you and what's the message?' Raffe demanded.
The boy jutted his chin out obstinately. 'He said I wasn't tell no one 'cept her.'
'Lady Anne is away from the manor visiting her sick cousin. She'll not be back for three or four days.' Raffe's eyes flicked up to the Hall above. 'Listen to me, boy. The man up there, Lord Osborn, is dangerous, and there's no love lost between him and Lady Anne. If he discovers she's hiding something from him, her life will not be worth living. Now, tell me what you were supposed to tell her and I'll see she learns of it the instant she returns.'
Anxiety creased the boy's forehead. He gazed from Raffe to the stairs and back again, evidently trying to weigh up who to trust.
'It'll be too late by then. He said he must get word from her tonight.'
'Who, boy, who told you this?' Raffe urged.
The boy cocked his head on one side like a raven and looked slyly up at Raffe. 'He said she'd give me a silver penny for the message.'
Raffe seized the boy's jerkin and shook him impatiently. 'I'll give you a clip round the ear if you don't tell me, which is nothing to what Lord Osborn will do to you if he finds you here. He'll flay your hide to the bone to get the truth out of you.'
The boy's eyes widened in alarm. He tried to wrest his arm from Raffe's grip, but with little success. 'I'll tell you, master.' His eyes darted round the courtyard, fearful of being overheard. 'There's a man hiding on the marshes. Says he must get a boat to France afore he's discovered. Said he was told the Lady Anne would help him.'
'Who is this man?'
'He never said his name.' The boy's expression suddenly changed. 'I nearly forgot, he said I was to give her this.'
The lad fumbled for something under his shirt and thrust it into Raffe's hand.
It was a tin emblem in the form of a wheel, the symbol of St Katherine. Raffe's heart suddenly began to thump in his chest. This man on the marsh, could he be a French spy? Had one of them escaped the fire after all? But how had he come to know of Lady Anne and be so convinced she would help him? Her own husband and her son had fought for England. She would never betray her own country to the French, not her, Raffe would have wagered his life on it. So what on earth was she mixed up in?
The boy held his hand out, anxious, but plainly determined not to leave without his promised penny.
Raffe fished in the small leather purse that hung on his belt. The boy's eyes gleamed as he saw the silver penny in Raffe's hand.
'You came by boat.'
'Coracle,' the lad answered, not taking his eyes from the coin.
Raffe gnawed at his lip; a boy's coracle would not hold the two of them, especially not when one of them was Raffe's size.
'There's a place upstream where the river splits in two around an islet. You know it?'
The lad nodded.
'This silver penny is yours if you meet me there next to the water meadow at sundown. Wait at the back of the islet, the shrubs on it will hide you from the track. There'll be another silver penny for you if you guide me safely to this man and home again.'
The boy nodded reluctantly, gazing longingly at the silver as Raffe dropped it back in his leather purse. Raffe saw his disappointment and hesitated. Would he wait? It was much to ask of a young lad to be so patient for so many hours, and despite the promise of coins, he might easily get bored and leave. On the other hand, if he gave him the penny now, he might simply vanish anyway.
'Stay here,' Raffe instructed.
Raffe swiftly crossed to the kitchens, thankful that those inside were too preoccupied stirring and sweating over the fires to take any notice of him. He grabbed some bread, onions and a couple of fat mutton chops and, wrapping them hastily in a bit of sacking, returned to the boy.
Raffe thrust the parcel into his hands. 'To keep you from hunger while you wait. I'll bring more when I come tonight.'
The lad peered inside the sack and his mouth widened in a huge frog grin. 'Thanks, master!'
He was still grinning when he ran out through the gates.
The morning was half gone and still Elena didn't move from