Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey

Author:Judith Koll Healey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: mystery, Adult, Historical
ISBN: 9780060773328
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2004-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

.15.

The Dinner Party

They were all gathered in the great hall when I descended the grand staircase. I could see them through the wide entrance. There were far more than I had expected, above forty knights and a scattering of well-dressed ladies. By the quality and cut of their clothes, I could tell the knights that had ridden in with William and Chester from the shire’s gentry. The local squires, those county landowners who were rarely at court, wore good-enough wools. Their doublets and tunics, however, were of sober black and dark green, whereas I could spot William’s group by their elegance and flair. The wool of the knights’ garments was finer and the colors brighter. Some of them wore a similar gold chain with a heavy medallion, and they seemed, as a group, leaner and more seasoned than the county folk.

I was glad that I had chosen well from the gowns that had been brought to my chamber. The deep claret-colored cut-velvet gown was an improvement over the once-favored green wool that I had worn night and day since my abduction. I had been only too glad to shed that robe. In truth, I never wanted to lay eyes on it again.

Miraculously, the velvet fit as perfectly as if someone had delivered it from my own apartments in Paris. From the shoulders trailed a train of the same velvet trimmed in ermine. I had piled my hair high on my head with the help of the maidservant, and she had found pearls and gems to twine through it. I wore my hair uncovered, which was my right as a princesse royale. Around my neck I had arranged a slender rope of wrought silver strung with rubies, which had been delivered by a servant just before I left my room. Its provenance remained a mystery.

The great hall was brightly lit. At the far end was an open hearth, with a huge boar roasting on a spit turned by the servants. Although most of the food would be made in the kitchens elsewhere in the house and brought to the great hall, it was the mark of affluence still to have a portion of the food roasting in front of the guests. Especially when it was such a magnificent beast as this one.

Tables to accommodate the guests had been spread with fine linen, and the servants were already circulating, filling the wine goblets before the guests had even taken their seats.

Baron Roger came over to me as soon as he saw me in the doorway and led me through the milling throng to the high table. The head steward struck a gong next to the fireplace, and all the company drifted toward the tables.

I was pleased that dinner was called. I dreaded common talk with strangers. As a princess in my own court, I was usually able to avoid such shallow encounters, but here I was more vulnerable. As I moved behind Baron Roger, I became aware that Sir William was standing at the head of the table, deeply engaged in conversation with another knight, a short, heavy fellow.

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