The door snapped shut and Eva heard the click of the latch. How dare he accuse her of such infamous conduct, she fumed to herself. Gilbert had never done more than kiss her, but Sir Piers clearly assumed they were lovers. She was tempted to run after him and demand he retract his accusation, then she realised that if he did believe her she would not have the respite his suspicions had granted her.
That gave her pause, and she wondered how she might turn it to her advantage. Could she pretend she was with child, at least for a short while until she could devise some way out of the trap she was in? It suddenly occurred to her most men would cast off a bride they suspected of such behaviour. Why should Sir Piers compel her to this marriage in the face both of her opposition to it and his own suspicions?
The puzzle was too much for her and she eventually fell asleep, but awoke several times during the long night, tossing and restless.
Soon after dawn there was a knock on the door.
'Who is it?' Eva demanded suspiciously, although she did not think Sir Piers would have troubled to knock.
'Gerda, my lady,' a strange voice replied, and Eva told the woman to enter.
She carried a tankard of ale and a platter of cheese.
'Good morning, my lady,' she said briskly. 'Sir Piers told me to look after you. I was his mother's maid until she died a few years since, God rest her soul. He's ridden out to look at some trees they're felling, and bade me tell you he'll return in an hour.'
Eva nodded, and Gerda busied herself folding the clothes Eva had brought with her and laying them in the huge chests which were placed near the windows. She was a woman of forty, Eva guessed, but still strong and active. Indeed, her arms were almost muscular, and she did not look a typical maid, able to launder fine clothes and mend them neatly. She would have been more suited to field work with her sturdy figure. Her hair was a deep brown, hardly touched with grey where it showed beneath the wide linen band and barbette she wore. Though her face was lined the skin looked healthy and was firm.
When Eva had broken her fast Gerda helped her to dress, selecting a creamy yellow surcoat of fine wool and a dark brown undertunic with tight-fitting sleeves. Eva told herself she did not care how she looked, but would submit to the woman's ministrations, permitting her to order her clothes if that was what she seemed to expect. What could it matter whether she looked attractive?
However calmly Eva tried to feel, when she made her way from the solar to the hall she could not suppress a faint stirring of interest to see the rest of the house.
The hall, which she recalled only dimly from the previous day, was wide and lofty. There were huge fireplaces on both sides and screens at either end, one in front of the doorway and the other by the kitchen entrance. Gerda led the way to the latter, assuming the new mistress of the house would be most interested in seeing them first. Inside a bright clean room Eva discovered several maids at work. They greeted her with smiles and bobs, and she smiled back shyly. Gerda took her down a narrow spiral staircase to inspect the storerooms beneath and then Eva scrambled up a ladder to the room above the kitchen where the maids slept. The menservants, Gerda said, occupied a similar room beside the storerooms.
'Would you care to see the gardens, my lady?' Gerda asked as she led the way back to the hall. 'The weather is more springlike today.'
'Are they large?' Eva asked, feeling it necessary to reply.
'Middling. The orchard is famous, fine apples and pears we have and make good strong cider and perry. But the herb garden was my late mistress's pride. This way, my lady,' Gerda said and went through the hall and out of the front door. A flight of shallow steps led down to the path in front of the house, and Gerda turned left to pass the kitchens and on into a peaceful, enclosed garden laid out in small beds where even at this season of the year Eva could tell that there were many different types of plants.
'Are you skilled in herbs, may I ask, my lady?' Gerda asked hopefully.
'I know something about their properties,' Eva told her, 'but I have had little to do with the growing of them. Who cares for the garden now? It is very well tended, that is clear.'
'Edgar, my brother. He'd be so pleased if you were to take an interest, my lady. It's been strange having no mistress these last few years, especially when Sir Piers has been away so much. We were all so pleased when Sir Piers sent to say he had chosen a wife. Perhaps he'll stay here himself more now. The orchard is behind the house. There is a gate in the hedge here, my lady.'
'Where has he been?' Eva asked curiously. She knew so little about her husband, she realised, apart from the fact he was a friend of Richard of Cornwall.
