Lady of the English - By Elizabeth Chadwick Page 0,178

with a good breeze for the sails. The journey would be less wearing for his wife and the sea approach would show the castle to its best advantage.

There had been fighting in East Anglia earlier in the year as Stephen had subdued the rebellious Hugh Bigod, and there had been a skirmish at Lincoln with Ranulf of Chester, but for now the area was reasonably stable.

“You will see many changes since we were here last,” he said, slipping his arm around her shoulders. “Before it was only dreams and plans built on scant foundations.”

“Is that not the story of many a life?” she asked him with a smile.

His eyes sparkled. “Indeed, but not everyone sees them brought to fruition.”

Adeliza felt a warm pang of affection as she leaned against Will’s reassuring solid strength. He loved to plan and build.

She would come upon him sitting at a trestle surrounded by 440

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heaps of parchment covered in drawings and sketches. He often entertained master masons at his board and exchange ideas with them. He would sit on the floor with Wilkin, constructing miniature buildings out of pieces of wood and stone, and his big hands would be sensitive and knowing—as they were on her body. His childlike enthusiasm always pricked a tender spot within her. Far better the builder than the warrior intent on destruction. She knew this visit was only a lull, that he would go to war again once the harvests were in the barns and his lands visited, but for a while she had him and the children to herself, and perhaps here she could find the space to recoup the energy she had lacked ever since Reiner’s birth. She felt well today; the tingling sea air was rejuvenating.

Meandering upriver towards the castle, they passed a white dovecote with the Albini lion banner flying from its tiled roof.

A flock of birds took off from the shingles and haloed the building, their breasts dazzling in the sunlight. Godfrey pointed to them with a squeal, and Adeliza kissed his soft cheek. The briny smell of the river filled her nose and mingled with the green of the land. Grazing sheep lifted their heads to watch the boat sail past and the shepherd’s dogs ran along the bank, barking, which set Teri to barking too until Will silenced him with a sharp command and a click of his fingers.

The ship nudged in gently to moor at a landing stage that gave access to a small, moated building where grooms waited with horses and a two-wheeled cart lined with cushions for the nurses and children. Adeliza and Will had two matching grey palfreys, one adorned with a sumptuous padded ladies’ saddle.

Will helped Adeliza to mount and handed up to her a fat pouch of silver coins. “You will need this,” he said.

He had been busy planning not just the castle, but a town to prosper around it, and also a leprosarium. The hospital of Saint Giles stood outside the town wall and consisted of individual 441

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dwellings for twenty lepers attached to a small chapel, where they could attend daily prayers. The timber houses, white-washed and neatly thatched, were ready to receive occupants.

Adeliza’s task while at Rising was to select the first ones.

The master of the hospital and five lay attendants waited before the church to greet Adeliza and receive the bag of silver in alms. She spoke warmly to the master and bade him attend her on the morrow to discuss plans for the leper house, and then rode on into the town, noting the neat plots and thoughtful layout. The decorated west front of the new church, dedicated to Saint Lawrence, filled her heart and she gave Will a look brimming with love because his efforts were much more than a token gesture; they showed a true desire and enthusiasm to give glory to God.

Beyond the town, a short ride brought them to the castle, and having crossed the ringwork ditch they entered under the arch of the gatehouse.

“Portcullis!” announced Wilkin proudly, pointing at the jagged teeth above their heads. “That’s a portcullis!”

“Clever lad!” Will ruffled his son’s curls.

“Portcullis!” Adelis aped her brother, shouting the word from the cart much to everyone’s amusement.

Once dismounted, Adeliza gazed at the castle, perfectly framed in the gatehouse archway. The forebuilding was decorated with blind arcading and geometrical designs that echoed the church. Two rondels depicted amusing animal faces, the right-hand one having a distinct look of