Edward Marston - The Owls of Gloucester

‘You could make the same complaint about me.’

‘I do,’ she returned, ‘but you never hear it.’

‘I listen to everything you say, Golde.’

‘Eventually.’

‘Look at me now. I’m a captive audience.’

‘Only because you are too weary for anything else.’

‘Is that a challenge?’ he said, easing his leg over hers.

‘No, Ralph, merely an observation. Now take your rest and tell me what you have been doing all day.’

‘Being thoroughly bored in the shire hall.’

‘Gervase didn’t seem bored and he spent as much time there as you. He told me that it had been a stimulating session.’

‘Well, yes,’ conceded Ralph as he remembered the encounter with the lady Emma, ‘there were stimulating moments, it’s true, but it was largely dross. Only Gervase Bret can get inspired by the fine detail of a charter or by the tedium of debate.’

‘What about Canon Hubert?’

‘Golde!’ he protested. ‘I refuse to talk about Hubert at a time like this. He has no place whatsoever in the marital couch. If he did, there would not be room for either of us, I can assure you.

Leave him to his chaste mattress at the abbey. Tell me about your day. I am dying to hear about Aelgar and this new suitor of hers. Forne, is he called?’

‘Yes. And he does not possess an ounce of Welsh blood.’

‘Thank heaven for that!’

‘He and my sister seem very well matched.’

‘Like us, you mean?’

‘Nobody is like us, Ralph.’

‘No, we are quite unique.’

‘Unusual, that is all.’

‘We are a model for all young lovers.’

‘Hardly!’ she argued. ‘Who would emulate us? Let’s be honest here. We’re much more likely to excite curiosity than imitation.’

‘In what way?’

‘Not every woman in my position would consider marrying you.’

‘None of them would get the chance!’

‘I’m serious, Ralph. You belong in here, in the castle and all that it stands for, while I come from out there with the other citizens. A lot of people would say that I betrayed my nation when I became your wife. There was a time when my own sister might have believed that, and I know that Forne has grave doubts on the subject.’

He bridled. ‘What business is it of his!’

‘Forne is to be my brother-in-law.’

‘Then he will have to learn to respect you.’

‘He does, I am sure.’

‘So what are these grave doubts of his?’

‘He let slip a remark that put into words what I could already see in his face. He has severe qualms about us. It’s only natural.’

‘I can see that I will have to talk to this Forne.’

‘No, Ralph. Not in any spirit of anger.’

‘I’ll not have him criticising my wife!’

‘He was not doing that,’ she said, putting her face closer to his. ‘Why not let me tell you exactly what happened before you rush to judgement? That is what you do in the shire hall, isn’t it?

Hear all the evidence before deciding on your verdict. Do the same here. Pretend that you’re in the shire hall now, Ralph.’

‘I daren’t. I will fall asleep.’

‘Not with me beside you,’ she said, giving him a sharp dig in the ribs. His grunt of pain made her smile. ‘That’s better. Now, listen.’

Golde described her reunion with Aelgar and the subsequent visit to the house in the city. She tried to sing Forne’s praises but she was conscious of having to invent much of her enthusiasm. Ideal as a husband for her sister, she feared that he might not turn out to be a perfect brother-in-law. Golde knew that everything would depend on what he and Ralph felt about each other. At the end of her account, her husband was slightly more well-disposed towards Forne, but he was far from expressing outright approval. Ralph wanted to reserve his opinion until he actually met the young man.

‘Do you think they will be happy together?’ he asked.

‘Very happy.’

‘That is all that matters.’

‘I know,’ she said, stroking his arm. ‘Aelgar has chosen well.

And they are like us in one thing, if in nothing else.’

‘What is that?’

‘Their truthfulness. They are completely honest with each other.’

‘So they should be.’

‘It is not always so in marriage.’

‘It ought to be, Golde. True love permits no secrecy.’

‘Not every union is blessed with true love,’ she sighed. ‘And even if it is at the start, circumstances can change. Take our host and his wife. The lady Maud adored him when they first met and he courted her with as much ardour as any lover. But now?’

‘His responsibilities divert his attention.’

‘His wife expects that. What rankles with her is that he refuses to say anything about his work. It is a closed book to the lady Maud and she would dearly like to flick through the pages. When I told her about us, she was very envious.’

‘Envious?’

‘Of my good fortune in having a husband who trusted me.’

‘Implicitly.’

‘I assured her that there was nothing you held back from me.

It would hurt me deeply if there was. You confide in me as your wife and I confide freely in you. That way we spring no unpleasant surprises on each other, do we?’

‘No, my love.’

‘Holding something back is a form of lying, really. A deception.

A concealment of truth. I told the lady Maud that you were very honest. Whatever the situation, you’d never lie to me. Would you, Ralph?’

Ralph thought about the possible arrival of King William in Gloucester and ran a tongue over dry lips. He had still not raised the subject with her and felt it unwise to do so now, even though he was breaking the vow they had once made to each other.

‘Well?’ she said, prodding him. ‘Would you?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Why did you hesitate?’

‘I’m tired, Golde.’

‘Then let us get some sleep,’ she said, snuggling into him with a purring contentment. ‘You have to make an early start tomorrow.’

She was about to doze off when she remembered something. ‘I almost forgot, Ralph. They brought worrying news from Hereford.’

‘Oh?’

‘There has been more trouble on the Welsh border.’

‘Not again!’

‘Raiding parties have been sighted.’

‘The Welsh are a bellicose nation.’

‘I hope they do not strike this far south.’

Ralph quivered. ‘As long as they do not contain Archdeacon Idwal,’ he moaned. ‘Renegade bands can easily be repelled but no fortifications are proof against Idwal. He is an invasion army in himself.’

‘Do not get so agitated. I merely pass on rumours.’

‘Well, I hope that they are proved false, Golde. But we’re far too close to the Welsh border to be able to relax. Forne lives in Archenfield, well placed to catch the first whiff of revolt.’

‘There’s no serious danger, surely?’ she said. ‘If there were, the sheriff would be marshalling his men in readiness, yet there is no sign of that. Besides, if there was any hint of a real invasion, would not the King himself ride from Winchester with an army?’

Ralph fell silent. Long after his wife had drifted off to sleep, he brooded on what she had said. He had even more reason to wish that King William would not descend on the city now.

As far as their duties would permit, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon tried to enter into the life of the abbey. Like the other monks, they rose early to attend Matins and shuffled towards the church with heads bowed and hands tucked into their sleeves.

When the service was over, they slipped quietly out to prepare for the day ahead while the rest of the holy brothers remained in church for Lauds. They were about to cross the cloister garth when Abbot Serlo hailed them. Stopping at once, they waited for him to catch them up.