'In France and other foreign parts,' Gerda replied disgustedly. 'I don't see why men need to leave their homes, but Lord Richard sets a great store by Sir Piers, we hear, and depends on him. Especially since he became King of the Romans. Why they have to go looking for a king beats me. Why can't they choose one of their own men, instead of taking a good man like Lord Richard away from England.'
'Has Lord Richard ever been here?' Eva asked, curious about this brother of the King who had won a crown for himself, and seemed to regard her husband so highly.
'Once or twice, just for a night when he has been on his way to his own manors. This tree, my lady, is said to be near a hundred years old. A seedling in the days of the first King Henry, Edgar says, he had it from our grandfather who heard it from his grandsire. But it bears no fruit now. Granfort Manor will be a happy place, my lady, when we have children here again.'
Eva turned swiftly away to hide her confusion. Would they all be watching her, gossiping, measuring her waist in anticipation of the heirs she would bring? Not if she could help it, she vowed silently to herself, and felt a sudden rush of misery as the recollection of her predicament came back in full force. She had managed to forget for a little while as they walked round the gardens.
'Look, my lady, a sign of spring,'
Gerda said suddenly, stooping down and pointing to a pale yellow flower hiding under a hedge which surrounded the orchard. 'Summer will soon be here. And here is Sir Piers.'
*
Eva looked up apprehensively. How would he treat her, and how should she behave towards him? Offended, or behaving as though his monstrous suspicions of the previous night mattered nothing?
Sir Piers was coming from the direction of the stable yard. He smiled as Eva looked at him, and nodded to Gerda, who was moving away.
'Thank you, Gerda, I will keep my wife company now. Well, my love, what do you think of your home?'
'Never my home,' Eva corrected quietly. 'It is a lovely house and your servants do well by you, considering you have been away for so much of the time.'
'They will appreciate having a mistress take an interest in them,' he replied, ignoring her first comment.
He led her to the stables and showed her a small lively mare, black with one white sock.
'Dusky Rose, I named her. She is yours, but you must never ride out alone, there are too many lawless folk about.'
'She is lovely, but I would prefer you did not give me gifts,' Eva said stiffly. 'I am perforce here, but against my will. If I am constrained to remain here I expect my own mare, Fleet, will be sent to me as soon as she is recovered and fit to travel.'
'You may have Fleet as well, naturally,' he replied imperturbably, and Eva ground her teeth together at his bland refusal to respond to her challenges.
After a brief tour of the rest of the gardens they returned to the house and Sir Piers led the way into the solar where he took two delicate glass goblets from a large, ornately carved aumbrey and poured wine into them. He handed one to Eva.
'It is time for us to talk, my dear.'
She sipped the wine and stared at him over the rim of the goblet.
'I shall welcome it,' she replied quietly. 'We have talked too little, I have been constrained to listen and my views have been totally ignored while I have been forced to obey the commands of others. What have you to say?'
To her fury he was smiling broadly at this speech, and shaking his head slowly.
'If I listen to your views it does not follow I do as you wish,' he said softly. 'I have made my position plain. If you wish to persuade me into a certain course of action you will have to behave very differently. I think you know what I mean.'
Eva threw up her head and stared back at him. He should not be allowed to discompose her by such hints.
'I scorn to offer my body to men simply to win my own way,' she declared haughtily.
'Not to men in general,' he said softly. 'I shall take good care of that, which brings me to what I have to say.'
'What you have to say?' she demanded scornfully. 'You mean to give me orders, I think, despite your pretence of talk.'
'There are certain matters in which you will obey me, to be sure,' he agreed. 'As I said last night, I mean to be certain your sons are also mine. Therefore I do not propose to share your bed yet awhile, until I can be sure.'
'You are insufferable!' Eva burst out. 'Do you intend to keep me a prisoner merely to satisfy your lusts, as the infidels do in the Holy Land?'
'Oh no, not like they do,' he replied with a laugh. 'They have several wives and I am content with one.'
'And your mistresses, no doubt!'
He raised his eyebrows, and Eva shivered, but she held his gaze and would not drop her own.
'What do you know of my mistresses?' he asked coldly.
'I know only of one, in whose bed you sport even when I am in the next room,' Eva said furiously. 'I have no doubt you have others as well as Blanche. Does she know them? Would she tell me if I asked her?'
