Helene lay dead and all that her brother could do was yell at her before smashing his way into her chamber. It was a kind of defilement.
Exhaustion finally claimed him. Wymarc fell into a deep and troubled sleep. When he was awakened at cockcrow, he saw that the doctor was sitting opposite him. Wymarc sat up with a start and rubbed his palms into his eyes.
‘How long was I asleep?’ he said.
‘An hour or two.’
‘Have you been here all this time?’
‘For most of it.’
‘Why on earth did you not rouse me?’
‘You needed the sleep, my lord,’ said the doctor quietly. ‘You will get precious little of it when you hear what I have found out about your poor sister.’
Wymarc was on his feet. ‘Was there no hope at all?’
‘None, my lord.’
‘If only you had got here earlier.’
‘It would have been no use, my lord. Helene was dead long before you burst into the chamber. I know the signs. Her body is very eloquent.’
Baldwin the Doctor was a small, wizened, inoffensive man with an almost permanent smile of apology on his lips. A skilled physician, he was also kind and tactful when it came to passing on bad news about a patient to family members. The present situation, however, would tax even his discretion and he had been glad to find Wymarc asleep. The delay gave him time to come to terms with the tragedy and to frame the explanation he would have to give.
‘Well?’ said Wymarc.
‘Helene died from a fatal dose of poison. Until a proper postmortem examination is carried out, it is impossible to say what type of poison it was though the rash on her skin would incline me to think that belladonna was a constituent element.’
‘Would she have died in pain?’
‘I fear so, my lord.’ He saw the other wince. ‘The position of the limbs suggests she had some kind of spasm.’
Wymarc was stunned. ‘Helene? Poison? I cannot believe it, Baldwin.
I will not believe it.’
‘The evidence is unmistakable.’
‘But who could have given her such a hideous concoction? Who could have tricked her into taking it?’ He became furious. ‘There’s villainy at work here. I’ll hunt down the culprit, no matter how long it takes. Helene has been murdered!’
‘No, my lord.’
‘Someone has poisoned my sister!’
‘She took her life with her own hand.’
‘Who could do such a thing to her?’
‘Nobody else was involved.’
‘This must be reported to the sheriff at once.’
‘My lord,’ said Baldwin, rising wearily from his seat. ‘I am sorry to be the one to break the sad tidings to you but the truth must be faced.
Helene committed suicide.’
‘Never!’ yelled Wymarc, seizing him by the arms. ‘That is a hideous charge to make against my sister. Take it back at once. I will not listen to such calumny. Take it back!’
‘If only I could.’
‘Helene would never kill herself.’
‘She did, my lord. Send for another doctor, if you do not believe me.
Every physician in the land will tell you the same thing. Helene deliberately swallowed the contents of that bottle.’
‘She was forced to drink the poison.’
‘By whom?’
‘The villain who procured it.’
‘But there was nobody else in the bedchamber with her. It was locked from the inside.’ Baldwin grimaced. ‘Please let me go, my lord.
You are hurting me.’
Wymarc relaxed his grip and the doctor stepped back a precautionary yard, rubbing his arms to relieve the pain. He waited as Wymarc slowly came to accept the grim diagnosis. It was a long and harrowing process. As the full implications began to dawn on Wymarc, he staggered to a bench and lowered himself on to it, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees to bury his throbbing head in his hands.
‘Think of the shame,’ he murmured. ‘The dreadful shame.’
‘You have my deepest sympathy.’
‘Helene! Of all people!’
‘There will have to be an inquest, I fear.’
‘Everyone will know. Everyone will remember. The whole county will point me out hereafter as the man whose sister took her own life. They will blame me. ’
‘No, my lord.’
‘Tongues will wag. Fingers will point.’
‘This is not the time to think of yourself,’ suggested the doctor softly. ‘Save your pity for Helene. She died in fearful circumstances.
What made her choose such a painful exit from life? How did such a lovely young girl, with every advantage, come to lose the will to live?’
Wymarc shook his head. ‘I do not know.’
‘Helene had not been ill, to my knowledge.’
‘She was fit and healthy.’
‘What of her mind?’
‘There was nothing wrong with her mind,’ said Wymarc defensively.
‘What are you suggesting?’
‘Was the girl troubled? Racked by anxiety?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Had something upset her recently?’
‘Helene was very happy,’ insisted her brother. ‘My wife will tell you the same. Helene was part of a loving family here. She had no cause to be troubled or upset.’
‘No broken friendship, perhaps?’ said Baldwin, fishing with a delicate line. ‘Helene was beautiful. She must have had many admirers.
Was there a special friend among them? Someone with whom she may have been involved in a romance?’
‘There is no question of that.’
‘Are you quite sure, my lord?’
‘Completely. I would have known about it.’
‘Not necessarily.’
‘She was my sister, Baldwin,’ the other reminded him. ‘She lived under my roof. I know everything that Helene did and said. There was no romance with anyone. I would have forbidden such a thing.
She would not have dared even to consider it.’
‘I fear that you are mistaken.’
‘That is impossible.’
Baldwin took a deep breath and steeled himself.
‘You will have to know it sooner or later, my lord.’
‘Know what?’
‘Helene deceived you.’
‘My sister was an obedient girl. She would never do that.’
‘The proof is undeniable.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘There was a romance of some sort, my lord. I examined her with great care. There is no room for doubt.’ He gulped in some more air before delivering the blow. ‘Helene was with child. When she swallowed that poison, she did not just take her own life. Mother and baby quit this world together.’
During the brief exchange with him in the courtroom, Ralph Delchard had taken an immediate dislike to Bertrand Gamberell and the man did not improve on acquaintance. When he cornered Ralph in the bailey of Oxford Castle the following morning, Gamberell was almost aggressive.
‘What did you say to Robert d’Oilly?’ he demanded.
‘That is none of your business.’
‘I wish to know.’
‘You are wasting your breath by even asking,’ said Ralph. ‘The sheriff and I had a private conversation yesterday. We felt no obligation to include you in it.’
‘I am deeply involved here.’
‘From what I hear, Bertrand Gamberell is deeply involved with himself. Do not flaunt your vanity in my face for I’ll not endure it.’
Ralph had been on his way to the stables when he was accosted by Gamberell. The latter’s debonair appearance was at odds with his belligerent manner but he was nothing if not flexible. Realising that he could not harass Ralph to any effect, he tried another approach, producing the dazzling smile which had won him so many friends and conquests among the ladies of the county. Hands on hips, he appraised his companion.
‘I like you, my lord,’ he decided.
‘You have a strange way of showing your affection.’
‘Forgive my rash conduct,’ said Gamberell easily. ‘I have been sorely tried these past few days. First, one of my knights is slain at Woodstock, then my finest horse is stolen.’
‘I committed neither of these crimes.’
‘That is very true. Indeed, you have gone out of your way to help us solve one of them. That calls for thanks rather than condemnation.’