1420

44

Cecily decided without hesitating to take in Adeline, whose wanton ways had at last become impossible for her husband to deny. Adeline was with child, and the baron knew it was not his. Three other friends had refused to offer her sanctuary, condemning her for having sullied the reputation of the Burgeys family. But Cecily, who still recalled with pain the feeling that she had never lived up to the memory of her holy mother, decided that forgiveness was the best way forward. Adeline’s child was born six months later, a girl she called Beatrix as a gesture of respect to her hostess. Cecily showered the child with love, and felt, in a way, that the little girl enabled her, at last, to make a final and lasting peace with her mother.

William remained in France with the king. His second son, named for himself, was born nine weeks after his departure. Only God knew how old the boy would be when his father again set foot on English soil. Cecily was tired of the war, tired of France, and tired of being without William, but there was nothing to be done, other than pray in front of her diptych for his safe return.

*   *   *

Rouen did fall, in time, and once again King Henry was victorious in France, controlling all of Normandy, and, finally, reaching the outskirts of Paris. Now there would be no more fighting, only waiting, as a treaty could be negotiated. The French king—known by all to be mad; William heard it said he thought he was made from glass and would shatter if those around him did not treat him with the utmost care—offered his pretty daughter, Catherine, as bride to Henry. The royal couple married in France at the cathedral in Troyes, the town where the terms of peace were hammered out. When King Charles died, Henry, an Englishman, would succeed him. The crown of France would be his at last.

By autumn, the French were well and truly subdued. King Henry and his retinue, William included, returned to England. Grateful that his sovereign did not press him to accompany him to Windsor, William rode north. With luck and good weather, he might be home in time for Christmas.