The Exiled Read Online Free PDF

It made Anne grin, a blessed lightening of her spirit.
    ‘Yes, Deborah. As you used to do when I was little,’ and she smiled warmly, fondly at the older woman. ‘It will be nice to be clean again.’ There was a genuine smile in return, and suddenly the women felt like friends again. Close and loving friends.

Chapter Two
    A nne kept deliberate state in the hall during the evening of the canal incident. Sitting alone at Mathew’s high table, she was waited on with some ceremony as the household sat below the dais, eating.
    Deborah had restored Anne’s appearance as well as she could and the household was surprised by her calm as they ate the special delicacies prepared in thanksgiving for Anne’s survival. Only Deborah knew how badly Anne’s knees had been cut by the fall onto the ice of the canal, though she’d been able to pare back the damaged nails with a small, sharp knife so that Anne’s hands at least were respectable again.
    As the meal was finishing, Anne called Ivan up to the high board. The curious hum died down in the hall. Of course, news had flashed through the household as soon as Anne’d been half carried through the doors of the house, but there was much wild speculation as to what, exactly, had happened and why.
    As Ivan joined her, Anne rose slowly to her feet and smiled at the household below. ‘Ivan saved my honour tonight, and the honour of this house. I believe that without his fearless action I might never have tasted Maitre Flaireau’s famous pike fritters again!’ She smiled and it lightened the mood, there was even laughter. Ivan had dropped his head humbly, as was proper. This amused her — this fighting bear was the antithesis of humble.
    ‘Ivan has protected us all tonight — perhaps none of us would be sitting here at Sir Mathew’s board if he had not done what he did ...’ Anne saw them glance from face to face. Turned out of this comfortable hall by violent strangers? A stark fate in a hard northern winter. ‘And I believe that Sir Mathew, your master and my kind guardian, would want me to reward Ivan for his bravery. Therefore I have consulted with Maxim,’ she bowed to her guardian’s steward, ‘and he has suggested a suitable token of the esteem of this house.’
    Anne beckoned to Ivan. Blushing fiercely, he left his seat to the good-natured jibes of his friends, as Maxim handed a substantial chain of gold to his master’s ward. Hanging from it was a brightly coloured, enamelled shield about the size of a small child’s palm. On one side was the red bear of Brugge and on the other, the arms of England — the Leopards and the Lilies quartered by the cross of Saint George.
    ‘Ivan, wear this proudly. Then all will know of your courage. Thank you, my friend.’ Anne dropped the gold collar over Ivan’s head and carefully arranged it to lie pleasingly over his shoulders. The man bowed with all the grace of a courtier and backed away from her as if she had been royalty to resume his seat.
    ‘Now I have news of interest for you. Sir Mathew Cuttifer will be with us very soon — we’ve been given word that he sailed from Southampton some days ago. He will be most pleased to know that you have all performed so well in defence of his house. Therefore now, to celebrate the deliverance that Holy Mary has been pleased to send me, and the news of my guardian’s arrival, there is good, honeyed wine.’
    She signalled to Maxim and stoneware jugs of hot Burgundian wine were brought in from the buttery and distributed amongst the diners — a rare treat.
    A happy buzz ran around the hall as the household helped themselves. They all liked Lady Anne, but she was a bit of a mystery. It was a scandal in Brugge that she lived here in Brugge without a husband, ward or no ward of Sir Mathew’s.
    Tonight’s attack would set sage heads nodding all over town; Anne was a prize coveted by many since she was a girl with her own modest fortune, or so it was said. It was therefore foolish