Will stepped inside. A gust of cold wind sailed through the lancet window, lifted some of Belle’s loose bedding straw in its path and carried them through the open portal. She shivered inside her filthy gown. The material was a light wool and it offered scant protection against the cold blasts from the north that whistled outside the walls. In the space of one short day, autumn had arrived in full force. Tonight would be bone-chilling.
“Goo’day, mistress,” said Will as he set down his full bucket with a hard thump. Clean water sloshed over the top and splashed Dexter. The cat jumped sideways then leapt to the comparative safety of the window’s narrow ledge.
Belle gave a wan smile at the bumbling young man. Will had been a potboy and turnspit at Bodiam ever since she had moved into the castle when her father had married her stepmother. Though Will had grown tall and brawny, his mind was still that of an amiable eight-year-old child. She was glad that Mortimer had not tossed him out with the rest of her loyal servants. Not that Mortimer had a compassionate bone in his body. It was merely a practical matter of finance. Will worked for nothing but food and a place to sleep. Since his wits were poor, the boy would give no trouble to the current despot who ruled Bodiam. Thank heavens for Will’s gentle soul and sweet nature! Belle suspected she would have died of starvation by now if it were not for his kindness and Dexter’s cunning skills.
“Good day, Will.” She flashed the boy as bright a smile as she could muster. “What’s the news today?”
Will squatted down beside her. “I wager you will never guess—not in a month o’ Sundays!” He giggled.
Though her stomach rumbled with hunger, Belle bided her time. Will would take deep offense if he thought she was just interested in the morsels of food he brought instead of his news. She knew no one ever spoke to him except to hurl curses. She took his large hand in hers.
“Let’s see. Did the cook fall into the soup, perchance?”
Giggling again, Will shook his head.
“What a pity!” Belle kept her tone light and teasing. “Hmm. Did Mortimer dig up something of interest in the storeroom?”
Will wrinkled his nose. “You are colder and colder. Come, guess again!” He wriggled all over with suppressed excitement.
Belle pretended to think. “Can you give me a hint? Just a wee one?”
Will’s grin broadened. “Tis something to do with Mistress Griselda.”
Belle furrowed her brow and pondered in earnest. Will loathed her sister-in-law. What could have sparked his interest in her? “Is she going back to her father’s home?” Belle asked, half afraid of the answer. If Griselda left Bodiam, there was no telling what evil Mortimer might do.
The potboy made a face. “Tis not that wondrous but the next best thing.”
Belle’s patience with Will’s game wore very thin. All she could think about was food. “I have made three guesses,” she pointed out.
Will gave her a very superior look. “And all of them were wrong.”
Belle squeezed his hand by way of encouragement. “Then you must make it all right, Will. Please tell me, what is your great news?”
The boy puffed out his broad chest. “Mistress Griselda has got herself a suitor.”
Ignoring the gnawing pain in her stomach, Belle gaped at him. “Surely you jest with me.”
He shook his head. A light brown curl fell into his eyes. “Not so, never! He came this morning on a great horse.”
She furrowed her brows. “How on earth did he gain admittance? Is he a friend of Mortimer’s?”
The lad made a face. “Nay, the master gives many sour looks at him but says nothing. One of the guards told me that this nobleman stood on the moat’s bank opposite Mistress Griselda’s chamber window and he sang to her—for near half an hour, they say. Then the mistress commanded that the gates be opened. Since then she has done nothing but smile and smile and smile.”
Belle sat up a little straighter. “Tell me, is this poor swain deaf, dumb and blind?”
Will considered the question carefully before he replied, “Methinks not. He looks fair in his parts, though I would not swear to it. After dinner he sang again to Mistress Griselda. I heard him myself. He has a pleasing voice. And she turned red like an apple when he kissed her hand. But his squire is a right lackwit,” he added with a note of satisfaction.
Belle perked up at this intelligence. She wondered if the new squire might possibly be malleable enough to help her escape. So far, Will had been singularly stubborn in that particular area. The poor boy had been thoroughly cowed by a vicious beating. Aloud, she asked in a casual manner, “How now? What does this squire do?”
Will rolled his eyes. “Tis what he doesn’t know how to do. A right stumblebum—even worse than me. He has already angered both the cook and the steward by his poor service at dinnertime. Cook boxed his ears. But the lad’s nice to me all the same. His name is Bertrum.”
“I shall remember him in my prayers,” murmured Belle. And in my thoughts. Mayhap this Bertrum will be the angel of my freedom.
Will rose, then picked up yesterday’s empty water bucket and prepared to leave. Belle uttered an anxious bleat.
“Oh, Will!” She reached out to him. “Haven’t you forgotten to give me something?” she asked, praying that Bertrum’s sudden arrival had not addled Will’s memory. She pointed to the basket still hooked over his arm.
Stopping short, he grinned sheepishly at her. “Aye, ye are right, Mistress Belle! My mind mistook—almost.”
He pulled out the usual stale bread, then added a generous wedge of cheese that he had stolen from the kitchen. He dropped his precious gifts into her lap. Dexter hopped down from his perch and trotted across the floor to investigate the source of the delicious aroma. Belle covered the food with the hem of her skirt, then blew Will her customary kiss.
“May all the angels protect you,” she whispered to him.
He touch his fingers to his forehead. “And with you, Mistress.” Then he slammed the heavy door behind him.
Belle bit into the cheese, savoring its sharp tang on her tongue. Dexter sat beside her and watched as she devoured her meal. His pink underlip quivered. After she swallowed the last morsel, she sighed then cocked an indulgent eye at her loyal companion.
“How now, Dexter! Do not reproach me with those great golden eyes of yours. You know you dine very well and at your leisure, while I must wait for the crumbs to fall my way.” She patted her lap. Dexter hopped onto the proffered spot, circled once to find a position to his liking, then lay down with his front paws tucked under his chest.
Belle stroked him as she thought aloud. “What do you think of Will’s news? A moonstruck suitor for Griselda, accompanied by a bumbling squire? Tis a rich jest indeed. It almost makes me want to laugh—if I could remember how to do it. Oh, Dexter, will I ever laugh again?”
But the faithful cat had gone to sleep.
Chapter Four
The midnight watch on Bodiam’s parapets had trod their appointed rounds for over an hour before Mark stole up the spiral stone staircase in the northwest tower. Although he carried a lantern, it was not yet lit for fear of attracting unwanted attention from a score of Mortimer Fletcher’s evil-looking minions. Mark needed no light to guide his way. In his green salad days, he had often roamed Bodiam’s galleries and stairways in the dark searching for one or another of Lady Cavendish’s adorable maidservants.
As he passed one of the arrow slits, he pulled his thick wool cloak tighter around his shoulders to ward off the keen draft that knifed through the opening. Pausing at the top of the steps, he pressed his ear against the stout door in front of him. He heard nothing but the whine of the wind. He backed against