“I’ll take you to the stables, mistress,” she said.
Adair followed the woman through another series of corridors until they finally emerged into the stable yard.
“Have you Mistress Radcliffe’s horse ready?” the servant called out, and Adair’s horse, saddled and ready, was brought forth. The woman stepped close to Adair and said, “My mistress told me earlier to tell you to tuck your hair beneath your cap, mistress. You can pass for a lad at a distance then. She says to beg shelter from convents, and asked that I give you this bag of coins.” The servant pressed a small chamois bag into Adair’s hand.
Then, turning, she hurried off.
“Thank you,” Adair called after her. She tucked the bag into her breeches waist, and, taking her cap off, stuffed her braid beneath it. Then she affixed her saddlebags and, mounting her horse, she made her way out of the stable yard and from the castle. It was midday, and she knew if she rode at a fairly steady gait she could reach the convent in which she had sheltered the night before arriving at Windsor.
The next morning she joined a band of pilgrims heading toward York. It was safer riding in a group than riding alone. She gave the leader of the pilgrims a silver penny for the privilege, knowing she was very fortunate to be able to attach herself to this party. When they reached York Adair found a small convoy of merchants going as far north as Newcastle. She joined them, keeping to herself as much as possible, and leaving the merchants just before they reached the town.
For the next few days she rode across Northumbria toward Stanton. She rested most nights in religious houses, but two nights she was forced to shelter in barns, and one night she spent out on the moors, her back pressed against a rock wall, clutching the reins of her horse. She but dozed on and off that night, fearful ofwild animals and bandits. But finally, to her great relief, she gained her own lands, only to find Stanton Hall had been destroyed. Not a stone was left standing, even its defensive walls, but the village remained, and it was there that she found Albert, Elsbeth, and the house servants.
Elsbeth was outraged to learn that her mistress had been sent home in such a fashion. “You could have been ravaged, or robbed, or killed,” she said furiously. “What kind of a king sends a helpless young woman out by herself to travel such a distance?”
“I am not in favor with this king,” Adair said dryly. “I am stripped of my title and my lands, although Mags says she will try to get the king to relent on my lands.
But what has happened to the hall?”
“The Lancastrians finished what they started back when they slew your parents,” Elsbeth said bitterly. “A great party of men arrived shortly after you had gone south. They had orders, they said, to destroy the hall, and they did. Albert got them to give us a bit of time to get out your personal belongings, and we managed to save a bit of the furnishings before they began their destruction. They carted away the stones themselves, so, they said, the hall could not be rebuilt. They looted what we couldn’t take. Then they burned it.”
“The village, the fields, and the livestock,” Albert said, “they left, for they said the king would not harm his good people, only their masters who supported a tyrant. What did they mean by that, my lady?” Albert looked suddenly weary and worn, Adair thought.
“This new king has punished Stanton for supporting King Richard,” Adair explained.
“What are we to do, my lady?” Albert asked her fearfully.
“We shall go on as we have,” Adair said.
“But there is no hall for you,” he said.
“Where is Elsbeth living?” Adair asked. “I shall live in the cottage in which she has been living, but if thatplace is already housing another family you shall build me a new cottage before the winter months set in on us again. I am plain Mistress Radcliffe now, and shall be content with a cottage.”
“You are the lady of Stanton, and do not forget it!”
Elsbeth snapped, and Albert nodded in agreement.
“We’ve all been living with our families here in the village,” Albert said. “Now that you’re back, my lady, we’ll begin building you your own house.”
“I will be content with a cottage,” Adair told him.
“We don’t want to attract the attention of those who came to destroy Stanton Hall again, do we?”
“And you’ll shelter with my sister and me,” Elsbeth said. “She’s a widow now, and her daughters are married. There is plenty of room, my lady.”
“Then it is settled,” Adair told them cheerfully. “Now I am going to walk my lands for a bit. Stable my poor horse.” She walked away from them, speaking with her people as she went. But finally she was away from the village and out in her meadows. While it was good to be home again, Adair considered what she had to do to help her Stanton folk survive this latest blow. The hall was gone, but at least the king’s men had left everything else intact. And she had shelter. She sat down upon a low stone wall to rest a moment. A cold nose suddenly pressed into her hand.
“Beiste!” She reached out to stroke the ancient wolfhound. “Poor baby. You’ve lost your nice warm hearth, haven’t you? But we’ll have another by the time the frost sets in. Oh, Beiste, I am so sad. Andrew is gone.
Our home is gone. I am so tired of having to start all over again, only to have it snatched away from me.”
Adair began to cry softly, and the dog laid his great head onto her lap, looking up at her with his dark and very sympathetic eyes. Adair’s fingers scratched Beiste’s ears, and she brushed away her tears, which were drop-ping onto his fur. “I have to be brave for them, you know,” Adair continued. “They wouldn’t know what todo without me. But even I’m not certain what to do now. What if the king won’t return Stanton to me? Well, I suppose if no one else comes to claim the land I can remain on it. Someone has to look after the Stanton folk.”
“Urrrrrr,” the dog said, as if in agreement with his mistress.
Adair gave a watery chuckle. “You always know the right thing to say,” she told the dog. Then she stood up.
“We had best get back. We’re staying with Elsbeth’s sister, Margery. She always scared me as a child, being so sharp-spoken,” Adair said.
