World Without End Page 0,177

her mind calmed down, she thought about his inheritance. She was not willing to give up on it, especially now. As dawn broke outside, she racked her brains for some way to save it. When Wulfric woke up, she said: "I'm going to Kingsbridge."

He was startled. "Why?"

"To find out whether there's some way you can still inherit."

"How?"

"I don't know. But Ralph hasn't given the land to anyone else yet, so there's still a chance. And you deserve it - you've worked so hard and suffered so much."

"What will you do?"

"I'll see my brother Philemon. He understands these things better than we do. He'll know what we need to do."

Wulfric looked at her strangely.

She said: "What is it?"

He said: "You really love me, don't you?"

She smiled, full of happiness, and said: "Let's do it again, shall we?"

On the following morning she was at Kingsbridge Priory, sitting on the stone bench by the vegetable garden, waiting for Philemon. During the long walk from Wigleigh she had gone over every second of Sunday night in her mind, relishing the physical pleasures, puzzling over the words spoken. Wulfric still had not said that he loved her, but he had said: "You really love me." And he had seemed pleased that she loved him, albeit a bit bewildered by the strength of her passion.

She longed to win back his birthright. She yearned for it almost as much as she had yearned for him. She wanted it for both of them. Even if he were a landless labourer like her father she would marry him, given the chance; but she wanted better for them both, and she was determined to get it.

When Philemon came out of the priory into the garden to greet her, she saw immediately that he was wearing the robes of a novice monk. "Holger!" she said, using his real name in her shock. "You're a novice - what you've always wanted!"

He smiled proudly, and benignly overlooked the use of his old name. "It was one of Godwyn's first acts as prior," he said. "He is a wonderful man. It's such an honour to serve him." He sat beside her on the bench. It was a mild autumn day, cloudy but dry.

"And how are you getting on with your lessons?"

"Slowly. It's hard to learn to read and write when you're grown up." He grimaced. "The small boys progress faster than I do. But I can copy out the Lord's Prayer in Latin."

She envied him. She could not even write her name. "That's wonderful!" she said. Her brother was on his way to achieving his life's dream, and becoming a monk. Perhaps the status of novice might ameliorate the feelings of worthlessness that, she felt sure, accounted for his sometimes being sly and deceitful.

"But what about you?" he said. "Why have you come to Kingsbridge?"

"Did you know that Ralph Fitzgerald has become lord of Wigleigh?"

"Yes. He's here in town, staying at the Bell, living it up."

"He has refused to let Wulfric inherit his father's land." She told Philemon the story. "I want to know whether the decision can be contested."

Philemon shook his head. "The short answer is No. Wulfric could appeal to the earl of Shiring, of course, asking him to overturn Ralph's decision, but the earl won't intervene unless he has a personal stake. Even if he thinks the decision unjust - which it obviously is - he won't undermine the authority of a new appointee. But what's your interest? I thought Wulfric was going to marry Annet."

"When Ralph announced his decision, Annet jilted Wulfric and married Billy Howard."

"And now you have a chance with Wulfric."

"I think so." She felt herself blush.

"How do you know?" he asked shrewdly.

"I took advantage of him," she confessed. "When he was distraught over the wedding, I went to his bed."

"Don't worry. We who are born poor have to use cunning to get what we want. Scruples are for the privileged."

She did not really like to hear him talk that way. Sometimes he seemed to think that any behaviour could be excused by their difficult childhood. But she was too disappointed to worry about that. "Is there really nothing I can do?"

"Oh, I didn't say that. It can't be contested, I said. But Ralph might be talked round."

"Not by me, I'm sure."

"I don't know. Why don't you go and see Godwyn's cousin Caris? You've been friends with her since you were girls. She'll help you if she can. And she's