One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

Author:Ellis Peters [Peters, Ellis]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781784080525
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2014-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

9

Godith, if he had but known it, was at that moment viewing her own reflection in Aline’s glass, which Constance was holding well away from her to capture more of the total image. Washed and combed and arrayed in one of Aline’s gowns, brocaded in brown and gold thread, with a thin gold bandeau of Aline’s round her curls, she turned this way and that to admire herself with delight at being female again, and her face was no longer that of an urchin, but of an austere young gentlewoman aware of her advantages. The soft candlelight only made her more mysterious and strange in her own eyes.

“I wish he could see me like this,” she said wistfully, forgetting that so far she had not mentioned any he except Brother Cadfael, and could not now, even to Aline, reveal anything concerning Torold’s person and errand beyond his name. Concerning herself she had told almost everything, but that was the acknowledgement of a debt.

“There is a he?” asked Aline, sparking with sympathetic curiosity. “And he will escort you? Wherever you are going? No, I mustn’t ask you anything, it would be unfair. But why shouldn’t you wear the dress for him? Once away, you can as well travel as yourself as you can in boy’s clothes.”

“I doubt it,” said Godith ruefully. “Not the way we shall be travelling.”

“Then take it with you. You could put it in that great bundle of yours. I have plenty, and if you are going with nothing, then you’ll need a gown for when you reach safety.”

“Oh, if you knew how you tempt me! You are kind! But I couldn’t take it. And we shall have weight enough to carry, the first miles. But I do thank you, and I shall never forget.”

She had tried on, for pure pleasure, Constance assisting with relish, every dress Aline had with her, and in every one she had imagined herself confronting Torold, without warning, and studying his astonished and respectful face. And somehow, in spite of not knowing where he was or how he was faring, she had spent a blissful afternoon, unshaken by doubts. Certainly he would see her in her splendour, if not in this in other fine gowns, in jewels, with her hair, grown long again, plaited and coiled upon her head in a gold circlet like this one. Then she recalled how she had sat beside him, the two of them companionably eating plums and committing the stones to the Severn through the floorboards of the mill, and she laughed. What use would it ever be, putting on airs with Torold?

She was in the act of lifting the circlet from her head when they all heard the sudden but circumspect knocking on the outer door, and for a moment froze into wary stillness, looking at one another aghast.

“Do they mean to search here, after all?” wondered Godith in a shocked whisper. “Have I brought you into danger?”

“No! Adam assured me I should not be disturbed, this morning, when they came.

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