Prince of Darkness

proclaiming him a cuckold for the world to laugh at'
    'On that Sunday evening,' Corbett asked, 'do you think Lady Eleanor was waiting for this lover? She was seen walking near the church. Perhaps she had a secret assignation?'
    Dame Agatha looked at him archly and Corbett panicked. Was the nun going to refuse to answer? 'You swear to tell no one?' she asked. Corbett held one hand high. 'I swear!'
    'I believe,' Dame Agatha said in a hushed whisper as if eavesdroppers lurked in the very trees, 'that Lady Eleanor was preparing to flee Godstowe Priory.'
    'What makes you say that?'
    'She was receiving messages. There's a hollow oak tree behind the church. Lady Eleanor took me into her confidence and told me how every day, late in the evening, she went down there to see if another letter had been left.'
    'How often did these messages come?'
    'In the month before she died, about two or three arrived. They were delivered in a small leather pouch.'
    'You were never curious and opened them?'
    'No, the pouch was sealed and the Lady Eleanor would soon have realised if I'd tampered with it But I do know the messages pleased her. She became happier, more settled On one or two occasions she even hinted she would be leaving.'
    'But who would send her messages?' The young nun shrugged.
    I don't know, but on the night she died the Lady Prioress asked me to help take the corpse back to her own chamber. It was dark and in our haste we only lit one candle. I helped her rearrange Lady Eleanor's body on the bed, drawing the curtains around it. Only then did I notice, lying in the far comer, two sets of packed saddle bags full of clothes and small caskets of personal jewellery. I later unpacked these. I've told no one until today.' 'Why not?'
    'Would you be the person responsible for insinuating that Lady Belmont was preparing to flee Godstowe and the Prince? You see,' Dame Agatha continued excitedly, 'I believe that Lady Eleanor, in her haste to leave, stumbled on the stairs and fell to her death.'
    Corbett shook his head.
    'But she left her chamber without her saddle bags?' he asked, not revealing that the Lady Prioress had already refuted any allegation that Lady Eleanor had fallen downstairs.
    Dame Agatha pursed her lips.
    'I cannot answer that.'
    'You discovered nothing else?'
    Dame Agatha smiled and shook her head.
    'And the old sister, the one who drowned in her own tub of water? Do you know what she meant by "Sinistra non dextra"?'
    'Right not left,' Dame Agatha murmured. 'No, I do not.' 'How long were you Lady Eleanor's companion?' 'My name is Savigny,' the nun replied. 'I was born of a Gascon father and an English mother in the town of Beam near the village of Bordeaux. I was left an orphan at an early age and became a ward of court. I expressed a desire to enter the religious life and decided to come to England.' She narrowed her eyes. 'That was about eighteen months ago. Lady Eleanor was already at Godstowe. I began to talk to her, and she asked the Lady Prioress if I could become her companion.'
    Corbett settled his horse as it fidgeted nervously at the rustling of some animal in the undergrowth at the side of the track. Both he and Dame Agatha laughed as the commotion roused Ranulf, who woke with a muttered oath, smacking his lips, apparently quite refreshed after his short slumber. He brought his horse alongside theirs as they rounded the corner and the dark green spire of Godstowe Priory came into sight.
    Corbett fell silent as Ranulf began his bantering teasing of Dame Agatha. Once inside the Galilee Gate Corbett bade the nun goodnight, asking Ranulf to take the horses round to the stables. He watched his manservant lead the horses off, still continuing his good-natured teasing, innocently asking the nun if she had heard the story about the naughty friar of Ludlow. Corbett shook his head and went back to the house. He asked the Guest Mistress if any letters had arrived for him.
    'Oh, no,' she cried. 'Lettuce? This year's crop has not been good.'
    Corbett groaned and went up to his chamber, throwing himself down on the small cot and reflecting on what he had learnt First Father Reynard had secretly admired Lady Eleanor and had been near the Galilee Gate the night she had died. Secondly, Lady Eleanor had been murdered in her own chamber on the night she intended to flee to a secret lover or friend. But who was this? Corbett let his mind drift, feeling guilty because when he thought about Maeve he also kept remembering Dame