here, away from everything. I need this time to pray and purge myself of him.”
She had said “one of the reasons,” Frevisse noted but did not ask the others, only offered, “Do you want I should leave to your prayers now?”
Lady Anneys looked uneasily the way Master Selenger had gone.
‘I’ll see that he’s left or that it’s understood he’s to go before I do anything else,“ Frevisse said. Under St. Benedict’s Rule, the priory was required to receive such guests as God might send them. That did not mean they had to put up with those who spoiled their own welcome by making trouble.
‘Yes,“ Lady Anneys said. ”Yes. Thank you. If I know he’s gone… yes, I’d like to pray for a while. But…“ She hesitated, then asked, ”No questions? No wanting to know anything else?“
‘I may want to know,“ Frevisse said in all honesty, ”but I don’t think you want to tell me.“
That surprised a half-unwilling laugh from Lady Anneys. “I don’t, no. Thank you.”
‘But if sometime you do, I’ll listen. And still not ask questions if you don’t want them.“
Lady Anneys regarded her in searching silence for a moment, then slightly bowed her head in thanks again. “If the time comes, I’ll remember.” She drew back a step, looking toward the altar. “For now, though, I think prayer will suffice. By your leave, my lady.”
Chapter 6
The bright, late summer days had turned from warm to hot, and Tom, Hugh, and Miles were lingering in the shadowy hall after midday dinner, none of them in haste to be about their afternoon work. Hugh had spent the early morning riding out to exercise the dogs while the day was still somewhat cool and then he and Degory had rather uselessly worked with Skyre, who was seeming less and less likely to ever be a usable scent-hound after all. In the alarm after Sir Ralph was found, no one had remembered her save Degory, and when they carried Sir Ralph’s body back to the manor, he had stayed behind, searched for her, found her, “Cowering under a bush close by where
he
was,” he told Hugh when he went to ask his help.
‘She maybe saw it or something. It’s like she’s witless. I’ve brought her in. She won’t stop shaking.“ Nor did she until Hugh had wrapped her in a blanket, tightly swaddling her almost the way a nurse would do a howling baby to quiet it. But Skyre had not howled, only trembled, and even now still trembled and cringed at any sudden noise or movement. Still, she had been too promising a hound to let go without he tried to save her, but it had made for a discouraging morning and because he had nothing particularly planned for this afternoon, he was simply sitting on the dais step with Baude between his knees, stroking a brush down her back and sides not so much because she needed the grooming as for the pleasure it gave them both.
Tom, with seemingly no more ambition toward the rest of the day than Hugh had, was leaned back in his chair behind the table, legs stretched out in front of him, his eyes shut although—if anyone had asked him—he would have said he was not sleeping, only not ready to move. He had spent the morning walking the fields with Lucas, the reeve, overseeing the start of the barley harvest, and once he bestirred himself he’d be out again all the afternoon.
Miles had his head down on his crossed arms on the table, and under the table Bevis was stretched out with his chin resting on Miles’ foot. When Hugh had laughingly goaded him at first about the hound’s unwanted devotion, Miles had grumbled, “Can’t you kennel him with the rest of the hounds?”
‘He’s too used to being with Sir Ralph. I doubt he’d do anything but make trouble if put with the other hounds.“
‘Instead, he’s making trouble for
me,“
Miles had muttered. But lately, except when he remembered to complain, he had begun to seem as content in Bevis’ company as the hound was in
She had said “one of the reasons,” Frevisse noted but did not ask the others, only offered, “Do you want I should leave to your prayers now?”
Lady Anneys looked uneasily the way Master Selenger had gone.
‘I’ll see that he’s left or that it’s understood he’s to go before I do anything else,“ Frevisse said. Under St. Benedict’s Rule, the priory was required to receive such guests as God might send them. That did not mean they had to put up with those who spoiled their own welcome by making trouble.
‘Yes,“ Lady Anneys said. ”Yes. Thank you. If I know he’s gone… yes, I’d like to pray for a while. But…“ She hesitated, then asked, ”No questions? No wanting to know anything else?“
‘I may want to know,“ Frevisse said in all honesty, ”but I don’t think you want to tell me.“
That surprised a half-unwilling laugh from Lady Anneys. “I don’t, no. Thank you.”
‘But if sometime you do, I’ll listen. And still not ask questions if you don’t want them.“
Lady Anneys regarded her in searching silence for a moment, then slightly bowed her head in thanks again. “If the time comes, I’ll remember.” She drew back a step, looking toward the altar. “For now, though, I think prayer will suffice. By your leave, my lady.”
Chapter 6
The bright, late summer days had turned from warm to hot, and Tom, Hugh, and Miles were lingering in the shadowy hall after midday dinner, none of them in haste to be about their afternoon work. Hugh had spent the early morning riding out to exercise the dogs while the day was still somewhat cool and then he and Degory had rather uselessly worked with Skyre, who was seeming less and less likely to ever be a usable scent-hound after all. In the alarm after Sir Ralph was found, no one had remembered her save Degory, and when they carried Sir Ralph’s body back to the manor, he had stayed behind, searched for her, found her, “Cowering under a bush close by where
he
was,” he told Hugh when he went to ask his help.
‘She maybe saw it or something. It’s like she’s witless. I’ve brought her in. She won’t stop shaking.“ Nor did she until Hugh had wrapped her in a blanket, tightly swaddling her almost the way a nurse would do a howling baby to quiet it. But Skyre had not howled, only trembled, and even now still trembled and cringed at any sudden noise or movement. Still, she had been too promising a hound to let go without he tried to save her, but it had made for a discouraging morning and because he had nothing particularly planned for this afternoon, he was simply sitting on the dais step with Baude between his knees, stroking a brush down her back and sides not so much because she needed the grooming as for the pleasure it gave them both.
Tom, with seemingly no more ambition toward the rest of the day than Hugh had, was leaned back in his chair behind the table, legs stretched out in front of him, his eyes shut although—if anyone had asked him—he would have said he was not sleeping, only not ready to move. He had spent the morning walking the fields with Lucas, the reeve, overseeing the start of the barley harvest, and once he bestirred himself he’d be out again all the afternoon.
Miles had his head down on his crossed arms on the table, and under the table Bevis was stretched out with his chin resting on Miles’ foot. When Hugh had laughingly goaded him at first about the hound’s unwanted devotion, Miles had grumbled, “Can’t you kennel him with the rest of the hounds?”
‘He’s too used to being with Sir Ralph. I doubt he’d do anything but make trouble if put with the other hounds.“
‘Instead, he’s making trouble for
me,“
Miles had muttered. But lately, except when he remembered to complain, he had begun to seem as content in Bevis’ company as the hound was in
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