Katherine Read Online Free PDF Page B

portcullis to the lower ward and huddled in a corner by the curfew tower near a black-gowned clerk who fidgeted impatiently while he also awaited answer to some message he had sent.
    Long Will dismounted, threw his reins to a stable urchin and disappeared.
    This great paved courtyard was as full of confusion as the streets. Mounted knights and squires continually came and went, servants ran panting from building to building, a noble lady arrived in a gilt and blazoned chariot, was received by a blowing chamberlain and vanished through one of the myriad doors. Suddenly there was a greater flurry and a flourish of trumpets. Two boys in white livery marched through the gate, one bearing a jewelled mitre and the other a crozier.
    They were followed by a plump, red-faced man in gold-embroidered robes, riding on a large grey horse. The Prioress Godeleva uttered an exclamation. She slid down off Bayard, pulling Katherine with her. " 'Tis the Bishop of Lincoln," she whispered and knelt on the paving-stones. Dame Cicily copied her prioress while tugging frantically at her torn habit.
    Here and there throughout the courtyard others knelt too. John Buckingham, the bishop, smiled vaguely around, raising two fingers in blessing. Then his eye caught sight of the nuns and he looked startled. He rode over to them.
    "Whence come you, Reverend Mother?" he asked Godeleva sharply, having noted her ring of office. "Are you of my flock?"
    "No, my lord," said Godeleva. "We come from Sheppey Priory in Kent."
    "Oh, the south-" said the bishop, losing interest. Had they come from his own diocese it would be necessary to inquire into the appearance of two nuns in such worldly surroundings, but he was relieved that no steps need be taken, for he was hungry and impatient to be housed.
    "We have permission, my lord," said Godeleva. "I bring this girl here at the Queen's command."
    "Ah." The bishop glanced down at Katherine, of whom he could see nothing but a cheap green woollen hood, for her head was properly bowed. But he noted her hands, which were very dirty and ringless.
    "Some charity wench of the good Queen's no doubt," he said with a condescending laugh, dismissing them all. He murmured "Benedicite," and rode back to his waiting coterie.
    Katherine flushed. There was enough truth in the bishop's careless statement to sting. I'm not a charity wench; my father was knighted, she thought hotly and she rose from her knees, staring after the bishop with no proper Christian humility. There were lesser priests around him, all fluttering and fawning except one, who stood apart. This priest wore doctoral robes and a four-cornered hat, and his brooding eyes, deep-set above a huge, hooked nose, were fixed on the magnificent Lord Bishop of Lincoln with a certain irony, visible even to Katherine, who therefore felt sudden interest.
    "I wonder who that is?" she said to Godeleva, pointing discreetly; but before the prioress, who did not know, could answer, the clerk behind them spoke.
    " 'Tis Master John Wyclif, that was King's chaplain."
    "Blessed Virgin!" cried the prioress crossing herself. "Not that priest who's dared defy His Holiness the Pope? Katherine, don't look at him! He's tainted with vile heresy. By Sainte Marie, I've even heard that he wishes to English the Gospels - is't true, Sir Clerk?"
    The clerk laughed. "I've heard so. His Lollards, the poor preachers, make all manner of shocking statements to the people."
    "Deus misereatur! 'Tis no matter for laughing!" The prioress frowned at the clerk's amused face. She drew Katherine and Dame Cicily away from him, and lectured Katherine apprehensively on the many dangers that must be guarded against in the world. And they continued to wait.
    During the next half-hour the girl had ample time to compare her own appearance with that of court ladies who flitted by to become increasingly uncomfortable. The chambress at Sheppey had done the best she could for Katherine, considering that there was no money