Lady Isabella was speaking at the same time and her voice drowned Eva's strangled question.
'Come, my lord, we will leave Sir Piers alone with our dear Eva awhile.'
She swept out followed by Lord Henry, and Eva suddenly collapsed onto the stool beside Lady Isabella's chair. Sir Piers came to stand by the fire and looked down at her unsmilingly.
'You deceived me, not telling me your name,' she said at last in a low tone.
'I had no reason to suspect your own identity on our first encounters in the stable,' he replied coolly. 'Why should I announce myself to a pair of clandestine lovers disporting themselves? I could have made myself known to you after supper when Lord Henry had pointed you out to me, of course, but naturally I wished to discover whether my intended bride was so abandoned as I suspected. What better way than to remain incognito for a few hours?'
'No doubt your vulgar curiosity has been satisfied!' Eva snapped. 'What do you propose to do? I hope you are so disgusted you will leave at once and forget this mad idea of forcing me into a marriage I do not wish for.'
'Do you?' was all he said to this.
Eva stole a glance at him, uncomfortably aware of his vibrant personality, his keen black eyes, dark skin and thick black hair contrasting with the pale grey surcoat he wore, and then one aspect of this very odd affair suddenly occurred to her.
'You are not old,' she exclaimed in surprise.
Sir Piers looked amused, and the smile on his face banished all the grimness that had been there. His eyes twinkled and the corners creased so that he looked even younger than his thirty years.
'It rather depends on how one defines age,' he commented lightly. 'Why did you expect me to be so ancient?'
Eva frowned. 'I heard you were one of Richard of Cornwall's friends,' she replied slowly, 'and as he is about the same age as my father I thought – well, it would be natural if you were too.'
'My father was some five or six years older than Richard. They first met on the expedition to Gascony in 1225, when Richard was given the nominal leadership, though but sixteen. My father was one of the younger knights and became his good friend. Since he died Richard has treated me as though I could offer the same friendship and advice. My friendship he most certainly has, but I cannot hope to be as wise as my father was. Does my immaturity reconcile you to our marriage?' he added mockingly, but with another note in his voice which was impossible to interpret.
Eva shook her head violently.
'No!' she exclaimed quickly. 'That was not what I meant. I will not be forced into a marriage against my will, and – and I love Gilbert, I wish to marry him.'
'That matters nought, your wishes are unimportant as your father favours me. Has Gilbert approached him and been rejected?'
'He – has not had time, I have not seen my father for several months, and – and Gilbert came to Holdfast since my father's last visit,' Eva tried to explain, and wondered why she should suddenly turn into a stammering, hesitant fool when this detestable man's eyes were upon her.
'He could have been to your home and told your father,' Sir Piers commented quietly, and Eva threw up her head to face him angrily.
'He wished to, it is not his fault he has not. But my home, as you must know, is two days' journey from here, it would have been difficult for Gilbert to obtain leave to go.'
'Surely not, if Lord Henry had been aware of the facts and approved?' Sir Piers said softly.
Eva blushed but would not lower her eyes. Her tormentor should not see she herself had sometimes wondered why Gilbert seemed so reluctant to approach her father.
'Lord Henry did not know. I – we did not consider the time appropriate for telling my father,' she said hastily. 'Gilbert is not rich, but that is unimportant to me and he has hopes of advancement. I – he wanted to have something to offer, some honour he had won which my father would appreciate, and be more ready to ignore his lack of wealth and permit me to wed where I chose.'
'You have been singularly indulged if you were led to believe you could choose your husband freely.'
'Why should I not?' Eva demanded, stung by his arrogance and the dismissive tone in which he scorned her plans.
'Marriage is not a state to be entered into for foolish emotional reasons,' he stated flatly. 'Only peasants behave so. It is a business arrangement made for the benefit of both parties.'
'For you and my father it may be advantageous, but what would I gain from such an arrangement?' Eva demanded angrily.
'A comfortable home, all the luxuries you could wish for, and an attentive husband,' he replied swiftly.
'A husband I detest and do not want,' Eva retorted. 'I want Gilbert, and he can give me all the comfort I need. Luxuries do not concern me so long as I am with him.'
'Then they will have to serve as a substitute for him, I fear,' Sir Piers replied smoothly. 'Your preferences are of no account and I am a necessary part of the bargain whatever your feelings.'
