Free An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters

listen to my suit, and none that her kin should reject me.”
    “None
in the world!” agreed Cadfael heartily. “Had I a daughter in such case, I would
be glad to see the squire follow in his lord’s steps. And if you must report to
her of his well-being, you may say with truth that he is doing what he wishes,
and enjoys content of mind. And for his body, it is cared for as well as may
be. We shall not let him want for anything that can give him aid or comfort.”
    “But
that does not answer what I need to know,” insisted the young man. “I have
promised to come back and tell him how I’ve fared. Three or four days, no
longer, perhaps not so long. But shall I still find him then?”
    “Son,”
said Cadfael patiently, “which of us can answer that for himself or any other
man? You want truth, and you deserve it. Yes, Brother Humilis is dying. He got
his death-wound long ago in that last battle. Whatever has been done for him,
whatever can be done, is staving off an ending. But death is not in such a
hurry with him as you fear, and he is in no fear of it. You go and find your
girl, and bring him back good news, and he’ll be here to be glad of it.”
     
    “And
so he will,” said Cadfael to Edmund, as they took the air in the garden
together before Compline that evening, “if that young fellow is brisk about his
courting, and I fancy he’s the kind to go straight for what he wants. But how
much longer we can hold our ground with Humilis I dare not guess. This fashion
of collapse we can prevent, but the old harm will devour him in the end. As he
knows better than any.”
    “I
marvel how he lived at all,” agreed Edmund, “let alone bore the journey home,
and has survived three years or more since.”
    They
were private together down by the banks of the Meole Brook, or they could not
have discussed the matter at all. No doubt by this hour Nicholas Harnage was
well on his way to the north-east of the county, if he had not already arrived
at his destination. Good weather for riding, he would be in shelter at Lai
before dark. And a very well-set-up young fellow like Harnage, in a thriving
way in arms by his own efforts, was not an offer to be sneezed at. He had the
blessing of his lord, and needed nothing more but the girl’s liking, her
family’s approval, and the sanction of the church.
    “I
have heard it argued,” said Brother Edmund, “that when an affianced man enters
a monastic order, the betrothed lady is not necessarily free of the compact.
But it seems a selfish and greedy thing to try to have both worlds, choose the
life you want, but prevent the lady from doing likewise. But I think the
question seldom arises but where the man cannot bear to loose his hold of what
once he called his, and himself fights to keep her in chains. And here that is
not so, Brother Humilis is glad there should be so happy a solution. Though of
course she may be married already.”
    “The
manor of Lai,” mused Cadfael. “What do you know of it, Edmund? What family
would that be?”
    “Cruce
had it. Humphrey Cruce, if I remember rightly, he might well be the girl’s
father. They hold several manors up there, Ightfeld, and Harpecote — and Frees,
from the Bishop of Chester. Some lands in Staffordshire, too. They made Lai the
head of their honour.”
    “That’s
where he’s bound. Now if he comes back in triumph,” said Cadfael contentedly,
“he’ll have done a good day’s work for Humilis. He’s already given him a great
heave upward by showing his honest brown face, but if he settles the girl’s
future for her he may have added a year or more to his lord’s life, at the same
time.”
    They
went to Compline at the first sound of the bell. The visitor had indeed given
Humilis a heft forward towards health, it seemed, for here he came, habited and
erect on Fidelis’s arm, having asked no permission of his doctors, bent on
observing the night office with the