‘It won’t be the same. Won’t be like having my own kin at my side,’ the old man moaned.
‘I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ Sabin said. ‘But I have to go — you know that as well as I do, Grandfather. We sent word to the Duchess explaining our absence, and I’m sure she has realised by now that we’re not going back. But, for the trust that she placed in us in the past and for the affection that grew between us, I cannot rest until I have seen her and explained myself to her face to face.’ Abruptly she dropped Benoit’s hands, throwing herself away from him. ‘Oh, try to understand!’
Gervase, eyeing Josse, gave a faint apologetic shrug. Then, turning to Benoit, he said firmly, ‘You understand very well, I think, Benoit.’ The old man had the grace to look ashamed. ‘It is only natural that you do not like the prospect of Sabin’s absence but, knowing what this trip means to her, you will surely give her your blessing.’ It sounded more like a command than a question and Josse hid an admiring smile; Gervase appeared to have the measure of the old man.
‘I don’t know about blessing,’ Benoit muttered, narrowing his red-rimmed eyes and peering up in Gervase’s general direction.
Gervase moved closer, adopting Sabin’s former position at the old man’s feet. ‘She has made up her mind at last in the matter of a decision that has been extremely hard,’ he said gently. ‘Your welfare has been a major factor in her consideration and she was willing to give up what she herself wanted if you did not wish it.’
‘I don’t want to go back to Nantes!’ Benoit wailed. ‘I’m too old for such a journey and it would be the finish of me!’
‘Which,’ Gervase said — and Josse could almost hear the gritting of teeth — ‘is precisely why you’re going to stay here. Sabin will be back with you again very soon, but first you must let her do what she has to do. She will not rest easy until she has spoken to the Duchess.’
Benoit gazed into Gervase’s eyes. ‘You’ll take good care of her?’ he whispered.
Gervase smiled. ‘You know that I will. I give you my word to protect her with my life.’
‘Hm.’ The old man turned his head to where he thought Sabin stood. ‘Sabin?’
‘Here, Grandfather.’ She hurried to his side.
Benoit gave a dramatic sigh and, placing a hand on each of the two heads before him, one brown, one fair, he said, ‘Go, then, and may the good Lord above keep you in his care. Do what you must, Granddaughter, and then return to me.’
There was a short silence, and then Sabin murmured, ‘Thank you, Grandfather.’
The old man dropped his hands back into his lap and Gervase and Sabin stood up. Then Benoit got to his feet with a groan — Josse noticed how both the two young people instantly went to help him — and said, ‘Now, all this has tired me. I shall retire to my bed and take a nap.’ He shrugged off the helping hands and shuffled off towards the doorway at the rear of the hall. Reaching it, he turned.
‘Oh, Sabin?’
‘Yes, Grandfather?’
‘You say you intend to fetch back from Nantes as many of the tools of our trade as you can carry. Well, while you’re at it, bring the smaller of my two herbals, will you? I would dearly like to look at it again before my sight fails entirely.’
And with that remark, punctuated by a couple more sighs, he went through the doorway and out of sight.
Josse heard a quiet sob; Gervase heard it too and went to Sabin, taking her in his arms and whispering words of comfort. After a few moments she wiped her eyes and, giving Josse a smile, said, ‘I apologise for my tears. Grandfather has the ability to make me feel so very sorry for him and, although I know full well he knows exactly what he’s doing, still it affects me.’
‘I understand,’ Josse said. ‘It’s hard to ignore the appeal of blood kin and to do so would take a sterner heart than yours, Sabin.’ He returned her smile with genuine affection; he had developed a high regard for her. Then: ‘So you’ve made up your mind?’
Now her smile was radiant. ‘Yes. I shall return to Nantes to see the Duchess and collect what Grandfather and I require of our possessions there. I have work enough and more here in Tonbridge to keep myself occupied and, there being still a great deal that Grandfather may teach me of our craft, he too will have a useful and fulfilling life.’ She shot a glance at Gervase and her face flushed pink. ‘There is one more thing to tell you. Gervase and I are to be married.’
Josse held out both hands and Gervase took one, Sabin the other. ‘I am not in the least surprised but I confess myself quite delighted,’ he said warmly. ‘You will be an asset, dear Sabin, to both town and husband.’
She laughed, leaning forward to kiss him on both cheeks. He noticed, as he had done when first he met her, the faint and attractive smell that he guessed to be a melange of the herbs that she worked with. It was, he thought absently, the trademark of the apothecary. .
‘. . just finished briefing my men and Sabin and I are off to Brittany as soon as we can,’ Gervase was saying.
‘What?’ Despite having listened to the discussion of this trip that had just been batted to and fro, Josse had not made the connection. ‘But — I am bound for Brittany too! I am aiming to leave at first light tomorrow.’
Gervase and Sabin looked at each other, and then back at Josse. ‘Why?’ Gervase demanded. Quickly Josse told him about the problem of Merlin’s Tomb, adding that the reason for his present visit to Gervase had been to inform him that, in Josse’s opinion, the whole operation was almost certainly fraudulent. He explained that the decision had been made for him to be shown the real tomb of Merlin, over in Brittany, and that this was why he was being sent there. ‘So you go on a mission for Hawkenlye Abbey,’ Gervase mused, ‘where the monks and the nuns and the good Abbess must for sure be missing their usual pilgrims?’
‘In part, aye, but it is also to prevent a great many people paying out hard-earned money to a trickster,’ Josse returned promptly.
Gervase bowed his acknowledgement. ‘Of course.’ Then: ‘Do you agree to our riding together, Josse? I have given my word to Benoit that I will take good care of Sabin’ — he gave her a loving look — ‘but how much safer she will be with you also at her side.’
‘I agree right readily,’ Josse said, ‘I plan to leave tomorrow: can you be prepared to depart by then?’
Gervase looked at Sabin. Shooting a swift glance at the doorway through which her grandfather had gone and biting her lip, she said, ‘Yes. Of course.’ Then, taking a breath so deep that it raised her tense shoulders, ‘The sooner we leave, the sooner we shall return.’
‘I must inform you,’ Josse said, ‘that I will not be alone.’
‘Who is to accompany you, Josse?’ Sabin asked. ‘Somebody from the Abbey?’
‘No. If I’m to find the location of the true burial place of Merlin I’ll need help, for I am told it lies deep in a forest. A guide has been arranged for me.’ He met Gervase’s eyes and read in them understanding and pity. ‘Joanna is going to show me the way.’
Gervase nodded. ‘The obvious choice, of course. And how do you feel about that?’
Josse frowned, then suddenly smiled. He said, aware that it was something of an understatement, ‘Fine.’
Joanna stood just outside the gates of Hawkenlye Abbey, Meggie sitting on the ground beside her yawning hugely, and tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. I will be better, she kept telling herself, as soon as I have seen him and we have acknowledged one another.
Oh, hurry up, Josse, she pleaded silently. Where are you? What are you doing, that keeps me waiting in this painful suspense? To take her mind off her anxiety, she thought back to the extraordinary happenings of the past twenty-four hours.