A Rare Benedictine Read Online Free PDF Page A

trees with him. They knew the woods, and we did not. Sir, we did go
after them, but they beat us off.”
    It
was evident they had done their best, for two of them showed bruised and
scratched, and all were soiled and torn as to their clothing.
    “We
have hunted through the night, but found no trace, only we caught his horse a
mile down the highway as we came hither. So we plead here that our prior’s
absence be not seen as a default, for indeed he would have been here in the
town last night if all had gone as it should.”
    “Hush,
wait!’ said the clerk peremptorily.
    All
heads had turned towards the door of the hall, where a great flurry of
officials had suddenly surged into view, cleaving through the press with fixed
and ominous haste, to take the centre of the floor below the King’s empty dais.
A chamberlain, elderly and authoritative, struck the floor loudly with his
staff and commanded silence. And at sight of his face silence fell like a
stone.
    “My
lords, gentlemen, all who have pleas here this day, and all others present, you
are bidden to disperse, for there will be no hearings today. All suits that
should be heard here must be postponed three days, and will be heard by His
Grace’s judges. His Grace the King cannot appear.”
    This
time the silence fell again like a heavy curtain, muffling even thought or
conjecture.
    “The
court is in mourning from this hour. We have received news of desolating
import. His Grace with the greater part of his fleet made the crossing to
England safely, as is known, but the Blanche Nef, in which His Grace’s son and
heir, Prince William, with all his companions and many other noble souls were
embarked, put to sea late, and was caught in gales before ever clearing
Barfleur. The ship is lost, split upon a rock, foundered with all hands, not a
soul is come safe to land. Go hence quietly, and pray for the souls of the
flower of this realm.”
    So
that was the end of one man’s year of triumph, an empty achievement, a ruinous
victory, Normandy won, his enemies routed, and now everything swept aside,
broken apart upon an obstinate rock, washed away in a malicious sea. His only
lawful son, recently married in splendour, now denied even a coffin and a
grave, for if ever they found those royal bodies it would be by the relenting
grace of God, for the sea seldom put its winnings ashore by Barfleur. Even some
of his unlawful sons, of whom there were many, gone down with their royal
brother, no one left but the one legal daughter to inherit a barren empire.
    Cadfael
walked alone in a corner of the King’s park and considered the foolishness of
mortal vainglory, that was paid for with such a bitter price. But also he
thought of the affairs of little men, to whom even a luckless King owed
justice. For somewhere there was still to be sought the lost prior of
Shrewsbury, carried off by masterless men in the forest, a litigant who might
still be lost three days hence, when his suit came up again for hearing, unless
someone in the meantime knew where to look for him.
    He
was in little doubt now. A lawless gang at liberty so close to a royal palace
was in any case unlikely enough, and Cadfael was liable to brood on the
unlikely. But that there should be two no, that was impossible. And if one
only, then that same one whose ambush he had overheard at some distance, yet
close enough, too close for comfort, to Roger Mauduit’s hunting-lodge.
    Probably
the unhappy brothers from Shrewsbury were off beating the wilds of the forest
afresh. Cadfael knew better where to look. No doubt Roger was biting his nails
in some anxiety over the delay, but he had no reason to suppose that three days
would release the captive to appear against him, nor was he paying much
attention to what his Welsh man-at-arms was doing with his time.
    Cadfael
took his horse and rode back without haste towards the hunting-lodge. He left
in the early dusk, as soon as the