Brother Cadfael 09: Dead Man's Ransom

calmly measuring eye; and Hugh, if he stood a whole head shorter and carried but light weight, if he spoke quietly and made no move to call attention to himself, nevertheless seldom went unnoticed. Sister Magdalen studied him from head to heel with one flash of her brown eyes. She was a judge of a man, and knew one when she saw him.
    'Very well so!' she said, nodding. 'Come, and I'll pay my respects.' Radulfus marked their first move towards him and went to meet them, with Hugh at his shoulder.
    'Father Abbot,' said Cadfael, 'here is come Sister Magdalen of our order, from the cell of Polesworth which lies some miles to the southwest, in the forest at Godric's Ford. And her business is also with Hugh Beringar as sheriff of this shire.'
    She made a very graceful reverence and stooped to the abbot's hand. 'Truly, what I have to tell concerns all here who have to do with order and peace, Father. Brother Cadfael here has visited our cell, and knows how we stand in these troublous times, solitary and so close to Wales. He can advise and explain, if I fall short.'
    'You are welcome, sister,' said Radulfus, measuring her as shrewdly as she had measured him. 'Brother Cadfael shall be of our counsel. I trust you will be my guest for dinner. And for your guards, for I see they are devoted in attendance on you, I will give orders for their entertainment. And if you are not so far acquainted, here at my side is Hugh Beringar, whom you seek.'
    Though that cheek was turned away from him, Cadfael was certain that her dimple sparkled as she turned to Hugh and made her formal acknowledgement. 'My lord, I was never so happy,' she said, and whether that was high courtesy or mischief might still be questioned, 'as to meet with you before, it was with your sheriff I once had some speech. As I have heard he did not return with you and may be prisoner, and for that I am sorry.'
    'I, too,' said Hugh. 'As I hope to redeem him, if chance offers. I see from your escort, sister, that you have had cause to move with caution through the forest. I think that is also my business, now I am back.'
    'Let us go into my parlour,' said the abbot, 'and hear what Sister Magdalen has to tell us. And, Brother Cadfael, will you bear word to Brother Denis that the best of our house is at the disposal of our sister's guards? And then come to join us, for your knowledge may be needed.'
    She was seated a little withdrawn from the fire when Cadfael entered the abbot's parlour some minutes later, her feet drawn trimly under the hem of her habit, her back erect against the panelled wall. The more closely and the longer he viewed her, the more warmly did he remember her. She had been for many years, from her beautiful youth, a baron's mistress, accepting that situation as an honest business agreement, a fair return for her body to give her escape from her poverty and cultivation for her mind. And she had held to her bargain loyally, even affectionately, as long as her lord remained alive. The loss of one profession offering scope for her considerable talents had set her looking about, with her customary resolution, for another as rewarding, at an age when such openings may be few indeed. The superior at Godric's Ford first, and the prioress of Polesworth after, however astonished they might have been at being confronted with such a postulant, must have seen something in Avice of Thornbury well worth acquiring for the order. A woman of her word, ungrudging, to her first allegiance, she would be as good as her word now to this new attachment. Whether it could have been called a vocation in the first place might seem very doubtful, but with application and patience she would make it so.
    'When this matter of Lincoln blazed up as it did in January,' she said, 'we got rumour that certain of the Welsh were ready to rise in arms. Not, I suppose, for any partisan loyalty, but for plunder to be had when these two powers collided. Prince Cadwaladr of Gwynedd was mustering a warband, and the Welsh of Powys rose to join him, and it was said they would march to aid the earl of Chester. So before the battle we had our warning.' It was she who had heeded it. Who else, in that small nest of holy women, could have sensed how the winds blew between claimants for the crown, between Welsh and English, between ambitious earl and greedy tribesman?
    'Therefore, Father, it was no great surprise to us, some four days ago, when a lad from an assart west of us came running in haste to tell us