Brother Cadfael 06: A Virgin In The Ice

all he knows, and more, perhaps, than he realizes he knows, without betraying that he's lost a sister. Though he'll have to learn it soon or late," said Hugh unhappily. "Who else knows the poor girl's face?"
    "But not tonight, let him sleep soundly tonight. Time enough," said Cadfael heavily, "when we've brought her in and made her as comely as may be, before he need see her."
    Supper and security had done much for Yves, and his own natural resilience had done even more. He sat in the prior's parlor before Compline, face to face with Hugh Beringar, and with Prior Leonard and Brother Cadfael in watchful attendance, and told his story with bluntness and brevity.
    "She is very brave," he said judicially, giving his sister her due, "but very obstinate and self-willed. All the way from Worcester I did feel she had something up her sleeve, and was taking advantage of having to run away. We had to go roundabout at first, and slowly, because there were bands of soldiers roaming even miles from the town, so it took us a long time to get safely to Cleobury, and there we stayed one night, and that was the night Brother Elyas was there, too, and he came with us as far as Foxwood, and wanted us to come with him into Bromfield for safety, and I wanted that, too, and so did Sister Hilaria. From here we could have got an escort into Shrewsbury, and it would not have been a much longer way. But Ermina would not have it! She must always have her own way, and she would go on over the hills to Godstoke. No use my arguing, she never listens, she claims that being the elder makes her the wiser. And if we others had gone with Brother Elyas she would still have gone on over the hills alone, so what could we do but go with her?" He blew out his lips in a disgusted breath.
    "Certainly you could not leave her," agreed Beringar reasonably. "So you went on, to spend the next night at Cleeton?"
    "It's close by Cleeton, a solitary holding. Ermina had a nurse once who married a tenant of that manor, so we knew we could get a bed there. The man's name is John Druel. We got there in the afternoon, and I remembered afterwards that Ermina was talking apart with the son of the house, and then he went away, and we didn't see him again until evening. I never thought of it then, but now I'm sure she sent him with a message. That was what she intended all along. For a man came late in the evening, with horses, and took her away. I heard the stir, and I got up and looked out ... Two horses there were, and he was just helping her up into the saddle ..."
    "He?" said Hugh. "You knew him?"
    "Not his name, but I do remember him. When my father was alive he used to visit sometimes, if there was hunting, or for Christmas or Easter. Many guests used to come, we always had company. He must be son or nephew to one of my father's friends. I never paid him much attention, nor he never noticed me, I was too young. But I do remember his face, and I think ... I think he has been visiting Ermina now and then in Worcester."
    If he had, they must have been very decorous visits, with a sponsoring sister always in attendance.
    "You think she sent him word to come and fetch her?" asked Hugh. "This was no abduction? She went willingly?"
    "She went gaily!" Yves asserted indignantly. "I heard her laughing. Yes, she sent for him, and he came. And that was why she would go that way, for he must have a manor close by, and she knew she could whistle him to her. She will have a great dower," said the baron's heir solemnly, his round, childish cheeks flushing red with outrage. "And my sister would never endure to have her marriage made for her in the becoming way, if it went against her choice. I never knew a rule she would not break, shamelessly ..."
    His chin shook, a weakness instantly and ruthlessly suppressed. All the arrogant pride of all the feudal houses of Anjou and England in this small package, and he loved as much as he hated her, or more, and never, never must he see her mute and violated and stripped to her shift.
    Hugh took up the questioning with considerate calm. "And what did you do?" The jolt back into facts was salutary.
    "No one else had heard," said Yves, rallying, "unless it was the boy who carried her message, and he had surely been told not to hear anything. I was still dressed, there being only one bed, which the women had, so I rushed out to try and stop them. Older she may be, but I am my father's heir! I am the head of our family now."
    "But afoot," said