Page 79 of Wed By Proxy

“You mean, he decided to steal some of the limelight with this tale?”

“It doesn’t really matter, after all.”

Lettys tapped the door lightly, then entered with a tray of fruit juices and honey cakes which she set down before them before withdrawing to the window seat to give them some privacy.

“Thank you Lettys. I don’t suppose,” she said, turning back to Rob and clasping and unclasping her hands, “that your letter mentioned aught of my mother or Nurse?”

“Only that Lady Doverdale was mad as fire and sending riders in every direction of the compass in search of you.”

“Oh dear!”

“But none have shown up here at any rate,” said Rob.

“That’s true enough,” Mathilde acknowledged. Thank heavens for small mercies.

“I suspect her initial enquiry agents weren’t searching for two boys.”

“Very likely not.”

“It’s funny isn’t it,” mused Rob, “to think of our being figures of great fame at court?”

The thought made Mathilde’s stomach lurch with anxiety. She gave him a weak smile. “Yes.” She hesitated. “What do you suppose your mother and Sir Avery will think of it all?”

Rob shrugged, not looking overly concerned. “I’m not overly anxious to return,” he said, and did not seem to even consider that she might feel differently.

Did she feel differently? For some reason she remembered Guy’s question at dinner the previous night, and her breath caught in her throat. “How long are you going to punish me?” he had asked. “I make no complaint, you understand. I just need to know my suffering will be finite.” The thought he might be suffering had not really occurred to her. She had been too caught up in her own pain.

“Why do you think I’m making Guy dance to my tune?” she asked abruptly.

He cast her a shrewd look. “Because he is. Poor fellow is walking on eggshells around you. He doesn’t know up from down.”

“You don’t think he did anything wrong?”

Robin shook his head. “Stands to reason. He never looks at any females except for you.”

“How do you know?” she persisted. “That he did not do more than look at this Lady Julia, who was his first love?”

“Because I asked him,” said Robin simply.

His answer startled her. She crumbled her honey cake. “And what did he say?”

“Denied it of course,” said Rob scornfully. “Think about it. He was known as a woman-hater before you showed up.”

“But why would Old Helga lie to me?”

Rob tutted. “Who knows with witches. They have their reasons, and it’s never straight-forward. Even the best of them speak with a forked tongue.”

Mathilde lapsed into a brooding silence. She didn’t know what to say. She needed to think. She pushed the plate of cakes toward Rob and turned the subject back to his new goat.

Rob remained for supper and conversation at the table benefited greatly from his presence. He, Lettys and Temur kept up a steady flow of conversation, which Guy joined in sporadically and Mathilde barely at all. The same thoughts whirled around in her brain. Could Robin be right when he claimed Guy only had eyes for her? And that Old Helga had for reasons known only to her, misled her? She went to bed with her mind in a whirl.

XXXV

That night Mathilde slept fitfully, waking groggily in the early hours to the sound of voices in the corridor outside. She lay awake for a while, craning her ears, but could hear nothing intelligible. After a while, the door opened and Guy entered with a candle. He came straight to her side of the bed.

“Mathilde?”

“I’m awake,” she replied quickly. “What has happened?” He had not entered this bedroom after dark since she had arrived at Acton March.