will just have to wait. I'm sure it can't be that important.'
Anne closed her eyes and sighed. 'Hilda, be so good as to tell the kitchens I will take a warm posset in my chamber. When Osborn returns, tell him I have taken a chill on the road and will not be joining him in the Great Hall this evening'
'But m'lady . . .' Hilda protested.
'Please, Hilda, go quickly, for I fear I shall be ill if I don't eat at once.'
Hilda's indignation at being excluded was forgotten in her concern for Lady Anne's health and, convinced that only a warm posset would save her dear mistress from certain death, she sped from the room without another word.
Anne leaned forward and grasped Raffe's shoulder as he knelt before her. 'Make haste then, Raffaele, if it really is important.'
Raffe glanced at the heavy oak door to check it was fastened, then back at Anne.
'While you were away, m'lady, a boy came with a message for you. He brought a sign. It was the pilgrim badge of St Katherine, her wheel.'
Anne's eyes opened wide in alarm. 'Did he ... did he speak of me?'
'He said the message was for you alone, but if Osborn had caught him -'
'But he didn't?' Anne asked in alarm. 'The boy is safe?'
'He is safe.'
'I must get word to tell him I am returned.' Anne half rose from her chair as if she was going to dash out through the gates.
Raffe took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how she was going to respond to having her private messages intercepted.
'I convinced the boy to give me the message.'
'He was given strict instructions to tell no one, no one, except me,' Anne blazed. Despite her exhaustion her eyes flashed with the old fire that had once made even her husband quail. 'And you had no right to intercept a private message for me. Just because you were my son's friend does not give you leave to —'
Raffe's temper snapped. 'It's as well I did, otherwise that poor priest would still be shivering out there on the marshes. Did you expect him to starve until you returned?'
'A priest?' Anne was all concern now. 'What's happened to him? Who was he?'
'The Bishop of Ely's chaplain. He was hiding out on the marshes in fear of his life. I arranged his passage to France. He'll be safe ashore by now, or nearly. But the question is, m'lady, why did he send word to you? What game of madness are you playing? Don't you realize there are some who would count it treason to aid those fleeing from the king? Osborn is one of John's most loyal men. If he had the slightest suspicion of what you are about, he wouldn't hesitate to hand you over to the king. And I have reason to believe that treason is already suspected here.'
Anne winced. For several minutes she said nothing. Then finally she reached towards him and clasped one of his hands in both of hers.
'I am no traitor, Raffaele, but I must do this, don't you see? There are priests and innocent people being hunted down by John's men. If I can help to save them, help God's faithful servants reach safety, then Christ and the Holy Virgin will surely have mercy on my son's soul. It is my penance for Gerard, do you see? The only one I can make for him. I failed my child in his life. I must not fail him in his death.'
Her expression was that of an earnest little girl pleading for a parent to make everything all right. Had she been of lowly birth, Raffe might have taken her in his arms and hugged her simply to comfort her, so lost and desperate did she sound, but he could not embrace the Lady Anne.
'M'lady,' he said gently, 'before the priest left for France he came here to the manor and anointed the body of your son for death.'
Tears of joy sprang into her eyes and she gripped his fingers hard. 'Tell me it is the truth. Swear it is so. You would not lie to me about that, would you?'
'It is the truth, I swear,' Raffe said solemnly. He tried to meet her gaze steadily, but he couldn't. He could feel her eyes boring into him, trying to read his face. Raffe knew he could more easily withstand the torturer's knife than the pain of her stare. But what in all truth could he tell her?