Free The Lion Triumphant by Philippa Carr Page A

courts would hang him. That was just bravado.”
    “I’ve heard this called Pennlyon country.”
    “Don’t believe all you hear. Edward has some power in this land, you know. Our estates are bigger than those of the Pennlyons and we’ve been here longer. Who are they but upstarts from across the Tamar?”
    “You are comforting, Honey.”
    “I’m glad. Now let me tell you my news. I am going to have a child.”
    “Honey!” I went to her and kissed her. “That’s wonderful! And you’re happy. I can see you are. You’ve changed. You’ve got that maternal serenity. Mother will be delighted. She’ll want you to go back to her for the birth. Yes, you must. She and Grandmother will coo over you. They won’t trust anyone to look after you. And is Edward pleased?”
    “Edward is delighted and I don’t intend to disappoint him this time.” She was referring to the miscarriage she had had in the first year of her marriage.
    “We must take the utmost care,” I said; and I forgot the unpleasant incident on the ship in my excitement about the baby.
    I was not allowed to forget for long.
    That day Thomas Elders rode over. When he came he stayed the night, heard Mass in the chapel the following day and then probably stayed another night before going off to the next Catholic household.
    He did not come as a priest but as a friend of Edward’s; he supped with us and conversation at the table was never of religious matters. The next day Mass was celebrated and those trusted servants who wished to attend did so. The others were quite unaware of what was going on. The chapel was always kept locked so that the fact that it should be so during the hearing of Mass raised no comment.
    I, of course, did not attend, although I was aware of what was going on, and remembering the past so well and the anxieties my mother had suffered, I was always uneasy when Thomas Elders was in the house.
    I went out riding in the morning. The excitement of Honey’s news had subsided and I kept thinking of those shameful moments in the Captain’s cabin on the Rampant Lion. I returned from my ride and took Marigold to the stables. The new young man, Richard Rackell, took her from me.
    I said: “I think she’s losing a shoe, Richard.”
    He nodded. He had deeply set, expressive eyes and was quite handsome. He bowed and the gesture would have graced a Court.
    I asked: “Are you getting along well?”
    He replied that he thought he was giving satisfaction.
    “I know it is not the kind of work to which you are accustomed.”
    “I become accustomed, Mistress,” he replied.
    He interested me. There was something rather mysterious about him. I remember that Jake Pennlyon had been suspicious that he came from the North. Then I forgot Richard Rackell for my angry thoughts were back with that man who never seemed to be out of my mind for very long.
    My way to the house led around by the chapel. Mass would either be in progress or over by now.
    My heart leaped in sudden terror, for the small door which led to the leper’s squint opened suddenly and Jake Pennlyon emerged. I immediately thought: Through the leper’s squint one can look into the chapel!
    There was a fierce glint in his eyes the second or so before they alighted on me. Then they were bright with that intense blue fire.
    “Well met, Mistress,” he said, and came toward me. He would have embraced me, but I stepped hurriedly back and he allowed me to do so while implying that he was respecting my objections and could comfortably have ignored them.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “What should I be doing but calling on my betrothed?”
    “And who is this … Jennet, the maid, who I believe has caught your fancy?”
    “A serving wench, be she maid or harlot, could not be my betrothed. She whom I have chosen to honor now stands before me.”
    “She whom you attempted to dishonor, you mean.” I turned away, but he was beside me.
    He gripped my arm so that it hurt.
    “Know this,” he