He pushed his chosen apple under the surface, submerging his whole face, and then came up triumphantly with the apple between his teeth.
Tommy would be successful at whatever he put his mind to. There was a little of his grandfather, Earl Bartholomew, in his makeup. He had a very strong will and a somewhat inflexible sense of right and wrong.
It was Sally who had inherited Jack's easygoing nature and contempt for man-made rules. When Jack told the children stories, Sally always sympathized with the underdog, whereas Tommy was more likely to pronounce judgment on him. Each child had the personality of one parent and the appearance of the other: happy-go-lucky Sally had Aliena's regular features and dark tangled curls, and determined Tommy had Jack's carrot-colored hair, white skin and blue eyes.
Now Tommy cried: "Here comes Uncle Richard!"
Aliena spun around and followed his gaze. Sure enough, her brother the earl was riding into the meadow with a handful of knights and squires. Aliena was horrified. How did he have the nerve to show his face here after what he had done to Philip over the quarry?
He came over to the barrel, smiling at everyone and shaking hands. "Try to bob an apple, Uncle Richard," said Tommy. "You could do it!"
Richard dipped his head into the barrel and came up with an apple in his strong white teeth and his blond beard soaking wet. He had always been better at games than at real life, Aliena thought.
She was not going to let him carry on as if he had done nothing wrong. Others might be afraid to say anything because he was the earl, but to her he was just her foolish little brother. He came over to kiss her, but she pushed him away and said: "How could you steal the quarry from the priory?"
Jack, seeing a quarrel coming, took the children's hands and moved away.
Richard looked stung. "All property has reverted to those who possessed it-"
"Don't give me that, Aliena interrupted. "After all Philip has done for you!"
"The quarry is part of my birthright," he said. He took her aside and began to speak in low tones so that no one else could hear. "Besides, I need the money I get by selling the stones, Allie."
"That's because you go hunting and hawking all the time!"
"But what should I do?"
"You should make the land produce wealth! There's so much to be done-repairing the damage caused by the war and the famine, bringing in new farming methods, clearing woodland and draining swamps-that's how to increase your wealth! Not by stealing the quarry that King Stephen gave to Kingsbridge Priory."
"I've never taken anything that wasn't mine."
"You've never done anything else!" Aliena flared. She was angry enough now to say things that were better left unsaid. "You've never worked for anything. You took my money for your stupid weapons, you took the job Philip gave you, you took the earldom when it was handed to you on a plate by me. Now you can't even run it without taking things that don't belong to you!" She turned away and stormed off.
Richard came after her, but someone waylaid him, bowing and asking him how he was. Aliena heard him make a polite reply, then get embroiled in a conversation. So much the better: she had said her piece and did not want to argue with him any further. She reached the bridge and looked back. Someone else was talking to him now. He waved at her, indicating that he still wanted to speak to her, but he was stuck. She saw Jack, Tommy and Sally beginning a game with a stick and a ball. She stared at them, playing together in the sunshine, and she felt she could not bear to separate them. But how else, she thought, can I lead a normal life?
She crossed the bridge and entered the town. She wanted to be alone for a while.
She had taken a house in Winchester, a big place with a shop on the ground floor, a living room upstairs, a separate bedchamber, and a large storeroom at the end of the yard for her cloth. But the closer she got to moving, the less she wanted to do it.
The streets of Kingsbridge were hot and dusty, and the air was full of the flies that bred on the innumerable dunghills. All the shops were closed and the houses were locked up. The town was deserted. Everyone was in the meadow.
She went to Jack's house. That