'That is something you will not do, however. Lady Blanche is coming here to keep you company in a few days, and you will treat her with every respect due to an honoured guest.'
'No! I will not be forced to receive a whore! You may – oh!' Eva cried and put her hand to her cheek where he had slapped her.
It had been a sharp though not painful slap, but Eva had never before been subjected to such chastisement, and she glared at him in speechless fury.
'That is but a taste of the treatment I will accord you if you dare refer to the Lady Blanche in such a manner again,' Sir Piers said in a cold even voice which was more terrifying to Eva than any display of hot anger would have been.
She took a deep breath.
'You insist this is now my home, that I am perforce your wife,' she said in as steady a voice as she could manage. 'I demand therefore to be treated with respect equal to what you demand for – that woman,' she finished hastily, changing her words as she saw the gleam of warning in his eyes.
'Just as you will show honour to my guests,' he said quietly.
'Am I not to be consulted before you impose unwanted guests on me?' Eva demanded.
'I have to go away soon for a few days and I do not wish you should be lonely,' he replied.
'Away? Where do you go?' Eva asked, a spurt of hope causing her eyes to shine with excitement. She might be able to escape while he was gone, particularly as she had a horse once more. She would go to find Gilbert, she resolved, and with difficulty dragged back her attention to what Sir Piers was saying.
'Lord Richard wishes to see me. He has been in London and there has been trouble. Simon de Montfort and Richard de Clare almost came to blows. The Candlemas Parliament solved little as far as the rebel barons are concerned, and Lord Richard is worried. He will be in Gloucestershire and I am to visit him there, but I expect to be gone a short time only. Lord Henry will be there too,' he added, and Eva looked up at him and frowned.
'Lord Henry?' she said as calmly as she could. 'I thought he intended to go to Windsor.
'He did, but word came just before we left Holdfast, and he will be in Gloucestershire. No doubt Gilbert will travel with him, so I advise you to abandon the notion of fleeing to Holdfast. You would not, in any event, find it possible to leave Granfort.'
*
Eva deigned to make no reply to this provocative speech. She resolved suddenly that meekness would serve her better than her angry rebellion, and there was little chance, after what he had said, that Sir Piers would unexpectedly change his mind and seek to share her bed. Especially if Blanche were here.
And why, Eva asked herself in exasperation, should she object to the woman's presence? It was not jealousy, and she did not care what others thought of the odd situation. She had no pride of position to maintain. Indeed, her husband's callous behaviour might aid her when it became necessary to confront her father again with the problem and appeal for his aid in annulling the marriage.
She listened dutifully to whatever Sir Piers said to her, even bearing a part in the conversation, for he had travelled a great deal with Lord Richard, and his descriptions of life in other countries provided Eva with an unexpected interest, even a desire to see for herself the strange sights he described so vividly.
'How delightful to be warm all the time,' she commented, recalling with a shiver the cold of the winter, especially her own fall into the river and the cold walk she had endured when she had thought she had escaped from Lady Blanche's manor.
The thought made her frown.
'Who is Blanche?' she asked suddenly.
'Her husband was Sir Hugh of Dawtrey, he died before Roger was born,' Sir Piers replied quietly. 'Hugh was my best friend, we were pages together. I promised him I would care for his children.'
Eva looked at him and saw a smile playing round the corners of his mouth. And his wife, she added silently. But if true it could explain why Sir Piers had been so welcome, and the boys had called him uncle. His concern for their future was also explained, but then Eva recalled the sounds she had heard through the thin wall, and pursed her lips. However much he denied it she could not believe Blanche was not his mistress. And the elder boy looked so like him, was it a chance resemblance of colouring only?
The next two days passed peacefully, and Eva rode out on Dusky Rose, accompanied by her husband, who was ever attentive in public, to see the land he owned. It was extensive, too far for one day's ride, he said solicitously, and he did not take her in the direction of her old home at Rudge Manor. He does not wish me to meet Father and complain to him, Eva thought cynically.
