'You are the kindest of men, John, to have taken me back there,' she said, hugging his arm as they sat at his table, picking over the last remnants of a grilled pheasant that lay on a pewter plate between them. 'I want us to go on like this for ever — I know you can never marry me, but seeing you almost every day — and sometimes at night — is almost as good.'
He too felt contented, albeit temporarily until his wife came home. Richard de Revelle no longer plagued him in Exeter and the new sheriff was an amiable if lazy man who caused him no trouble. Even Thomas had cheered up markedly since the date of his restitution became known — the spat with Eustace was but a mere irritation that John hoped would be forgotten bythe next day. So there was little to worry the coroner, except for his unsolved cases, primarily the murders of August Scrope and Hugo Peverel. Even these faded into limbo at the prospect of climbing up the wide ladder at the back of the taproom, to Nesta's small cubicle — but much later, as he sank into a contented slumber in her arms, his last thoughts were that he must ride for Sampford the next day.
Odo and Ralph Peverel were no longer on speaking terms.
In the intervening weeks since Hugo's death, the elder brother had firmly announced his decision to assume the lordship himself as senior member of the family — and Ralph had equally forcefully disputed the claim and had ridden to Dorchester to consult an advocate to present his case to the justices at the next eyre, which was due to come to that town before it was likely to visit Exeter. He took Richard de Revelle with him — in fact, the former sheriff had insisted on accompanying him, as additional support. Until the matter was resolved, the two brothers refused to sit at table with each other and never spoke, other than through Joel or one of the senior servants, Waiter Hog or Roger Viel.
Avelina upbraided both of them for behaving like children, though her sympathies tilted in favour of Odo, who had not had another fit or fall since the time of Hugo's burial, which strengthened' his own position as master of the manor.
This antagonism between the two elder brothers made it easier for Joel to pursue the comely Beatrice, which he now did openly, courting the young widow like some love-stricken swain. When Hugo was alive, they had had to content themselves with making cow's eyes at each other and an occasional furtive kiss or fumble when her husband was away at a tournament, but now they felt free to flirt at will. Ralph and Odo were too concerned with their own feud to bother with him, but Avelina covertly disapproved of the younger woman's behaviour so soon after her bereavement, even though everyone knew that the marriage had been a sham, with only lust on Hugo's side and martyred forbearance on hers.
'The old lady wants to condemn her,' confided the steward to Walter Hog one day, when they were alone in the empty courthouse. 'But she's in a cleft stick, for she's planning to marry that Frenchman, even though Lord William's only been dead for half a year.'
'What's in it for him?' asked the bailiff curiously. 'I know she's a fairly handsome woman, but there are plenty of young beauties who would climb into bed with such a well-known tournament champion, if that's what he was after.'
Roger Viel, who knew most about the finances and deeds of the manor, shook his head. 'She's worth quite a lot, that woman. She is the daughter of a wealthy baron from Somerset, who settled a large annuity on her when she married. Then her husband William willed her a third share of all the profits of this manor for the rest of her life — and said nothing about it being forfeit if she remarried. Odo and especially Ralph were as mad as hell when they found out, for it eats into their own pockets at a time when they are not too well off themselves.'
This conversation had taken place a few days before the coroner came back to Sampford, a day when another visitor prompted the exchange between the bailiff and the steward. Riding up the track from the south came an erect figure on a black stallion, followed by a young Breton squire on a brown mare, leading a sumpter horse that carried, among other baggage, a mailed hauberk carefully wrapped in canvas, draped across the panniers. The lead rider wore a blue tunic under a black surcoat, with a hooded leather riding cape tied across the back of his saddle. Reginald de Charterai was dressed in his best, for he was coming to call upon his lady.
Only Odo saw his arrival at the hall and he pointedly walked away in the opposite direction, whilst a servant escorted the Frenchman to the upper floor. Suitably chaperoned by her maid, Reginald spent the next few hours in Avelina's quarters. Neither appeared for supper, food being taken up to the dowager's chamber, and Ralph and Joel sat at table in the hall with Beatrice and her handmaiden. When the women had retired, they set about savagely abusing the French intruder, but they could do nothing about his unwelcome visit. With the lordship in limbo until the court in Dorchester made a decision, all they could do was fume and bluster, as Odo refused to intervene — and with Avelina's legal rights in the manor equal to theirs, they were unable to forbid her to associate with her foreign suitor.
De Charterai spent the night in a spare chamber and was gone the next morning, but it was whispered by the maids that he was staying at an inn in Tiverton until he was ready to ride on to the next tournament at Wilton. Later that day, Avelina and her maid rode out in that direction, and the next morning Joel was deprived of Beatrice's company, as she went with her stepmother-in-Iaw to Tiverton, leaving a disgruntled trio of brothers to contemplate the possible break-up of the family.
Life in the unhappy manor had to go on much as before, however, as there was little alternative to a feudal routine that had been largely unchanged for centuries, even though Saxon earls had been replaced by even harsher Norman lords. The freemen and villeins tilled the same soil and herded the same animals. The cottars thatched their roofs and shoed the beasts and the miller ground their flour. In the churchyard, Hugo quietly rotted away with the others and Patrick the priest mumbled his Latin prayers and covertly swigged his wine.
In the yard behind the manor house, Robert Longus hammered new links into Ralph's coat of mail, repairing it ready for the next tournament, and his assistant Alexander ground and stropped the edges of various swords and daggers until they were sharp enough to be used for shaving. Agnes was back in the laundry hut, pounding clothes, towels and bedding in tubs of hot water with a dolly-stick and throwing them over racks outside to dry. She missed her occasional penny from the lord, but made do with the odd ha'penny from a quick tumble behind a barn with some of the wealthier villeins.
Into this scene of uneasy normality, John de Wolfe intruded once more on the Tuesday after his return from Wales. The coroner's team was augmented this time by Eustace de Relaga, trotting behind on a smart palfrey provided by his uncle, again contrasting sharply with the moth-eaten old nag ridden by Thomas de Peyne. They dismounted in front of the manor house to be confronted by Ralph Peverel, who stood at the top of the steps and seemed reluctant to move aside.
'What do you want now, Crowner?' he snapped rudely. 'I thought we'd seen the last of you.'
John climbed the few wooden steps and stood close to Ralph, looking down at him from his few extra inches in height.
'I am on the King's-business, as always. Have you any disagreement with that?'
It was an infallible door-opener, as any denial could be construed as disloyalty, if not treason. The middle brother grudgingly stood aside, but not without further protest.
'Why do you persist in persecuting our family? Don't you think we've suffered enough?'