“A distinct possibility,” Lady Margaret agreed with a brief smile.
“We are in accord then, madam? We will both do what we can to ease my lady the Countess of Stanton into this marriage that her sire wishes of her,” the duke said.
“Indeed, my lord, we are in agreement,” Lady Margaret replied.
And in the weeks that followed, despite the king’s desire for a swift marriage, summer fled into autumn. Finally the marriage contract was drawn up. The king would give his natural daughter Adair Radcliffe in marriage to Llywelyn FitzTudor, son of Jasper Tudor. FitzTudor would have to assume the surname of Radcliffe, as the king had long ago promised John Radcliffe. It was a sticking point that delayed the union, with both Jasper Tudor and his son arguing against it, but in the end they agreed.
The bride would have a dower of one hundred gold pieces, full weight, not clipped; a dozen silver spoons; two chased silver cups; a trunk of linens for both table and bed; three new gowns; three bolts of cloth; new leather shoes; a gold chain; and two gold rings, one with a pearl, and the other with a ruby. There would also be a pair of silver candlesticks, a wedding gift from the queen; and two horses, a palfrey for the bride, a stallion for the groom, from the king.
And while her fate was being decided without her, Adair had reached Stanton in just under a fortnight.
The trip home had taken much less time, given that they might travel the roads, and those roads were safe again.
Still, it was a miracle that two women alone but for a large dog had managed to reach Stanton without incident. They rode into her village, and, recognizing Elsbeth, the villagers flocked from their cottages. One look at the girl riding with her and the villagers fell to their knees, some of them sobbing.
“What is it, Mama?” a little boy asked his parent.
“Why do you greet?”
“ ’Tis the young mistress come home to us, laddie,” his mother told him as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Once again there is a Radcliffe on the land.
Praise be to our sweet Lord Jesu and his blessed Mother!”
An older man arose and bowed to Adair. “Welcome home, my lady. I am Albert. My da was your father’s majordomo. I am pleased to say the hall is most habitable. Good Duke Richard came several years ago and told us of your miraculous escape. His men restored the building’s roof, and we have kept the hall clean.”
“Thank you, Albert,” Adair said, looking at him from her saddle. “Thank you all for your welcome. Tell me, does your da still live, and is he able to return to his duties?”
“Alas, my lady, my da died fighting at the earl’s side,”Albert replied.
“God assoil both their good souls,” Adair said quietly.
“Will you then take your father’s place in my hall?”
“I am honored that you would ask me, my lady, and right gladly I will serve you,” Albert answered, and he smiled broadly. Then he grew more sober. “We lost many furnishings in the fire, I fear, my lady. With your permission I will order the craftsmen to begin making new for you. And I will gather together a staff for the hall. While many were slain that terrible day, many survived. And with the winter coming there will be more hands to help before it is time to prepare for the spring.”
“Walk with me up to the hall,” Adair said, moving her horse forward. “Have we any cattle, or was it all lost that day?”
“What wasn’t lost was eventually stolen by our neighbors, both Scots and English,” Albert said.
Adair nodded. “We will replace them come thespring. No sense in buying them now and having to feed them through the winter,” she reasoned.
“My lady, if I may be so bold,” Albert said. “How did you and Elsbeth escape the carnage? I should not have known you but that you resemble your dear mother so greatly. And is that poor weary creature one of your father’s dogs?”
“There is an escape tunnel from the hall. My parents put Elsbeth and me into it along with Beiste that day.
They had horses waiting for us at the other end. We remained until the raiders had gone. I was sent to King Edward, as he owed my father a debt. I have been raised in his household these ten years past. It was Duke Richard who found us on the road as we neared Westminster, where the queen lay in sanctuary,” Adair explained, making her story as simple as possible. There was no need for any other here except for Elsbeth to know the truth of who really sired her. She would not shame John Radcliffe, who had always been so good to the child she once was.
“When the good duke came and told us that you lived we counted it a miracle. He promised us that you would return one day, my lady,” Albert said. “And you have.”
“First I will settle in,” Adair told him. “You must tell me who survived, what is left, and then we will decide how to proceed.”
They reached the hall and entered the courtyard, which was, Adair noted, well swept, but otherwise barren. The roses and other plantings her mother had so lovingly tended were obviously long gone. Probably destroyed in the fire, Adair considered sadly. In the spring they would replant, for it was too late now, and the frostwas already in the soil this far north. Albert took a key from the pocket in his breeches and fit it in the door of the stone building. The key turned easily, and he flung the door open.
They stepped inside. It was cold and dank within. The only light came from the weak midmorning sunlight coming through the few unshuttered windows that were unbroken. Adair walked forward, remembering the corridor leading to the great hall as her favorite place to play and hide from Nursie. It was the same, and yet it wasn’t. The house was so very, very quiet. There was no life to it at all, but neither was it filled with any haunts of those killed here on that awful day so long ago.
“Can the villagers spare any wood, Albert? We must get some warmth back into the house before nightfall,”
Adair said. She looked about her as they entered the great hall. It was virtually empty but for two high-backed wood chairs behind a ramshackle table that sat where the high board had once been, and a low-backed wooden settle by the large hearth. The hearth had no firedogs. The tapestries were gone from the walls.