Eva stared at him, dismayed.
'You still wish to marry me' she demanded incredulously. 'Even though you know how I feel and that I love Gilbert, you would wish to proceed with it?'
'I made an arrangement with your father and neither your protests nor your deplorable behaviour will change that. I have sent my servant after Sir Edmund to inform him of my arrival, and suggest the marriage take place as soon as we can follow him. I intend to escort you to your home.'
Eva was horrified.
'No!' she whispered. 'No, I will not! You cannot force me to wed you.'
'Make no mistake about that, my dear, I can and I will.'
'But I love Gilbert,' she persisted.
'What is love?' he replied harshly. 'An illusion, a transitory emotion which deceives people into actions they afterwards regret. Most of the time the word is used, particularly by ladies, as an acceptable way of describing fleshly urges which they pretend to scorn. And yet, my wife to be, when I first kissed you your response showed you have a passionate nature.'
Eva felt her face flame at the recollection. She had been furious, had not wanted to respond in the odious way he was suggesting, she told herself angrily, and could still not fully understand those unexpected desires of her senses which had been unlike anything she had ever experienced in Gilbert's arms. Sir Piers was still speaking.
'We shall deal well together if it is so, you will do your duty and provide me with heirs without either the complaints of a fragile, virginal sanctuary which must not be defiled or the jealous demands of a lovesick fool.'
*
Before Eva could respond to this unwelcome suggestion Lady Isabella returned to the solar, beaming delightedly.
'Well, my dear Eva, is all explained? I do trust Sir Piers has been able to reconcile you to his harmless little deception. I shall be sorry indeed to lose you, but a man such as Sir Piers will make you happy, and he takes you to a magnificent home. You will be a credit to me, I know, and many of the tasks you may have found unpalatable here will no doubt be full of interest for you in your own household. You may always send to ask my advice, naturally, especially as you have no mother to consult.'
Eva had by this time suppressed her instinctive desire to repudiate Lady Isabella's assumption she was delighted with the match and with her prospective bridegroom. Caution warned her that once she voiced her refusal to accept Sir Piers to anyone else she would be closely watched. This would not do since she needed freedom to seek out Gilbert and speedily devise some way of escaping from the disaster which threatened her.
'I – I am rather bewildered, my lady,' she said slowly. 'I crave your pardon, but may I retire? I would prefer to be alone awhile.'
'Doubtless to reflect on your good fortune, or to tell your friends of it,' Lady Isabella commented with a laugh. 'Marguerite will be green with envy when she discovers the truth. It will be a salutary lesson to her, I trust, after the boasting she has indulged in these last few months since her own betrothal,' she added softly as if to herself. 'Yes, go now, child. I will send one of the others to help you pack later. Sir Piers is an anxious bridegroom, he intends to set out tomorrow.'
Eva dipped into her curtsey and almost ran from the room. The need for action was even more desperate if Sir Piers planned to start for her home on the following morning.
*
Gilbert was not on guard duty, and heedless of the impression she was creating she searched the castle until she found a groom who informed her Lord Henry had sent Gilbert out with a message early that morning.
'Doubt if he'll be back afore dark,' the man said, pushing the short straw he was sucking to one side of his mouth.
'Where did he go?' Eva demanded.
'I can't be sure now, didn't hear Lord Henry tellin' of him,' the man replied, scratching his head in puzzlement.
'But did you see him ride out? Which way did he go?'
'I wasn't here, can't say. Jonah might know.'
'Where is he? I can't see him in the stables,' she said crossly, looking about her. Jonah was another of the grooms but Eva eventually elicited the fact from the man that he had taken one of Lord Henry's horses out for exercise and would not be back for a while.
'Frisky, old Tempest were, needed a good gallop.'
Eva thanked him briefly and went slowly to the top of the keep. She crouched down in a sheltered corner from where she could see most of the approaches to the castle and desperately tried to make plans.
It was so difficult to think clearly.
Apart from the urgent need to leave Holdfast with Gilbert and gain some refuge where Sir Piers could not find them, her thoughts revolved round the surprise that her preconceived ideas about Sir Piers had been so false. In mingled confusion and resentment she recalled that astonishing embrace when he had kissed her so ruthlessly. Her body had wanted to respond, to invite more of the strange sensations he aroused in her, and yet she feared and hated him.
