Hermit of Eyton Forest Read Online Free PDF Page B

face and listened to the end of this
studied speech very courteously. “I thank you for your errand,” he said then
mildly, “it was well done. I cannot well change the answer I gave to your lady.
Richard Ludel who is dead committed the care of his son to me, by letter
properly drawn and witnessed. I accepted that charge, and I cannot renounce it
now. It was the father’s wish that the son should be educated here until he
comes to manhood, and takes command of his own life and affairs. That I
promised, and that I shall fulfil. The death of the father only makes my
obligation the more sacred and binding. Tell your mistress so.”
    “My
lord,” said the clerk, plainly having expected no other answer, and ready with
the next step in his embassage, “in changed circumstances such a private legal
document need not be the only argument valid in a court of law. The king’s
justices would listen no less to the plea of a matron of rank, widowed and now
bereaved of her son, and fully able to provide all her grandson’s needs,
besides the natural need she has of the comfort of his presence. My mistress
desires to inform you that if you do not give up the boy, she intends to bring
suit at law to regain him.”
    “Then
I can but approve her intention,” said the abbot serenely. “A judicial decision
in the king’s court must be satisfying to us both, since it lifts the burden of
choice from us. Tell her so, and say that I await the hearing with due
submission. But until such a judgement is made, I must hold to my own sworn undertaking.
I am glad,” he said with a dry and private smile, “that we are thus agreed.”
    There
was nothing left for the clerk to do but accept this unexpectedly pliant
response at its face value, and bow himself out as gracefully as he could. A
slight rustle and stir of curiosity and wonder had rippled round the
chapterhouse stalls, but Abbot Radulfus suppressed it with a look, and it was
not until the brothers emerged into the great court and dispersed to their work
that comment and speculation could break out openly. “Was he wise to encourage
her?” marvelled Brother Edmund, crossing towards the infirmary with Cadfael at
his side. “How if she does indeed take us to law? A judge might very well take
the part of a lone lady who wants her grandchild home.”
    “Be
easy,” said Cadfael placidly. “It’s but an empty threat. She knows as well as
any that the law is slow and costs dear, at the best of times, and this is none
of the best, with the king far away and busy with more urgent matters, and half
his kingdom cut off from any manner of justice at all. No, she hoped to make
the lord abbot think again and yield ground for fear of long vexation. She had
the wrong man. He knows she has no intention of going to law. Far more likely
to take law into her own hands and try to steal the boy away. It would take
slow law or swift action to snatch him back again, once she had him, and force
is further out of the abbot’s reach than it is out of hers.”
    “It
is to be hoped,” said Brother Edmund, aghast at the suggestion, “that she has
not yet used up all her persuasions, if the last resort is to be violence.” No
one could quite determine exactly how young Richard came to know every twist
and turn of the contention over his future. He could not have overheard
anything of what went on at chapter, nor were the novices present at the daily
gatherings, and there was none among the brothers likely to gossip about the
matter to the child at the centre of the conflict. Yet it was clear that
Richard did know all that went on, and took perverse pleasure in it. Mischief
made life more interesting, and here within the enclave he felt quite safe from
any real danger, while he could enjoy being fought over. “He watches the
comings and goings from Eaton,” said Brother Paul, confiding his mild anxiety
to Cadfael in the peace of the herb garden, “and is