Her nights were undisturbed. She assumed Sir Piers occupied one of the small guest rooms, where she had herself been housed on her first night in Granfort, but he did not come near her after wishing her goodnight, and she slept in lonely grandeur behind the curtains of the large bed.
She did not think Gerda was aware of the true situation, for the woman treated her with a friendly respect and made no sly comments to indicate she knew her master slept apart from his new wife.
Eva began to be suspicious, however, for Gerda was always present. She hovered in attendance whenever Eva went into the gardens. When Sir Piers went out, as he explained he had to do after such long absences, seeing to matters which needed his attention, Gerda stationed herself in the hall ready to follow Eva when she emerged from the solar.
Once, when she knew that Sir Piers had ridden to visit a distant part of his land, she went to the stables and ordered the groom she found there to saddle Dusky Rose, saying that she wished to ride out for a while.
The man nodded and went away, but when he led out the mare he also brought another powerful horse which it was clear he proposed to ride himself.
'I need not take you away from your work,' Eva said as pleasantly as she could.
'The master said I was always to attend you if you rode out, my lady. There are some wicked ruffians about these days,' the man replied, and Eva bit back the angry retort on the tip of her tongue. The man was only obeying orders, but she was convinced her husband had set his servants to spy on her.
*
She confronted him with her suspicions that evening after supper, when they had retired to the solar and he was pouring her a goblet of wine.
'Am I never to be permitted to be alone?' she demanded. 'Gerda, and the groom, and no doubt all the other servants are told to spy on my movements!'
'What else can I do?' Sir Piers asked lightly. 'You make no secret of your detestation for me, and from your behaviour before we married I have no doubt you would cuckold me if you were given the least opportunity.'
'How dare you!' Eva was trembling with fury at his continued unjust accusations of her lack of virtue. To her horror she felt tears pricking the backs of her eyelids, and she blinked rapidly.
'I protect my own, my love,' he said quietly, but Eva recognised the steel in his voice and began to despair of ever being able to free herself from this intolerable situation.
'I do not like being watched all the time!' she exclaimed.
'You have the nights to yourself,' he reminded her. 'Do you complain of that?'
'That is the only bearable part of the entire business!' Eva declared petulantly.
His expression hardened. 'Make the most of your freedom, my lady,' he said in a harsh voice. 'Be warned, I shall expect you to perform all your duties soon. I bid you goodnight.'
Eva stared after him as he left the room. She could not understand him. Normally he treated her outbursts with calm amused detachment, unless she provoked him too far as she had done when she had mentioned Blanche. Then he had demonstrated he could show anger. Yet his reaction to her latest complaints had been bitter rather than angry. She realised she knew very little about him.
'And that little is too much,' she said hurriedly to herself.
'I beg your pardon, my lady? Sir Piers said I might come to help you disrobe.'
'Gerda. I am sorry, I was talking to myself, I did not hear you knock. Yes, come in, I am weary.'
Unbearably weary, she thought as Gerda brushed her hair and braided it for the night. Weary of constantly warring with the man who was her husband, though only in name. Weary of the longing that possessed her to see Gilbert again, to be held in his arms once more, to feel the peace and safety she had once experienced there.
So lost was she in these recollections she did not realise Gerda had been chatting until she caught the hated name.
'Lady Blanche? What of her?' she asked sharply, and Gerda looked at her in surprise.
'Such a sweet lady, you will enjoy her company while Sir Piers is gone. Such a pity he has to leave you so soon, no wonder you are melancholy. And the little boys, so like their father.'
'Their father?' Eva exclaimed, and jerked her head so that the comb caught in her hair and she bit back a cry of pain.
'Sir Hugh was such a handsome man,' Gerda continued, and Eva decided that she did not entertain the same suspicion as herself with regards to the parentage of the two boys she had met at Blanche's manor.
*
Eventually Gerda had finished and Eva was left alone. Blanche was due to arrive the following afternoon, and Eva dreaded the intrusion. She and Sir Piers would laugh and talk together as they had done before in her home, and Eva would have the utmost difficulty in remaining calm, refraining from accusing Blanche directly of being her husband's paramour.