She shivered. It was impossible to imagine herself compelled to submit again to such embraces and, she realised, to even more intimate caresses. That would be unendurable.
It was bitterly cold outside, and the parapet gave little shelter. Eva gradually became numb but in her misery ignored the discomfort. The countryside was bare, the trees and fields not yet showing the new green growth. Where there was grass visible against the brown earth it looked dull and lifeless. Low clouds hung overhead and Eva reflected that her surroundings, dank cold stones rising out of a bare and gloomy landscape, reflected her own situation. She would be as unfeeling as the stones. Her life would be as dead as the trees appeared now, but for her there would be no promise of spring or the joyousness of rebirth, only the perpetual dark bleak death of winter.
The wind grew still keener and Eva huddled into a smaller ball. When the rain began, turning soon to sleet, she wondered for a brief moment whether to remain in the open and freeze to death, and in that final manner escape from an unthinkable future with Sir Piers. Then she suddenly knew she needed to live, if only to defeat him instead of meekly giving up all hope and allowing him to triumph over her in death.
Stiffly Eva rose to her feet and left the roof of the keep. The stairs inside one of the corner towers were narrow and dark and steep, and in her half frozen state she had to exercise great care to prevent her numbed feet from slipping off the uneven stones. Fortunately Lord Henry had placed a thick rope threaded through loops of iron and she clung to this as she stumbled round the spiral to the lower levels.
*
By the time she reached the great hall her limbs were functioning normally and her brain was active again. She knew how she would escape. She went at once to the stables and discovered from Jonah, who had returned a little while back, that Gilbert would be returning soon unless, Jonah said dolefully, the weather delayed him.
'I never see so much rain, and there be clouds black as the devil coming up,' he muttered with gloomy relish. 'Bad as last year and the one afore that, I reckon, three bad harvests in a row and more poor devils starving.'
Eva was only too aware of the rain. The wind was lashing the heavy downpour against the walls, even here in the sheltered courtyard. She was shivering from cold and her clothes were soaking wet. She went to the dormitory to change. As she was spreading her gown out to dry one of the maids who attended on Lady Isabella, mending and washing her clothes, appeared in the doorway.
'Lady Eva, I am sent to help you pack,' she murmured.
'Thank you, Magda, but I haven't a great deal. I will leave this gown until the morning, it will be dry then.'
'How did you get it so wet?' Magda asked, feeling the damp wool.
'I was caught in a sudden downpour,' Eva said briefly. 'I will sort my belongings into two piles and we will make two bundles. They will be easier to carry than chests.'
'You won't be needing most of your old clothes now will you, my lady?' Magda insinuated as she began to fold Eva's gowns. Eva frowned. Magda might imagine that Sir Piers would give his bride everything she required, but he would not have the opportunity. Gilbert's small patrimony would not provide her with jewels and silks, she would need to make do with what she had now. But part of his manor supported flocks of sheep, Eva recalled, so presumably woollen gowns would be available. Knowing Magda expected a far more munificent parting gift, and feeling mean she could not afford to give it to the girl, nor explain the reason why, Eva picked up the wet gown. It was almost new and in her favourite shade of soft blue. This somewhat eased her conscience as she held it out to the girl.
'Take this, Magda. The rain will not have spoiled it and it will save me from doing the bundle again in the morning. Sir Piers wishes to set out very early, I understand.'
For a moment Magda looked as though she would refuse the gown, but it was, although not what she expected, a far better gown than any she possessed. She took it with a small toss of the head and a smile of thanks which was more of a grimace.
'Have you any more for me to do?' she asked sharply, and Eva controlled her desire to chastise the girl for her impertinent tone. In a way it was deserved.
'No, and thank you,' she replied quietly. 'I will finish the last few things by myself. Oh, there is one more thing. My cousin, Gilbert Fitzjohn, one of Lord Henry's men, do you know him?'
Magda looked at her oddly. 'Yes,' she replied curtly.
'Pray ask one of the pages to give him a message. I must speak with him before supper. He will wish to send greetings to my father,' Eva added, wondering why she should feel compelled to give excuses to a servant about what were surely normal actions.
'I'll tell him myself, my lady, I have to go to the guard room for another message. Shall I suggest he meets you in the hall?'
'Ask him to be so kind,' Eva replied, pretending to be busy with tying her bundle, and with her back turned she did not see the knowing smile Magda bestowed upon her as the girl left the room.
