and jammed the package between two small limbs. It was visible from the other side of the tree. By hiding it off the ground, Kate could be assured that no dog or rat would find it, and she only had to worry about squirrels and birds.

Now she had to find a way to make Richard have the wood searched on the evidence of her having seen the stranger the day before.

She knew she should get back to the house quickly so that no one would suspect her of having already been there. She sped back to the other side of the stewpond and let herself into the little garden, carefully locking the bridge gate behind her.

As soon as Richard’s vigil was over, a flurry of activity kept the house on its toes for the rest of the day. Richard took Anne into the kitchens and presented her to the staff as their new mistress. Kate was impressed by Anne’s poise when the servants doffed their hats and bowed. Richard spent an hour in his office with Edgar, planning the search routes. Edgar dispatched Ralph to Thomas Draper and John at Tunbridge and Bywood Farm with messages about the incident. Then he went to the stables to arrange for enough horses to be saddled for the searchers who would comb the countryside. Richard called for Kate and instructed her to go to the chapel and pray for her wicked brother and Elinor until Anne needed her. Someone was to be at Elinor’s side day and night praying for her soul until the burial could be arranged.

“Perhaps ’twill ease your conscience, Kate, if you are thus employed.”

Richard seemed so preoccupied with arrangements that Kate was afraid of putting her vagabond theory to him, but she plunged ahead.

“Cousin! I pray you hear me out. I want to tell you something that occurred yesterday morning that I only remembered when I woke today.” She leaned towards him from her side of the table, and her urgency got Richard’s attention. He listened to her tale of seeing someone in the woods and frowned.

“How do I know you are not lying to me, Kate? Just to save Geoff. Or it could have been a flight of fancy.”

“Nay, sir, I am sure I saw a figure behind the oak tree to the right of the path by the stream. I pray you, may we search there in case of footprints, or perhaps he left a thread from his cloak on a thorn? Please, I beg of you. I need to try every possible road to help Geoff.”

Richard had had plenty of time to think during his vigil overnight, and he was less convinced Geoffrey was the culprit than he had been at first. He was also exhausted and had not the strength or the heart to dismiss her effort to save her brother. He was disinclined to argue.

“Very well, Kate. I will send Oliver and a page to search the area, but I do not think they will find anything. Now go to Brother Francis.”

Kate ran round the table and planted a swift kiss on his cheek and escaped gratefully. Later, she heard Richard telling Edgar to have Oliver search the woods. He and the search party would go on horseback up to Ivy Hatch and begin their inquiries into any sightings of Geoff.

The search party clattered off up the lane, and the rest of the servants quietly resumed their everyday tasks. The house smelled like a fish market, because the final big catch from the stewpond was being smoked and salted for the winter months. Life in the house went on as usual, despite the dramatic events that were taking place around it.