It was to fortify herself against the lovely Blanche that Eva took especial care with her dressing the following morning, choosing the watchet gown in which she had been married. To look her best would help her ignore any barbed remarks the woman might direct at her. With the same intention she pinned onto her gown the delicately wrought brooch Sir Piers had given her, and only her heightened colour when Sir Piers remarked he was happy she liked it enough to wear it betrayed her consciousness that it had been more than an accidental choice.
When Blanche and her two children arrived, however, it was much easier than Eva had expected. Blanche seemed determined to behave circumspectly, and barely spoke to Sir Piers, directing all her remarks, full of compliments, to Eva.
'I fear I must have behaved oddly when we first met,' she said at supper, seated between Sir Piers and Eva but speaking to the latter. 'It was such a surprise to me, you see, that Piers had chosen a wife and was so anxious to be wed. But I can see why, my dear, you are enchanting. Make him happy,' she added in a low voice which did not carry to the man on her other side, and Eva looked at her in puzzlement.
Blanche had turned away, however, and Eva could not see her expression. She pondered the woman's words, and began to doubt her earlier suspicions. Surely if Blanche were her husband's mistress she would not wish his wife to make him happy? Yet possibly she thought such apparent friendliness would divert attention from her own activities, if they were in any way dubious.
Apart from her lingering doubts about her guests, Eva found herself enjoying playing hostess. Blanche was so ready to be pleased with everything, and the little boys were so full of innocent lively mischief that for the first time since entering the house Eva began to experience a feeling of pride. Even her husband bestowed compliments on her, and smiled at her in a friendlier fashion than he had previously used. If only she was Gilbert's wife and hostess to his friends, how happy she would be.
Sir Piers planned to ride out early the next morning, and he followed Eva into the solar when Blanche had retreated to her own room, to leave with her some instructions he wanted her to pass on to the servants. Then, in his usual manner, he bade her a good night and abruptly left the room.
In some way Eva was disappointed. She had half expected to be praised for her behaviour, which had been impeccable, but he did not seem even to have noticed it. She shrugged and responded briefly to Gerda when the maid came to prepare her for bed, saying she was tired and anxious only to sleep. Gerda smiled to herself and finished as quickly as she could.
Eva lay in the big bed, restless, and despite her resolve to drive all thoughts of Sir Piers and Blanche from her mind, listening intently for any sounds that might betray whether they were together.
The house was silent, however, and gradually Eva became drowsy. She was on the very edge of sleep when a sudden scream of terror caused her to sit up in bed. The scream came again and Eva scrambled out of bed, dragged on a tunic, then pulled open the door into the hall.
The dogs who slept there were growling, deep menacing sounds in their throats, and above their noise another scream rent the air. A fire still glowed in one huge fireplace, and as Eva became accustomed to the faint illumination it provided she distinguished a small figure crouched against the large chair where Sir Piers normally sat. As she started forwards the figure rose to its feet and the dogs growled again. She could see now it was Roger, and as she spoke to calm the dogs he leapt forwards and hurled his trembling body into her arms.
'It's all right, Roger,' she soothed the terrified child. 'I'm here, the dogs are friendly. They won't hurt you. They were surprised, that's all, because they don't know you very well.'
Roger was clutching her as though he would never let her go, and his sobs and trembling did not lessen. Eva turned towards the room he shared with his brother, a small room which led out of the back of the hall and was next to the one Blanche had been given. She wondered that no one else had been woken by the screams, and then the door of Blanche's room opened.
Sir Piers emerged and halted as he saw Eva with the child in her arms. He was wrapped in a cloak which he held tightly about him, and Blanche herself appeared behind him, her golden hair unbound and rumpled, and wearing a loose blue robe different from the one she had worn earlier in the evening.
Roger stopped howling as he saw his mother and struggled down from Eva's arms. He ran forwards and Blanche knelt to clasp him to her as Sir Piers began to walk towards his wife. Eva cast him an angry contemptuous look and turned and ran to her room, thrusting home the bolt as she slammed the door. When he knocked gently on it she ignored him, and then heard his footsteps retreat and his voice enquiring if Roger was feeling better now.
All her suspicions returned in full force, and unaccountably Eva burst into anguished tears as she cast herself down on the bed.
*