“The roof and the interior burned,” Albert explained.
“The walls stood, which is why we were able to save the hall, my lady.”
“Were the contents of all the rooms damaged or pillaged?” she asked him.
“All but the kitchens below the great hall, my lady.
The upper stories and the hall were fired individually, and the contents carried off, but the kitchens were not thought important. The women who survived to return packed everything away in the cupboards for the family’s return one day. We knew you would come home to us.”
Elsbeth had been silent, but now she seemed to recover from her shock of seeing what had once been a gracious home destroyed. “Fetch the wood,” she told Albert. “And see if any would be kind enough to loan us pallets, and not ones filled with fleas, if you please.
Her ladyship will sleep in the hall temporarily until we can get some furnishings made. And we’ll need a staff.
And everything that’s broken must be repaired as soon as possible, for the winter will not be kind to any of us.”
“Indeed, Mistress Elsbeth, it won’t,” Albert said.
“ ’Tis good to see you home again too. You’ll have some grand stories to tell, I’m sure.”
“I’m not one for telling tales,” Elsbeth responded.
“Oh, Nursie”—Adair fell back for a moment on her old form of address for Elsbeth—“I’m sure Albert and the other Stanton folk would love hearing your stories of the king and the court. There is no harm in it.”
“If it’s all right with your ladyship, well, then, perhaps I can recall a few moments that might entertain,” Elsbeth said slowly. “But I’m no gossip!”
Albert grinned at Elsbeth. He was a stocky man of medium height with mild blue eyes and a fringe of brownish hair beneath a bald pink pate. “I’ll look forward to it,” he told her with a mischievous wink.
“Now, you mind your manners,” Elsbeth scolded.
Then her tone softened. “How is your mother? I remember her so well.”
“She escaped the carnage. They weren’t interested in an old woman,” he said. “She will be happy to see you, Elsbeth.”
“And your wife? You have certainly taken a wife, Albert?”
“Nay. There was no time,” he answered her. “At first there were only a few old men and women and some younglings left after the raid. I had been injured and left for dead. Over the next few months some of the younger women returned, many with big bellies. And finally about a dozen of the other men, young and of middle years. I was, it seemed, in charge. We have managed to rebuild the village, keep the hall safe, and plant enough to just get by.” He turned to Adair. “I have had to act as sheriff and magistrate, my lady. We were forgotten here in Stanton until the duke came. If I have overstepped my authority, my lady, I hope you will forgive me,” Albert finished.
“Nay,” Adair told him. “You have done nobly, Albert, and you have my undying gratitude and thanks for your loyalty to Stanton. But for the duke it is likely we will continue to be forgotten. Now, you had best arrange for that wood and our pallets. I am going to walk about my home now and reacquaint myself with it.” With a nod she left the hall.
“She looks like her ma,” Albert said.
Elsbeth nodded. “Aye, she does. But she’s stubborn.
She’s run away from the king’s house, and best you know it now. She thinks they’ll not come after her, but I disagree. She has value to the king.”
“Run away? Why?” he asked.
Elsbeth motioned Albert to a chair. “Sit a moment, and I will tell you.”
“Let me get the wood first and begin a fire to warm the hall,” he said to her. “Then we can speak, and I will listen to what you have to tell me.”
She nodded to him. “Go on then.” And she sat down as he went out. It seemed that he was gone a very little time, but when he returned it was with several men and women bearing all kinds of items. Enough wood for several days was stacked by the large hearth. The wobbly table was removed, and in its place a great high board was set.
“Now, where did that come from?” Elsbeth wanted to know.
“It’s the original,” Albert told her. “It was badly scorched by the fire when the roof over the hall fell in, but then the rains came. We were able to save and restore it. It’s been in a shed in the courtyard. I’d forgotten about it until old Wat reminded me.”
Elsbeth nodded. She walked over to the great table and slowly ran her hand over it with a small smile. Then she turned to the villagers. “I know she’ll thank you all 66
