Brother Cadfael 14: The Hermit of Eyton Forest

would be left for me.'
    Brother Paul's blood chilled at the implications. 'Quite old' probably meant no more than a few years past twenty, but even that was an unacceptable difference. Such marriages, of course, were a commonplace, where there was property and land to be won, but they were certainly not to be encouraged. Abbot Radulfus had long had qualms of conscience about accepting infants committed by their fathers to the cloister, and had resolved to admit no more boys until they were of an age to make the choice for themselves. He would certainly look no more favourably on committing a child to the equally grave and binding discipline of matrimony.
    'Well, you may put all such matters out of your mind,' he said very firmly. 'Your only concern now and for some years to come must be with your lessons and the pastimes proper to your years. Now you may go back to your fellows, if you wish, or stay here quietly for a while, as you prefer.'
    Richard slid out of the supporting arm readily and stood up sturdily from the bench, willing to face the world and his curious fellow pupils at once, and seeing no reason why he should shun the meeting even for a moment. He had yet to comprehend the thing that had happened to him. The fact he could grasp, the implications were slow to reach beyond his intelligence into his heart.
    'If there is anything more you wish to ask,' said Brother Paul, eyeing him anxiously, 'or if you feel the need for comfort or counsel, come back to me, and we'll go to Father Abbot. He is wiser than I, and abler to help you through this time.'
    So he might be, but a boy in school was hardly likely to submit himself voluntarily to an interview with so awesome a personage. Richard's solemn face had settled into the brooding frown of one making his way through unfamiliar and thorny paths. He made his parting reverence and went out briskly enough, and Brother Paul, having watched him out of sight from the window, and seen no signs of imminent distress, went to report to the abbot what Dame Dionisia Ludel was said to be planning for her grandson.
    Radulfus heard him out with alert attention and a thoughtful frown. To unite Eaton with both its neighbouring manors was an understandable ambition. The resulting property would be a power in the shire, and no doubt the formidable lady considered herself more than capable of ruling it, over the heads of bride, bride's father and infant bridegroom. Land greed was a strong driving force, and children were possessions expendable for so desirable a profit.
    'But we trouble needlessly,' said Radulfus, shaking the matter resolutely from his shoulders. 'The boy is in my care, and here he stays. Whatever she may intend, she will not be able to touch him. We can forget the matter. She is no threat to Richard or to us.'
    Wise as he might be, this was one occasion when Abbot Radulfus was to find his predictions going far astray.
    Chapter Two
    They were all at chapter, on the twentieth morning of October, when the steward of the manor of Eaton presented himself, requesting a hearing with a message from his mistress.
    John of Longwood was a burly, bearded man of fifty, with a balding crown and neat, deliberate movements. He made a respectful obeisance to the abbot, and delivered his errand bluntly and practically, as one performing a duty but without committing himself to approval or disapproval.
    'My lord, Dame Dionisia Ludel sends me to you with her devout greetings, and asks that you will send back to her, in my charge, her grandson Richard, to take up his rightful place as lord of the manor of Eaton in his father's room.'
    Abbot Radulfus leaned back in his stall and regarded the messenger with an impassive face. 'Certainly Richard shall attend his father's funeral. When is that to be?'
    'Tomorrow, my lord, before High Mass. But that is not my mistress's meaning. She wants the young lord to leave his studies here and come to take his proper place as lord of Eaton. I'm to say that Dame Dionisia feels herself to be the proper person to have charge of him, now that he's come into his inheritance, as she's assured he shall do, without delay or hindrance. I have orders to bring him back with me.'
    'I fear, master steward,' said the abbot with deliberation, 'that you may not be able to carry out your orders. Richard Ludel committed the care of his son to me, should he himself die before the boy came to manhood. It was his wish that his son should be properly educated, the better