A Silver Mirror (RD 4) by Gellis Roberta

Author:Gellis, Roberta [Gellis, Roberta]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9781419921766
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Published: 2010-01-14T08:00:00+00:00

John Giffard received them warmly in Warwick on the afternoon of October 20 after two and a half days of hard travel. He apologized for the noise and disorder, saying with so little expression that he might as well have shouted his disapproval, that he had been ordered by Leicester to pull down the great stone keep and the work was under way. However, the wooden hall and domestic buildings in the strongly walled bailey were comfortable enough and he was glad to see visitors.

When they had entered the hall and told him their purpose in coming, Sir John was completely of Alphonse’s opinion that the sooner he saw Sir William the better. He summoned his clerk, wrote a message to Simon de Montfort at Kenilworth, and sent it off with Gloucester’s letter before he instructed his steward to show Alphonse and Barbara to the portion of the solar he had made ready for them.

“Simon is not ill-natured,” he said stiffly, “only young and thoughtless. If he has received no instruction to the contrary, his natural response would be to allow the visit.”

Before dark the messenger returned. “Lord Simon,” he recited, “will be happy to allow Sieur Alphonse to visit Sir William, however, Sir William does not happen to be in Kenilworth at the moment. He has been sent out to certain of Richard of Cornwall’s properties, of which he had long been steward, to explain the new management to the bailiffs and make them more cooperative. Tomorrow Lord Simon will send a messenger to have Sir William brought back. Lord Simon expects Sir William to return in about three days. In the meantime, Sieur Alphonse is more than welcome to be a guest at Kenilworth Keep.”

Over their evening meal, Barbara, Alphonse, and Sir John Giffard discussed Simon’s message, but could come to no conclusion about what it meant. Alphonse had seen how uncomfortable Sir John became when the messenger called the young man Lord Simon, which he could only have picked up from the servants in Kenilworth or whoever gave him the message. He probed further carefully and discovered that Sir John had been castellan of Kenilworth and had been the man who wrested Warwick from its previous lord, and his “reward” had been an order from Leicester to hand over Kenilworth to young Simon and oversee the destruction of Warwick, his war prize, just because it was too near Kenilworth.

What a singularly stupid thing for Leicester to do, Alphonse thought. Atop the business of the Zouche ransom, Sir John’s trust in Leicester’s lack of partiality must be badly undermined. Like Gloucester’s resentment against Leicester, Sir John’s hurt showed where a wedge could easily be driven. However, Alphonse felt it wrong for him to become embroiled in English politics, whatever his sympathy for Prince Edward, and as soon as his curiosity was satisfied, he shifted the subject back to Simon’s message.

“What I need to decide,” Alphonse pointed out, “is whether to go to Kenilworth tomorrow or not.”

“No,” Barbara said.

Both men looked at her.

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