The Dance of Death by Kate Sedley

Author:Kate Sedley [Sedley, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Soundings Audio Books
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Twelve

It was a hopeless dream, of course.

The weather had certainly worsened by the time we reached Dover, great squalls of wind and rain blowing in from the Channel, but no one was going home. John Bradshaw had been adamant about that, and there was no reason for the Armigers to abandon their journey to see Jane’s French relations. Their time was their own and they could wait indefinitely for the weather to improve, but I did consider that William Lackpenny’s might be limited, forcing him to return to his duties elsewhere.

Eloise was able to disabuse my mind of such a notion. ‘He is, indeed, employed in the household of Sir Edward Woodville,’ she told me, as we unpacked our saddlebags once again in the front bedchamber of the little quayside inn where we had all found accommodation for the night, and for however many more nights proved to be necessary. ‘He is a gentleman-in-waiting, but has been granted an extended leave of absence by the steward to visit his sick mother.’

‘In France?’

She laughed. ‘No, stupid! In Salisbury. At least, that’s what Master Steward believes. So you see, it would appear to be an afair of the heart, after all. In fact, he told me so and swore me to secrecy.’

‘You seem to have wormed yourself well into his confidence,’ I said, shaking out my yellow tunic, now looking somewhat crumpled from its frequent packing and unpacking. ‘When did you discover all this?’

She gave a provocative smile, and for a moment I thought she was going to play silly, coquettish games with me, but then she said, ‘Yesterday evening, after Mistress Armiger and I returned from our walk. We didn’t stay out long, it was too cold, and Jane went upstairs to put away her cloak. During our absence, Master Armiger had also gone up to their bedchamber and it was a little while before they both came down again. A circumstance that I fancy didn’t please our young friend overmuch, so he decided to flirt with me as a sort of revenge. I was able to extract quite a lot of information from him. I virtually accused him of being in the throes of an affair with her and he’s so set up in his own conceit that he couldn’t resist admitting it. They met, apparently, when he was sent to Baynard’s Castle to arrange some of the details of the banquet with the Duchess of York’s high steward – like how many attendants Sir Edward would be bringing with him, their order of precedence at the table and so forth. He says it was love at first sight. He could tell right away that she was unhappy, and once he had clapped eyes on Robert Armiger, he could see why. Their friendship blossomed from there, and on the next occasion he visited the castle, she met him, by prior arrangement, at the top of the water-stairs. That must have been last Monday, when you saw them. The following day,

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