The Prince of Darkness by Jean Plaidy Page B

understand.’
    Too young! This was absurd. She was not too young for anything. She knew a great deal. She listened; she asked questions; she trapped people into admissions. She knew aboutthe maids who went out into the shrubbery when it was dusk to meet the menservants. She had hidden herself and been at first greatly astonished by their activities and although she had seen them repeated many times she always liked to watch. This excited her more than anything she knew. So she was certainly not too young to know why she had to be particularly attractive to the Lusignans.
    ‘Is it something to do with my betrothal?’ she asked slyly.
    Her mother stared in astonishment. ‘How could you know?’
    ‘Because you said I was too young to understand. When one is considered too young it is usually something to do with men and women together.’
    The child was astonishing, thought her mother.
    ‘What do you know of such things?’ she demanded.
    ‘Not as much as I should like to, I fear.’
    ‘It is nothing to be fearful about. Such knowledge will come in due course. When you have a husband you will know what is good for you to know.’
    ‘Am I to have a husband then? Who is it? Hugh de Lusignan?’
    The Countess hesitated. Then she said: ‘Yes. You have guessed aright.’
    Isabella clasped her hands together and said: ‘I like him.’
    ‘Then that is well.’
    ‘He is a beautiful man,’ cried Isabella. ‘He looked up at the window when he was entering the castle and smiled at me. I think he liked me.’
    ‘Of course he liked you. Did you expect him not to?’
    ‘Of course not,’ said Isabella.
    ‘Now you will be dressed in a gown I shall choose for you and I shall take you down to the hall and present you to Hugh.’
    ‘Will he take me away with him now?’ she asked.
    ‘Certainly not, my dear child. He will meet you and if he likes what he sees there will be a betrothal.’
    ‘And if I do not like what I see?’
    ‘You have already said you like him.’
    ‘But if I had not?’
    ‘Girls in your position must marry where their family wishes them to.’
    ‘So you wish me to marry Hugh?’
    ‘It will be good for our families if you do.’
    ‘Is that why Hugh wants it?’
    ‘He will only want it if you are charming to him and he thinks you beautiful.’
    ‘I will be charming and he will think me beautiful because everybody does.’
    ‘This betrothal will please your father. It is very important that there is friendship between our families.’
    ‘So I shall be a wife now.’
    She was thinking of the servants in the shrubbery and she thought: I shall know now. Her observations had taught her that it was not only servants who behaved in such a manner. Her turn would come and something told her that she was going to find the exercise highly diverting and every bit as enjoyable as they clearly did. She couldn’t wait to indulge in such pleasures.
    ‘My dear child, it will not be for a year or two yet.’
    ‘Not for a year or two! Why should I wait?’
    ‘Because you are but a child.’
    ‘Bess the kitchen girl is but a few months older than I …’
    ‘What are you saying? Bess. Kitchen girl! My dear Isabella, you are not giving me your serious attention.’
    But she was of course and she was very disappointed that she must wait for her marriage.
    Now she set about the task of charming Hugh. He was tall and looked very strong. He was wonderful. He was very handsome and was, her mother had told her, a great soldier. He thought she was beautiful; she saw that at once by the way in which he kept looking at her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and she smiled up at him.
    He said, ‘Your daughter is indeed a beauty, Count. Would to God she were but three years older.’
    She wanted to shout: I am as wise as others who are three years older. I am not a child … except in years. I know about marriage and I don’t want to wait for it. Forget I am not yet twelve years old.
    But even she dared not say that,