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

touched her eyelids gently. "If two of our children can find love with one another, perhaps that will ease our own pain. At least William has agreed in principle to the idea. "

She nodded, unable to speak, clinging to him desperately.

"I have to go, " he said at last. Gently he tried to release himself from her arms.

"I know. " She clung to him even harder. "Oh, Richard, take care of yourself, my dear. " She reached up for a final kiss. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, then at last Richard straightened and firmly pushed her away.

"We will meet again. " He forced himself to smile. "Who knows, maybe at Mattie and Reginald's wedding, God willing!" He caught her hand and kissed it quickly, then he turned and swung out of the tall, vaulted chamber and disappeared, his spurs ringing on the stone of the staircase as he ran down toward the entrance to the keep. Behind him Matilda began to cry.

"That's enough!" Nick crossed the room in two strides. His eyes were blazing. "Wake her up. Quickly!"

Tears were pouring down Jo's face as she spoke, her words almost unintelligible through the violence of her sobs.

He sat down beside her, his arm around her shoulders. "Wake her up, man. She's had enough!"

Sam pushed himself away from the wall against which he had been leaning. "Don't interfere, Nick. Grief is all part of life's rich pattern. She sinned. She has to suffer. " His voice was heavy with irony. "Surely you of all people would agree with that. "

Nick glared at him and, as Bennet and his colleagues watched, the concern and anguish vanished from his face to be replaced by cold anger. "She is weeping for Richard de Clare!" he said through clenched teeth. "One of John's advisers and even his friend! Dear God! She mocks me, even now! Flaunting her love of the man and rejecting me. Me! As if I were no one. "

They stared in astonishment at the arrogant fury of his expression, so unlike anything that anyone who knew Nick had ever seen, and they saw the color run up his neck to suffuse his face.

Bennet stood up hastily. "Steady, my friend, " he said, laying his hand on Nick's arm. "Jo was mocking no one. Couldn't you see how she was being torn?"

Nick shook off the hand and dragged his eyes away from Jo's face, visibly struggling within himself, his jaws clenched as he stared at Bennet. He was looking straight through him as if he weren't there, oblivious of the presence of anyone else in the room. The sweat was standing out on his forehead.

Bennet glanced at Sam. "What is wrong with him?" he said sharply. "This man is possessed in some way!"

Sam shook his head. "As I told you, I suspect my brother has an incipient mood disorder, " he said quietly. "It is becoming less easy to hide—"

"Rubbish!" Bennet snapped. He clicked his fingers in front of Nick's face. "He is as much in a trance as Jo. He has been hypnotized—but not by me. I think this is a reversion of some kind. Has he been having hypnotherapy, do you know? Or trying regression himself?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Under the circumstances, would you be surprised if he had?"

"No. " Bennet looked up at him and pushed his glasses onto the top of his head. "I am merely concerned in case he has entrusted himself to someone who is less than competent. " The two men held one another's gaze for a long moment. It was Sam who looked away first.

"I am sure he wouldn't do that. " Sam did not bother to hide his amusement. "Why don't you ask him what he's been up to?" He turned to Nick. "Nicholas, you are making a fool of yourself, brother, " he said sharply. "Wake up! Look at all these keen scientific minds watching your performance!"

Nick glanced around. For a moment he looked bewildered. Then he gave a sheepish grin, the anger gone from his face. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I didn't know what I was saying—"

"That's all right, " Bennet said slowly. He was scrutinizing Nick closely. "You didn't say anything to worry about. Now, let's see what we can do for Jo, shall we? It is, after all, she we have come to discuss. " He glanced around at the others. "Does anyone want to question her further before I awaken her? No? Right, then. "

Jo stared around the room blankly for a moment as she regained her awareness of the present day. Her nose was swollen, her eyes streaming. Unobtrusively Sarah picked up a box of tissues and put them down on the sofa beside her. Jo grabbed one. "Sorry, " she said miserably. "It's so silly to be upset. I can't seem to stop crying. "

"I'll make coffee, " Sarah said softly. "For everyone. I think that should be the next priority before anyone asks any questions. "

"But I want to know, " Jo said. She blew her nose. "Did I speak real Welsh? Did you understand what I was saying?" She looked at Wendy.

Wendy nodded. "You spoke a version of real Middle Welsh. I don't think there is any possibility at all that you could have picked that up by accident, or without long and intensive study, so it would not have been cryptomnesia. Your pronunciation was fluent if unusual—I have no way of knowing if it was genuine, of course, but I suspect so. I am completely lost for an explanation as to how you could have done it. "

Bennet smiled. "You are still not content with my explanation, then?"

Wendy laughed. "I'm reserving judgment. A ydych chi'n fyn deall i? Pa rydw i'n dweud?" She turned back to Jo suddenly.

Jo shook her head and shrugged. "It's no use. It's gone. I don't understand anymore. " She put her hands to her head. "What did you say?"

"I only asked whether