A Dark Night Hidden Read Online Free PDF

King of England – oh, Helewise, how they disparaged him, calling him “the enemy of our Empire and the disturber of your kingdom”! – was taken prisoner by Duke Leopold of Austria. Walter knew full well how this frightful news would affect me, for he enclosed a letter of his own exhorting me to bear up and be brave.’
    ‘He is a man,’ Helewise said softly, ‘and has not a mother’s heart.’
    She felt the brief pressure of the Queen’s hand on her shoulder. Although Eleanor did not speak, Helewise knew that, in that instant, both of them were thinking the same thing.
    ‘What will happen now, my lady?’ Helewise asked after a moment.
    ‘I have sent the Abbot of Robertsbridge to Austria to search for the King. He is to be accompanied by the Abbot of Boxley. They are sound men and I know that they will do their utmost. But oh, how I yearn to be going myself ! I would find him, I know it, and then let the piddling Duke Leopold and his scurrilous master the Emperor look to their defences! They would not understand what an enemy they had unleashed until I descended on them!’
    The room rang with the echoes of the Queen’s shout. Then, as silence fell, she said, ‘Ah, well. I am an old woman, and I can do more good here in England.’
    ‘You hearten us, as always, by your presence and by your brave example,’ Helewise said. Her words were no empty flattery; she spoke from the heart.
    The Queen, it seemed, knew it. ‘Thank you.’
    ‘What can we do, my lady?’ Helewise asked. ‘Anything that is in our power, you only have to command and it is done.’
    ‘Will you pray for us, for my poor captive son and his grieving mother?’
    ‘Yes! Oh, yes, of course we will!’
    The Queen smiled. ‘If you put such fervour into your prayers, Abbess Helewise, then surely God cannot help but hear.’
    Helewise returned her smile. Then she asked, ‘Would you care to pray with us, my lady, before you leave?’
    ‘Yes. I should like that very much.’
    The Queen had prayed that evening and again the next morning. Before she left, surrounded by her attendants and in haste to return to Westminster where there might be news, she took Helewise aside.
    ‘I have asked my nuns at Fontevraud and at Amesbury also to pray for us,’ she said quietly. ‘Like you, they earnestly promise to comply.’
    ‘I am quite sure—’ Helewise began.
    The Queen held up a hand. ‘I know. What I wish to say, Abbess Helewise, is that Queen Eleanor does not ask a boon without giving something in return.’
    ‘But there is no need—’
    Again, the Queen stopped her words with an imperious gesture. ‘I have for Hawkenlye a bag of gold,’ she said. ‘Put it to whatever use you see fit. My only stipulation is that whatever you do is done in the name of the King and of his mother.’
    Helewise bowed low. ‘You do us, as ever, too much honour.’
    Eleanor put her hands on Helewise’s shoulders, raising her up again. ‘Not so. In Hawkenlye I am given support and rare comfort. Why should I not bestow upon the community a little of what I have in abundance?’
    Then, to Helewise’s amazement, the Queen leaned forward, embraced her and kissed her.
    Clutching the bag of gold as she watched the royal party depart, Helewise had tears in her eyes.
    That visit was now several days in the past and already Helewise had taken the first steps towards the spending of the Queen’s unexpected bounty. A Hawkenlye Herbal, she thought, what better use could there be, for it would serve both as a permanent tribute to King Richard and his mother and also, because of its content, benefit healers both currently engaged at the Abbey and those that were to come. Sister Phillipa was even now engaged in preparing a demonstration of her skills, and Helewise had written out – although not yet despatched – an order for parchment, pigments, inks, brushes and quills.
    She had retired to her room to go over in her mind the recent interview with the Queen and to pray for