Page 52 of The Tailor's Treasure

"Give him here," Ellyn said, coming towards Isabel with her arms outstretched.Isabel wanted to tighten her grip further, but Hilda was watching her with sharp eyes, and Ellyn looked expectant.Short of fleeing back the way she came, there was no gainsaying Hilda - and that would only invite the threatened pursuit from Piers.She kissed the top of Walter's head with a whispered, "I'll be back soon," and handed him to Ellyn.She pulled a face."He stinks."

"He's a baby," Isabel snapped.She would withstand a great deal from Hilda - particularly when it was directed at her - but she had no need to bear Ellyn's sourness when it was aimed at her son.

"Go and wash him, then," Hilda said to Ellyn, sounding only marginally less annoyed than Isabel.Ellyn rolled her eyes and flounced off down the passageway, muttering to herself about finding a new position where she wouldn't be expected to work as a nursemaid.Isabel could hear Walter cooing, which was some small comfort: at least he wasn't frightened at being taken out of her arms.

"It's this way," Hilda said, and turned to go down the passage after Ellyn.Isabel bit back a retort - she had lived in this house a full decade before Hilda's arrival and knew well enough where the hall was - and followed her.

When they entered the hall, Ancelin was seated at the table in the corner where the girls usually ate, when they dined with their parents.There was a pile of parchment on the table in front of him, and an inkwell sitting at his elbow; it looked as if he'd been working here.Isabel couldn't imagine why.She saw Hilda's husband rarely, for he was usually traveling on business; but when he was at home, he used the solar.The unease that had been coalescing in her stomach was starting to solidify.Everything was just slightly out of place and off-kilter, and she knew from experience not to trust any changes she could not explain.

"Sit," Ancelin said, indicating the stool opposite him.Hilda went to stand at her husband's shoulder.Isabel did as she was told, and clasped her hands in her lap.

Ancelin went on reading the parchment in front of him, saying nothing.Isabel willed herself to be still and not to let her eyes dart around the room.She did not wish for either of them to see how anxious she was, for Hilda would find it gratifying, and Ancelin - she didn't know.Clearly his silence was meant to impress something on her, even if she was not yet certain of what.

At last, he set the parchment aside and folded his hands, one over the other, on top of the table.His gaze, when it met hers', was unreadable."You did not come home last night.Hilda and I were concerned."

"I apologize."Isabel inclined her head."The weather was inclement, and I did not wish to risk carrying Walter through it in the dark.I sheltered overnight at the lodging of - a friend."She had considered, briefly, saying she had stayed at Matthew's, but it was better not to offer any details until she had to: that way, they could not catch her out in a lie.

"Peter Rykener is a friend of yours?"Hilda said.Isabel was not able to stop her head from whipping around to look at her.There was a little smirk playing around her mouth."I'd no idea you had friends in such - varied places."

The sound of Peter's name in Hilda's mouth chilled her to the bone.Neither she nor anyone else in the family could boast of any preexisting acquaintance with either Peter or Constance; they would have told her already, if that were the case.But then how did she know?And how much was safe for her to say?

"Not a friend, precisely," she said.She kept her voice as colourless as possible."I have an arrangement with him, to provide embroidery for his shop.An infirmity prevents him from doing so himself."

"He does not live alone, though," Ancelin said."Does he?"It was stated as a question.Isabel knew it wasn't one.

"Nnn-o," she said.Her heart was hammering so fast, she thought it might explode.She clenched her hands into fists at her side and willed her breathing to slow.It would do her no good to visibly panic: like a hunting dog, they would sense weakness and pounce on it."He has a wife."

"And a brother-in-law, I believe?"Ancelin said."Who lives with them?"

Isabel looked from him to Hilda, frowning.This was not an avenue of questioning she had expected.Nor could she see any reason for it.What purpose could the mention of Jack serve them?"Yes.He's a journeyman cooper, but he lives with his sister."

"You must have seen a great deal of him, of late," Hilda remarked.Her smirk was widening."As you've passed so much time at the Rykeners'."

"I don't know that I have," Isabel said.She was speaking slowly, the better to keep either Hilda or Ancelin from noticing her panic."My duties here keep me close to home.As you know."

Ancelin coughed."That is not, I believe, entirely true," he said.He nodded to Hilda."My wife has sent Ellyn out after you several times now, wondering how it is you pass your time when you leave this house.She reports you have been at this tailor's shop, often for hours, and that you've left Walter with your brother's wife while you do it."His brows knit in a frown."You have been offered no permission to do so, by Hilda, myself, or my wife's cousins.Walter is under our protection; we must know where he is."

"And," Hilda said, "we must know that he is under the care of a decent woman.Not one who conducts herself no better than a doxy."

"Adoxy?"Isabel repeated.Now she could afford to let some of her ill feeling leach into her voice: she could defend Elizabeth and not have it held against her the way any attempt at self-defense would be."My brother's wife is an honest woman."

"Oh, I don't speak of her," Hilda said."I meantyou.For how else am I to refer to the sort of woman who abandons her child for hours at a time go to and carry on with a man to whom she has no marriage contract?And with her own husband hardly a year in his grave.I cannot think what Uncle Geoffrey would say if he could see you now."

Had the situation not been so dire, Isabel might have been tempted to laugh.The accusation was too ridiculous."You think I've been passing my time at the tailor's shop to carry out assignations with Master Rykener's brother-in-law?I've met the man all of twice.And I take Walter to his aunt and uncle's so that he may visit with his little cousin.He has no playmates here."

"It is difficult to take you at your word," Ancelin said, "when you have already misled us so thoroughly as to the ways you pass your time."

"Misled you?"Isabel repeated."I've never done anything of the sort.You never asked -"

"We never thought there was a need," Hilda said.There was an uglier twist to her face now, and Isabel thought she understood: Hilda had believed Isabel entirely under her thumb.It must have been a nasty shock to her to realize that Isabel had a life outside of Hilda's demands, perhaps even one she was happy in.That was something Hilda could not abide."But it seems clear to me now that you are less the woman I thought you were, and far less than my uncle believed you to be.Ralf and Piers had told me as much many times, but I paid it no mind, for I am no gossip.Now I see my mistake.A woman of your sort has no business raising a child -"

"What?"If Isabel had not already been sitting down, she was quite sure her legs would have buckled beneath her.

"- and certainly none raising two young ladies of good breeding," Hilda went on."My husband and I agreed to keep you under our roof as a kindness, and you have betrayed our trust entirely.We ought to have turned you out the moment we arrived and hired on a proper nursemaid for Walter, but we thought it best that a child so young not be taken from his mother.Now I see he would be far better off removed from your influence."

"No!"Isabel stood so quickly, the stool she'd been sitting on toppled over."He needs me.He's never known anything else -"

"All the better to remove you now," Ancelin said over her, "before any bad habits have the opportunity to set in."