*
At last it was possible for Eva to speak with Gilbert. She had made no attempt to hide her assignation from Lady Isabella, explaining her father would wish to know how his late wife's nephew was. Lady Isabella smilingly dismissed her from the solar, where she had been enduring with gradually declining fortitude the comments and exclamations of the other girls about her forthcoming marriage, and Eva hurried down to the hall.
It was clear Gilbert had heard. His normally cheerful expression had been replaced by a scowl, and he scarcely raised his head when Eva sat beside him on the bench, well away from the other people who were crowding about the fire.
'You agreed!' he accused her in a low angry voice.
'No, I did not, Gilbert. I had no choice, I told him I didn't wish to marry him, but he insisted on treating me as though I had not spoken. I have a plan.'
'What can we do?'
'It's too late to leave tonight, the gates will be closed. Why did Lord Henry have to send you out today of all days!'
'I could not help that,' Gilbert said quickly. 'Even had I known I could hardly have refused to go. It had something to do with de Montfort.'
'Of course not, but if only we had known earlier I could have made some excuse and ridden out too. But it's no use repining. We must leave at dawn. I will go first on Fleet, with the few things I must take in a small bundle. I can hide it under my cloak. I imagine Lady Isabella will send me the rest of my clothes when we are married and she can do nothing to prevent it. I will tell the guard I wish to say farewell to old Freida. They'll not be suspicious, I often visit her. I'll ride in the direction of her hut, and once I'm in the shelter of the trees turn back. You must leave earlier and ride the other way. We can meet by the charcoal burner's hut, then head northwards and circle round towards your home. They will expect me to have gone to the west and lose time searching that way.'
'It won't work. They'll know it's a plot and they'll catch us before we've gone half a day's journey.'
Eva shook her head vehemently.
'Then are we to do nothing? To submit?'
'Eva, darling, I want more than anything else to marry you but what can we do? They are powerful, they can force your compliance and the only thing we will accomplish is my ruin.'
'You don't love me. Why did you pretend?' she asked bleakly.
He groaned and suddenly buried his face in his hands.
'Eva, I adore you, you know that, and would risk anything to win you, but it is pointless to try when there is no hope of success. I can see no other way, and will have to renounce you.'
'It is easy to renounce what you have never had,' she said bitterly. 'Have you considered me? I shall lose you too, but I shall be forced to endure marriage to that hateful man instead. There must be a way, Gilbert!'
'We must be sensible. Few people are permitted to marry where they love. And he is not what you feared, he is at least not so old.'
'That makes it worse,' Eva muttered. 'I could look forward to an early widowhood if he were old!'
Gilbert hastily crossed himself. 'It's wicked, Eva, to wish another's death.'
'I don't wish it, I merely remarked that an old man would be likely to die sooner. But what of it, he's not old. I will not be beaten, Gilbert. We must try. We'll change our plan and you must still leave early tomorrow as we agreed and ride for Rudge Manor. I will contrive to delay our journey as much as possible so you have time to explain the situation to Father and plead with him. Tell him how much I detest Sir Piers and how unbearably arrogant he is. There is a chance he might listen.'
'And what excuse will I give to Lord Henry?'
Eva gritted her teeth with impatience.
'Do I have to think of everything? Surely you can find a reason for being away for a couple of days? Or just an hour. Since we'll never return what does it matter?'
'I shall be returning if your father doesn't listen,' Gilbert pointed out reasonably. 'If we fail, which is highly probable, my prospects will be ruined. I might as well join the rebels!'
'What of my prospects? They'll be worse, life will not be worth living unless I can live it with you,' Eva said slowly. 'Won't you make just one effort? Do you not want me after all?' she added wonderingly. 'It does not sound as though you do.'
Gilbert took her hand in his and held it firmly.
'Of course I do, but – take care, here is Lord Henry, there's no time to talk more. I will find a moment after supper to speak again with you, I may have thought of some other way,' Gilbert said hurriedly as he rose and moved away. She was looking after him when Sir Piers spoke behind her.
'A touching farewell,' he murmured mockingly. 'Come, Lady Isabella sent me to fetch you, you are to sit with Lord Henry this evening at the high table.'
