Henary and Lady Catherine exchanged glances.
‘This dress was taken off quite roughly,’ Catherine said. ‘See — it’s torn down the side. Not greatly, but it was evidently removed in a hurry. You would expect greater care for something so valuable. Are you sure Rambert was telling the truth? Did he describe his attacker?’
‘He said he didn’t see anyone. I think he was too drunk. As for the dress, he said he had no idea how it got there.’
‘How do you estimate his account?’
‘I didn’t think he was telling me everything,’ Jay said. ‘But he was not obviously lying. He was more interested in his pupil than anyone else. She’s vanished as well.’
Lady Catherine — who had, Jay noted, taken control of the conversation, with Henary standing quietly at the side — pursed her lips. ‘So we either have a mysterious stranger attacking Rambert and perhaps Rosalind, or maybe Rambert attacking her.’
‘Or maybe neither,’ Henary added. ‘All we have is a sequence of events. We know they must be connected, but we do not know how. It is very worrying, nonetheless.’
‘Extremely.’
‘We must move quickly. Now I must recommend a proper search party, and I think it would be best to detain Rambert for a while. I would be distressed indeed if a man of his distinction had committed an abominable crime, but all things are possible.’
‘No. No one must go into the forest for two days except me.’
‘But Lady Catherine...’
‘You know the reason.’
Henary seemed for a moment as though he was about to argue. Then his shoulders sagged a little. ‘I wish we could pursue them further, though.’
‘That is out of my hands. I must go to the Abasement.’
‘But we must do something. She may be in danger,’ Jay said once a very disappointed Henary had left. In truth he did not understand what had happened, but he knew that, for whatever reason, the immediate pursuit of Rosalind had been postponed. ‘The trail is still fresh. If we wait even an hour...’
For the first time, Jay was alone with the Lady of Willdon and his worry overwhelmed his discretion. She was staring out of the window thoughtfully, watching as a small group went around packing away the tables and collecting the bowls and plates and glasses from the night before. Jay knew he had no right to say anything, but he was astonished by the lack of urgency. Lady Catherine regarded him coolly.
‘When I say it is not possible, I mean just that. The matter is closed.’
Jay realised he had overstepped the mark, but still could not restrain himself. ‘Why?’ he said. ‘Surely it is better...’
‘It is the day of Abasement,’ she said. ‘Did you not realise that was the purpose of all the festivities yesterday?’
Jay shook his head. He had not the slightest idea what she was talking about.
‘Walk with me,’ she said, and Jay, knowing a command when he heard one, fell cautiously in line with her as she led him out of the building and towards a little area of fruit trees — damson and peach and plum and apple — with a path that led through into the far garden.
‘I am the Lord and Lady of Willdon. My position is one of high authority and great power. You, for example. You trespassed on my lands. Once you were caught I could have had you declared a slave. I could have flogged you. I could have cut off your hands or your head. I need consult no one for such a decision, and answer to no one after it.’
Jay thought it wise to remain silent.
‘Ordinarily, such decisions and punishments I pass to a court of men and women chosen from the locality. Three men, three women. Is that how it works with you?’
‘Not really. In my village, the old men judge the women, the old women judge the men and any serious crime is passed to the Visitor. In Ossenfud each college deals with its own.’
‘Well, here all authority derives from me. The courts decide my justice and mercy. Only I can overrule their decision. Not that I do.’
Jay did not see what the point of this was, but he nodded. It was interesting, and he had never met anyone who could order the death of another. Nor had he expected that such a person would look like Lady Catherine.
‘Do you know where my power comes from?’
He shook his head. She was going to tell him so there wasn’t much point in guessing.
‘It comes from the people I judge. They give me all authority, I hand it to my courts. A heady thing, don’t you think? There is much more, of course. My authority determines the level of taxes, adjudicates inheritance, apportions vacant lands, looks after the domain’s relations with the outside world, decides which roads need to be repaired, which streams cleansed. I own the mills on behalf of all, and the granaries and the farming equipment. It would be easy to become drunk on so much power, no?’
‘I really do not know, my Lady. I have never had any power.’
‘Believe me, then. It would need only a brief moment of weakness for any man or woman to think this power is theirs by right and that they are better than the people they rule. That way lies tyranny, and we have seen it in the stories many times. You have studied them, no?’
‘A few.’
‘What year of studies are you in?’
‘My sixth.’
‘Then you haven’t studied them.’
‘Well, no.’
‘Never lie like that to me, Jay. I forgive ignorance but not vanity. If you do not know something, then admit it freely. Has Henary never told you that?’
Jay nodded. ‘Many times. He will tell you, if you ask. But I have read many of these stories on my own account, even if I have not yet formally studied them.’
‘And now?’
‘My Lady, I am a poor boy from a farm. A student who knows that he knows little. In the last day I have narrowly escaped slavery, met a fairy, been to a festivity of wonderment, heard music such as I have never heard before, lost a girl whose importance I do not understand, and now am walking in the sunshine with a woman reputedly the most powerful and beautiful in Anterwold. I am doing my best.’
Lady Catherine burst out in a peal of laughter. ‘Yes, you are. It may be that Henary is right about you. I have not been kind to you and I apologise. Shall we start again and be friends?’
Jay smiled bravely.
‘Then let me continue with my lengthy and tedious account,’ she went on, resuming her way down the alley of trees.
‘My predecessors here knew full well the folly of mankind, their infinite capacity for self-importance. So they constructed reminders to make the people of this land recall that they were not slaves, and the rulers that they were not masters. Did you know that the least of labourers on my estate can have me hurled from my office?’
He shook his head.
‘They can. In theory. They can lodge a complaint against me with my own court, and that court can summon me for a hearing. If my failing is serious enough they can call a meeting of every council in the domain and strip me of my power and authority. It has never happened. After all, they’d just have to replace the ruler with someone else. But every few years there is a ceremony of reminder that it is possible. It begins in an hour.’
‘What happens?’
‘It is best if you see for yourself. I am telling you this because I have a use for you. I need someone with me from noon to dusk, to dusk and to dusk. Two days and a half. To watch and report that I bear my humiliation with dignity, and that the humiliation is within the bounds of tradition. That person has to be independent of me and independent of the people. Often enough the task goes to a Storyteller, but Henary has rather too much to do today.’
Jay could almost feel the panic flowing over him.
‘So I want you to take up the task. Will you, Jay, witness the ceremony of Abasement?’
‘I wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do.’