Whiter than the Lily by Alys Clare Page B

‘Galiena was someone who was perceived differently by men and by women, so that your experience of her was necessarily other than Sister Tiphaine’s and mine.’ It was, she thought, a mild enough comment, in view of the fact that she definitely leaned more towards agreeing with Sister Tiphaine than with Josse. Although it distressed her to think ill of one so recently and so agonisingly dead, her honesty made her accept that she, too, had not warmed to Galiena.
    Josse clearly was still not happy. ‘But you must agree that she was a good wife and clearly devoted to Ambrose, even though he was so much older than she was!’ he protested.
    ‘I had not the advantage of observing them together,’ Helewise said. ‘Ambrose Ryemarsh arrived only late this morning and at that time Galiena was—’ Oh, dear! This was going to be awkward, given that Josse was already seeing mysteries and puzzles where there were none! ‘At that time we did not actually know where Galiena was.’
    ‘She had gone missing.’ Josse was nodding infuriatingly, as if to say, there! I told you there was something odd about all this!
    ‘Not missing exactly,’ Helewise protested. ‘She hadset her heart on returning home this morning, only one of the remedies that Sister Tiphaine was preparing for her was not ready.’ The herbalist nodded in confirmation. ‘Galiena went for a walk in the forest,’ Helewise finished.
    ‘The girl was angry,’ Sister Tiphaine said. ‘She wanted to leave, just as you said, my lady, and she was right put out when I told her she couldn’t, not unless she was prepared to risk spoiling the second remedy. She only agreed to wait – and it was a grudging agreement, let me tell you – when I said that some of the mixture’s potency would be lost if it were to be disturbed too soon.’
    ‘So she went off for a walk to fill in the time,’ Helewise concluded. ‘Quite natural, would you not say, Sir Josse?’
    ‘Aye, I might,’ he agreed. ‘Except that, from what you say, Galiena was planning to hurry back home even as her husband was travelling over here to join her! How do we explain that?’
    Helewise frowned. ‘You are quite right, Sir Josse,’ she said reluctantly. ‘I have wondered all along why Galiena did not warn us that Ambrose would be joining her. What possible reason can she have had for her reticence?’
    ‘He’s an old man, feeble, all but blind, prone to wandering in his mind,’ the herbalist said. ‘Or so I hear. Maybe the young lady wished to return home before he set out so as to save him the stress of the journey.’
    ‘That seems likely, and—’ Helewise began.
    But Josse interrupted. ‘I am sorry, my lady, but I do not understand this talk of Ambrose as a doddering dotard!’ he exclaimed. ‘He’s old, aye, and doesn’t see too well, I grant you that, but there’s nothing wrong with his mind and I would say that he is stronger than many men considerably younger than himself. To say that Galiena wished to spare him the journey here cannot be right! Why, when I last saw him, he was eagerly anticipating it and it was only that he had matters at home to attend to that prevented him riding out with Galiena.’
    ‘Oh,’ Helewise said lamely. Then, recovering: ‘Sir Josse, it may be that some new ailment has arisen in Ambrose since you last met, for it is certain that now he lies in the infirmary, weak in body and also, I fear, in mind.’
    ‘He has just lost his wife!’ Josse protested hotly.
    ‘Yes, I know, and I am more sorry for it than I can say, but he was failing before that.’ Trying to find a way to convince him, she said, ‘I was with him in the infirmary even as Galiena collapsed. He was vague, disorientated and, I thought, not really able to discern dreaming from wakefulness. Galiena had visited him earlier,’ she added, almost as an afterthought. ‘Or so he claimed. It was apparently while the nuns were at Vespers, leaving the lay sisters in charge. He said that