With a fixed smile on her face, and responding as briefly as she could to the remarks Sir Piers addressed to her, Eva endured a most uncomfortable meal. Obscurely afraid of insulting him before the household, for she had the liveliest suspicion he would take some drastic revenge if she did so, Eva was forced to accept the delicacies he offered her from his own platter, and listen to the discourse on the activities of the discontented barons.
At last the tables were cleared away and she was able to approach Gilbert where he stood in a dark corner of the hall.
'I'll go,' he muttered, and she smiled radiantly at him, all there was time for before Joan came up to speak to them. She was anxious to give Eva a last message to take to her own family, whose manor house they would pass on the second day of the journey.
*
A prey to mingled hope and apprehension Eva slept badly, falling into a heavy doze just before dawn. Awakened by the other girls she dressed in a warm gown in russet wool and added her last few possessions to the small bundle beside her bed. Then she carried it down to the hall and forced herself to eat bread and cheese. Sir Piers was already there and Marguerite gave an envious sigh as she caught sight of his tall elegant figure.
'We might meet at Court after all, if you please him enough to make him wish not to be parted from you, Eva,' she whispered.
Eva did not reply. She had caught sight of Gilbert walking through the main doorway from the courtyard with another man.
'I must say farewell to my cousin,' she heard herself say in what she hoped was a normal voice and crossed the hall towards Gilbert. He saw her coming, left his companion and came to meet her.
'You were leaving early,' she accused in a low furious voice.
'Eva, there is no time to explain. Lord Henry is taking me with him to Windsor tomorrow. It is a great opportunity. I might come to the King's notice. I have sent a man I can trust to your father with a message, saying my hopes of advancement are now much greater. I explained we loved one another and begged him to postpone the marriage until I could talk with him. You can persuade him to agree, give me a week only.'
That was all. He moved away and Eva stood motionless. Her father would never agree, of that she was certain. If she were to avoid this detested marriage she would have no alternative but to seek sanctuary in the nunnery where her aunt was Abbess.
It was a preoccupied Eva who bade everyone farewell and mounted Fleet a short while later. She was busy planning how to escape from her escort. As well as Sir Piers two men would be accompanying them to give protection and lead the baggage horses.
Meadside Nunnery was situated a few miles upstream, on this side of the river. There was a good track leading to it direct from Holdfast, keeping to the higher ground, it was open and she could not hope to outdistance her companions. Down in the valley there were other tracks, near the river and hidden amongst the trees, often hard to find. If only she could shake off the men she would be able to make her way unseen through the woods where the undergrowth was thick even in February.
Gradually a plan evolved in her mind. Surreptitiously she loosened the clasp of the brooch which fastened her cloak. As they approached the river the noise of the water breaking over the rocks just below the ford could be distinguished above the rustling of the trees and the gusty wind. Eva urged Fleet into a trot and drew level with Sir Piers just as they came to the junction of several tracks.
He turned to look at her, a quizzical eyebrow raised, for she had spoken only briefly and when it was unavoidable that morning.
She smiled bleakly at him, then exclaimed in annoyance and leant forward suddenly as her small bundle slipped to the ground.
'Oh please, I must not damage it, I have a present in it for my father,' she explained and then gave a cry of exasperation as her cloak slipped off her shoulders and fell between her own mount and that of Sir Piers.
She had time to see only that one of the servants had dismounted to retrieve her bundle, and the other was hampered by having all the horses to hold before she had kicked Fleet into a gallop and headed down one of the side tracks. She rounded a sharp bend and guided the mare unerringly away from the track to send her plunging through the undergrowth. Very quickly they emerged onto a small, almost indistinguishable track which followed the bank of the river. Eva spared a grateful thought for the many summer afternoons last year when she and the others, wandering in the woods seeking for the wild plants and herbs Lady Isabella needed for her medicines, had become familiar with the maze of narrow paths.
Behind her she could hear the sounds of pursuit, but she thought it unlikely Sir Piers, a stranger to the district, would be able to see where she had come. She pushed Fleet into a gallop again nonetheless, for she was terrified of what he would do should she fail to reach the sanctuary of the nunnery in time.
Too late she saw that the path in front, bordering the river, had been washed away at the edges by the rain of the previous day. Fleet swerved and stumbled, sliding onto her knees, Eva lost her grip on the reins, and felt the shock of icy water taking away her breath as she hit the water and it closed over her head.
*