Crown in Darkness

laughter with her spicy, tart wit and skill at mimicry, particularly of that rather stuffy English clerk, Hugh Corbett. Ranulf sighed, he would never understand his master. He slowly packed, made sure his companions did likewise and bade an affectionate farewell to Lady Agnes. A week after they arrived at Kinghorn, they were on the road back to Inverkeithing.
    Ranulf tried to engage his master in conversation but Corbett was too depressed to respond. 'The Lady Yolande was not worth visiting,' Ranulf said reassuringly. 'Lady Agnes told me, laughing at a virgin pretending to be pregnant!' Corbett stopped his horse and turned to the startled Ranulf. 'You what?' he roared. 'She said what?' Ranulf repeated what he had said. 'Is that correct?' 'Of course,' Ranulf replied bleakly. 'Those were her very words. Why?' 'Never mind.' Corbett dug into his leather pouch. 'Take these gold coins and go, beg your lady to join us at Inverkeithing. If she will not accept the gold, then tell her I will be back with a warrant for her arrest. Now go!' He turned to one of Burnell's messengers. 'Lend him your horse, you can walk.' Corbett continued into Inverkeithing and went straight to the ale-house where he had told Ranulf to meet him. The clerk could scarcely control his excitement, the dull image which had formed in his mind was beginning to take flesh. The shadows were disappearing, something of substance was there. He hired a greasy table and sat, impatiently, waiting for Ranulf to arrive. When he did, with a flustered Lady Agnes in tow, Corbett abruptly told him to leave and asked Agnes to sit on the crude bench opposite him. He poured her a cup of the best wine the dingy house could offer, and leaned forward. 'Lady Agnes, what did you mean by referring to Queen Yolande as a virgin pretending to be pregnant?' The woman's high colour deepened and she fumbled with the cup of wine. 'It was a jest,' she protested. 'A funny story to amuse Ranulf.' 'No, Agnes,' Corbett snapped. 'Do you remember when I met Lady Yolande? She told me she was pregnant or, as she put it, "enceinte". You laughed then. So tell me, or I will arrange for others to take over the questioning.'
    Agnes bit her fleshy lower lip and stared anxiously around. 'I suppose it does not matter now the French bitch is leaving. Oh,' she continued softly, 'King Alexander was hot for her but the marriage was never consummated.' 'What!' Corbett exclaimed. 'After five months of marriage?' 'The Lady Yolande first protested she was unwell from the sea voyage, then it was her time of the month when…" Agnes' voice faltered, 'when a woman's body bleeds. Then she made complaints about the King's mistresses and demanded their total removal from court. The King, she announced, would have to prove his household was cleared of these doxies before she allowed him into her bed. In the weeks before His Grace's sudden death, it was just excuses, a total refusal to consummate the marriage.' 'How do you know this? You were scarce close confidantes. I noticed that on my first visit to Kinghorn.' Agnes nodded. 'I hated the spoilt bitch. King Alexander ordered me into her retinue; I got bored and used to listen to her conversations with the one French lady-in-waiting she brought with her, a girl called Marie. They thought I could not understand French; I can, my mother was French. That is why I was put in her household. I am fluent in the tongue. I fully understood what she was saying to you the day you visited Kinghorn, which is why I almost burst out laughing.' 'For what reason?' enquired Corbett. 'Do you think Yolande refused to consummate the marriage?' Agnes shrugged. 'I have heard of similar cases. Young girls frightened of the pain the act causes. Nunneries are full of them.' She laughed at her own joke. 'Yolande could well have been terrified of Alexander, or,' she added, 'Yolande may have been a lover of other women. When I watched her and the girl Marie I sometimes wondered. The King,' she added thoughtfully, almost to herself, 'could have forced her but that was not Alexander's way. He never forced a woman in his life. I also believe he genuinely loved her.' 'That is all you can tell me?' Corbett asked. 'That,' said Lady Agnes, rising to her feet, 'is all I can tell you because that is all I know. I would be grateful if you would let Ranulf escort me back to Kinghorn.' Corbett nodded and Lady Agnes swept out of the room.
    The clerk waited till Ranulf returned and, when he did, they all