Helewise, following the direction of the waving hand, felt a wave of relief flood through her. Glancing at Josse, she saw that he was thinking the same. Unless Alba turned sharp right off the track Berthe was indicating, she would go straight past the charcoal burners’ camp and not even suspect it was there.
Even if the young lovers had returned, Alba would not find them.
‘Come on,’ Helewise said firmly, taking hold of Berthe’s hand. ‘We’ll follow her. You, me and Sir Josse. Don’t worry, Berthe, I’m sure we’ll find her.’
But before they could set off on Alba’s trail, there was a rustling in the undergrowth and a figure appeared from the path behind them.
It was Bastian.
He ran towards them, shouting as he ran, ‘They’ve gone!’
Waiting until he had slid to a halt, Helewise said calmly, ‘Yes. We know.’
Bastian’s mouth opened and shut. ‘But you — why-?’
Berthe, looking from Helewise to Bastian and back again, wailed suddenly, ‘I don’t understand! Oh, why don’t you stop arguing and look for them! Both my sisters are lost in the forest, and it’s all my fault!’
Once again, she flung herself against Helewise.
Josse, stepping forward, put a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. ‘You must not take blame on yourself, Berthe,’ he said. Helewise flashed him a look of gratitude. ‘These are matters whose roots go a long way back, and-’
‘It is my fault, whatever you say,’ Berthe cried. ‘If I hadn’t let Alba out, Meriel wouldn’t have had to run away!’
Oh, but the child’s logic has deserted her! Helewise thought. ‘Berthe, that is not right,’ she said firmly. ‘Meriel and Jerome ran away before you opened the door to Alba’s cell.’
‘But-’ Berthe began.
Bastian cleared his throat. Glancing at him, Helewise noticed on his face an expression she had not seen before. It was. . it looked as if it were pity.
He, too, came to stand beside Helewise and Josse. In a rather clumsy gesture, briefly he put his hand on Berthe’s head. It was almost as if he were bestowing a blessing.
‘Berthe?’ he said.
She raised her face and looked up at him. ‘Yes?’
‘The blame is mine. I thought I could return alone to the camp, and speak to Jerome. As God is my witness, I meant no harm — in fact, quite the opposite. But I am not as stealthy a tracker as you, or young Augustine — Jerome heard me coming. He and Meriel disappeared into the trees and, try as I might, I could not find them. I called out till I was hoarse, but they would not come out of their hiding place.’
Berthe was the only one to be comforted by Bastian’s announcement; Helewise, totally perplexed, saw from Josse’s face that he was equally puzzled.
‘What business did you have with Jerome?’ Josse asked.
‘And,’ Helewise added, ‘what was so alarming about it that Jerome was driven to run away from you and hide?’
Bastian gave a sigh. ‘Should we not put this aside for now and proceed with our search?’ he asked hopefully.
Together Helewise and Josse said decisively, ‘No.’
He sighed again. ‘Very well. Abbess, when I said that my nephew Felix had been on the point of joining our Order, I was sparing with the truth; it was but a lie of omission, but a lie nevertheless. Jerome, too, was destined to join us.’
‘Jerome was?’ Berthe said incredulously. ‘But he’s in love with Meriel! He’s married to her; I saw them wed, I was there!’
‘Yes, I know.’ Bastian smiled kindly at her. ‘However, there was a time before he knew her when he believed he had a call from God. When he met and fell in love with Meriel — and I gather that the two events were very nearly simultaneous — he believed he was doing a great wrong, both to God and to our Order. He thought that he had no option but to run away, which is exactly what he did. He married Meriel, and the young couple were planning to leave, with Berthe, when Alba — that is, when Alba acted.’
‘She told Meriel that Jerome was dead,’ Berthe whispered. ‘It broke Meriel’s heart. And then-’
Very gently, Helewise put a hand to Berthe’s face and pressed it to her chest. ‘No, Berthe,’ she said firmly. ‘There is no need for any more. We all know.’
She met Bastian’s eyes, trying to urge him to hurry on with his tale. Understanding, immediately he did so.
‘Jerome set off to follow Alba and the girls, and I set someone to follow him,’ he said. ‘I was relieved, Abbess, when you jumped to the conclusion that Jerome had been helped by another, more experienced monk; in fact, Jerome needed nobody’s help. Indeed, he threw Brother Bartholomew off the trail quite early on. It was only an inspired guess that brought Bartholomew on to Hawkenlye.’ His expression fell into sadness.
‘Brother Bartholomew is the man who died in the Vale?’ Josse said.
Bastian nodded. ‘Yes, that was him. A fine man, loyal, willing. And a good monk.’
‘We have prayed for him, Brother Bastian,’ Helewise said.
Bastian nodded.
After a brief and rather awkward pause, Josse said, ‘Brother Bastian, how did you find your way to Hawkenlye?’
Bastian gave a brief smile. ‘I followed the Abbess.’
Before she could stop herself, Helewise burst out, ‘I knew we were being followed! Did I not say so, Sir Josse?’
‘Aye, Abbess.’ He, too, seemed to be suppressing a smile.
‘I knew, naturally, that you were going from Denney to Sedgebeck,’ Bastian said. ‘In fact, Brother Timothy told me a great deal about you and your mission. He also, incidentally, almost gave away to you why the name Sedgebeck was familiar to him; I managed to send Brother Matthew to distract him just in time. It would not have done for you to find out that the Templars at Denney knew all about Alba of Sedgebeck. Now where was I? Ah, yes. I was telling you how I managed to follow you. I merely had to ensure that I did not miss you when you left the Sedgebeck nuns and, after that, it was easy.’
‘You were watching in the wood at Medely?’ Helewise demanded. ‘When-’
‘I was. It was you, Abbess, who led me to that terrible discovery in the burned-out cottage. My heartfelt thanks are due to you and the brothers for undertaking a task there that should have been mine.’
She whispered, ‘The burial?’, and he nodded.
Stunned, she could not think what to say.
But Josse, she was relieved to find, was not so easily distracted. ‘You still have not told us why you had to find Jerome,’ he said. ‘Nor explained why you blame yourself for making him flee.’
Bastian stared at Josse. ‘Have you not guessed?’ he asked gently.
‘I imagine you intend to take him back to Denney by force,’ Josse began, ‘and make him honour whatever vow he has made to your Order.’
There was a small silence. Then Bastian said, ‘Sir Josse, we do not force men to become Knights Templar.’ A wry expression briefly crossed his face. ‘Usually we have no need. And Jerome has no vows to honour; as yet he has taken none.’
‘Then why-?’ Helewise began.
‘Abbess,’ Bastian said, ‘I needed to seek Jerome out to tell him he had run away needlessly.’ He put his face closer to hers, as if by so doing he might more readily convince her. ‘I had to find him. Don’t you see? Unless I did, he would always carry a needlessly guilty conscience, believing he had committed a grave sin where there had been, in fact, no sin at all.’
Swinging round, away from the little group, he said in exasperation, ‘Abbess Helewise, Sir Josse, I did not want to haul Jerome back to Denney, fling him in a punishment cell and turn him into a Templar! I sought him so as to give him and Meriel my heartfelt blessings on their marriage!’
Chapter Twenty-one
Helewise was finding Bastian’s revelation quite hard to take in.