The Pillars Of The Earth Page 0,330

to you?" he said, staring at her. "You're practically bald, and you've got no eyebrows."

"My hair caught fire."

"He didn't..."

Aliena shook her head. "Not this time."

One of the girls brought Richard some salt bread to taste. He took some but did not eat it. He looked stunned.

"I'm glad you're safe, anyway," Aliena said.

He nodded. "Stephen is marching on Oxford, where Maud is holed up. The war could be over soon. But I need a new sword-I came to get some money." He ate some bread. The color came back to his face. "By God, this tastes good. You can cook me some meat later."

Suddenly she was afraid of him. She knew he was going to be furious with her and she had no strength to stand up to him. "I haven't any meat," she said.

"Well, get some from the butcher, then!"

"Don't be angry, Richard," she said. She began to tremble.

"I'm not angry," he said irritably. "What's the matter with you?"

"All my wool was burned in the fire," she said, and stared at him in fear, waiting for him to explode.

He frowned, looked at her, swallowed, and threw away the crust of his bread. "All of it?"

"All of it."

"But you must have some money still."

"None."

"Why not? You always had a great chest full of pennies buried under the floor-"

"Not in May. I had spent it all on wool-every penny. And I borrowed forty pounds from poor Malachi, which I can't repay. I certainly can't buy you a new sword. I can't even buy a piece of meat for your supper. We're completely penniless."

"Then how am I supposed to carry on?" he shouted angrily. His horse pricked up its ears and fidgeted uneasily.

"I don't know!" Aliena said tearfully. "Don't shout, you're frightening the horse." She began to cry.

"William Hamleigh did this," Richard said through his teeth. "One of these days I'm going to butcher him like a fat pig, I swear by all the saints."

Alfred came up to them, his bushy beard full of crumbs of bread, with a corner of a plum loaf in his hand. "Try this," he said to Richard.

"I'm not hungry," Richard said ungraciously.

Alfred looked at Aliena and said: "What's the matter?"

Richard answered the question. "She's just told me we're penniless."

Alfred nodded. "Everyone lost something, but Aliena lost everything."

"You realize what this means to me," Richard said, speaking to Alfred but looking accusingly at Aliena. "I'm finished. If I can't replace weapons, and can't pay my men, and can't buy horses, then I can't fight for King Stephen. My career as a knight is over-and I'll never be the earl of Shiring."

Alfred said: "Aliena might marry a wealthy man."

Richard laughed scornfully. "She's turned them all down."

"One of them might ask her again."

"Yes." Richard's face twisted in a cruel smile. "We could send letters to all her rejected suitors, telling them she has lost all her money and is now willing to reconsider-"

"Enough," Alfred said, putting a hand on Richard's arm. Richard shut up. Alfred turned to Aliena. "Do you remember what I said to you, a year ago, at the first dinner of the parish guild?"

Aliena's heart sank. She could hardly believe that Alfred was going to start that again. She had no strength to deal with this. "I remember," she said. "And I hope you remember my reply."

"I still love you," Alfred said.

Richard looked startled.

Alfred went on: "I still want to marry you. Aliena, will you be my wife?"

"No!" Aliena said. She wanted to say more, to add something that would make it final and irreversible, but she felt too tired. She looked from Alfred to Richard and back again, and suddenly she could not take any more. She turned away from them and walked quickly out of the meadow and crossed the bridge to the town.

She was wearily angry with Alfred for repeating his proposal in front of Richard. She would have preferred her brother not to know about it. It was three months since the fire-why had Alfred left it until now? It was as if he had been waiting for Richard, and had made his move the moment Richard arrived.

She walked through the deserted new streets. Everyone was at the priory tasting the bread. Aliena's house was in the new poor quarter, down by the quay. The rents were low there but even so she had no idea how she would pay.

Richard caught her up on horseback, then dismounted and walked beside her. "The whole town smells of new wood," he said conversationally. "And everything