Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

she drank. Then at last, stifling the nausea that had returned as soon as the soup was finished, she looked up and forced a smile.

"I'm glad to see you again, Megan. "

"Well, that's as may be. " The older woman stood erect before the fire. Then suddenly she seemed to make up her mind to speak. She went to crouch beside Matilda's chair, her voice lowered.

"I've come to tell you not to go to Abergavenny again, my lady. That's all I can be saying about it. Don't go there. "

Matilda shivered. "I don't want to, Megan, believe me. But if my husband says we must... "

To her amazement Megan rose and turned away to spit viciously into the hot embers.

"If your husband says he must, Lady Matilda, well and good. Let him go. But not you. "

"Why, Megan?" Matilda glanced sideways at her, suddenly suspicious, as the other woman's pleasant, round face became stony and defiant.

"Maybe I know a good reason, maybe I don't, " she announced. "Just remember, I'm telling you. Now I must away back to my people before they find I'm gone. " She rose to leave but Matilda was too quick for her. Forgetting her sickness, she jumped up and grabbed Megan's wrist.

"I forbid you to go yet. Tell me what you know. "

Megan glanced half fearfully over her shoulder. "Indeed I won't, for I shall say nothing, my lady. I've already said too much. I should not have come to you indeed. " She wrenched

her arm free of Matilda's grasp and fled through the door, her leather shoes pattering down the broad stairs.

Matilda moved to follow her, then she stopped and went back to her chair with a shrug. If the woman refused to say anything, there was no more to be done. She stood for a moment, thinking. Megan had braved a great deal perhaps to come and warn her, for the sake of their day of friendship so many years before. She put her hand to her aching back, then bent to pick up her fallen cloak from the rushes and warily wrapped it around her. William had to be warned, of course. She picked up the silver handbell by her chair and rang it for Elen. He must be told without delay. She breathed a fervent prayer that Megan, if she still wanted to guard her silence, had already left the castle. She didn't like to think of Megan, however stubborn, being subjected to the full brunt of William's anger in one of the dungeons below the keep if she refused to tell him the source of her information.

William's men, however, when they fanned out in their exhaustive search of the castle, found no trace of Megan, nor had anyone been able to think how she had come to be there. She was not known by anyone at Monmouth, nor had anyone seen her come or go, save the trembling girl who had willingly given up to her the chore of carrying up the hot soup.

"I've already sent messengers to Abergavenny, " William announced, stamping into Matilda's chamber an hour later. "You and I will ride on as far as Dingestow to see how Ranulf Poer fares with the rebuilding of the fabric of the castle there. It may be that I shall wait there with him till the building season is over. You can ride on to Hay. " He rubbed his hands ruefully. "Winter is coming early this year. There won't be many more weeks before the snows arrive if it goes on like this. What ails you, Moll?" He suddenly rounded on her irritably. "Has this wretched woman upset you?" He seemed to have noticed for the first time her pinched pale face and stooping back.

She forced a smile. "No, William, it's not that. I'm afraid I'm breeding again. I'm feeling sick with it, that's all. "

He looked relieved. Not wanting to believe that Megan's warning might have any substance himself, he had resented the thought that Matilda might be frightened by it. "The ride'll soon perk you up! I was afraid for a moment you were ill, " he said gruffly, and he rested his hand awkwardly for a moment on her shoulder. From time to time there were moments almost of tenderness between them now. "It'll be good to have another baby to keep you occupied, eh?" He gave a gruff laugh. "Now, the horses are waiting. This business with the Welshwoman has delayed us long enough. Let's ride. " He swung on his heel and, slowly, clutching her cloak around her, she followed him down the stairs.

The extensive alterations on the remains of the old castle of Dingestow were nearly completed. As they rode along the newly cleared track toward it at the head of their troop of horsemen, Matilda saw the low curtain walls swarming with men. Obviously Poer was trying to finish the outer defenses before the weather put a stop to the season's building. A thin film of ice turned the moat a milky blue beneath the frosted sky as they clattered across the bridge, which was still supported by a framework of scaffolding.

Ranulf Poer was seated by a blazing fire in the echoing keep, the plans for the castle spread before him on the table. He pulled himself painfully to his feet at their approach, his foxlike features sharper and more prominent than ever, his hair snow-white. He greeted them distantly, his mind obviously still half on the plans before him.

"We haven't long to finish the walls, " he commented, showing William the outline on one of the pieces of parchment. "The Welsh are restless. I don't like it. We've had reports that trouble is coming. I'll be glad to have your men here while we finish. I can spare very few of mine for guard duty. " He glanced almost distastefully at Matilda. "Is your wife staying here?"

"Thank you, no, " she replied, stiffly, conscious of all her old dislike