World Without End Page 0,24

react. "But he's a man of violence!"

"Come on, it's not unknown," Richard said impatiently. "A fighting man sometimes decides to abandon his life of warfare and seek forgiveness for his sins."

"In old age, perhaps," Cecilia said. "This man is not yet twenty-five. He's fleeing some danger." She looked hard at Richard. "Who threatens his life?"

"Curb your curiosity," Richard said rudely. "He wants to be a monk, not a nun, so you need not inquire further." It was a shocking way to talk to a prioress, but the sons of earls could get away with such rudeness. He turned to Anthony. "You must admit him."

Anthony said: "The priory is too poor to take on any more monks - unless there were to be a gift that would pay the costs..."

"It will be arranged."

"It would have to be adequate to the need-"

"It will be arranged!"

"Very well."

Cecilia was suspicious. She said to Anthony: "Do you know more about this man than you're telling me?"

"I see no reason to turn him away."

"What makes you think he's a genuine penitent?"

Everyone looked at Thomas. His eyes had closed.

Anthony said: "He will have to prove his sincerity during his novitiate, like anyone else."

She was clearly dissatisfied, but for once Anthony was not asking her for the money, so there was nothing she could do. "We'd better get on with treating this wound," she said.

Saul said: "He refused Brother Joseph's treatment. That's why we had to fetch the Father Prior."

Anthony leaned over the patient. In a loud voice, as if speaking to someone deaf, he said: "You must have the treatment prescribed by Brother Joseph. He knows best."

Thomas appeared unconscious.

Anthony turned to Joseph. "He is no longer objecting."

Matthew Barber said: "He could lose his arm!"

"You'd better leave," Anthony told him.

Looking angry, Matthew went out.

Anthony said to Richard: "Perhaps you would come to the prior's house for a cup of cider."

"Thank you."

As they left, Anthony said to Godwyn: "Stay here and help the Mother Prioress. Come to me before Vespers and tell me how the knight is recovering."

Prior Anthony did not normally worry about the progress of individual patients. Clearly he had a special interest in this one.

Godwyn watched as Brother Joseph applied ointment to the arm of the now-unconscious knight. He thought he had probably ensured Cecilia's financial support by giving the correct answer to the question, but he was keen to get her explicit agreement. When Brother Joseph had done, and Ceciha was bathing Thomas's forehead with rose water, he said: "I hope you will consider my request favourably."

She gave him a sharp look. "I might as well tell you now that I have decided to give the money to Saul."

Godwyn was shocked. "But I gave the right answer!"

"Did you?"

"Surely you didn't agree with the barber?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I won't be interrogated by you, Brother Godwyn."

"I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I just don't understand it."

"I know."

If she was going to be enigmatic there was no point in talking to her. Godwyn turned away, shaking with frustration and disappointment. She was giving the money to Saul! Was it because he was related to the earl? Godwyn thought not: she was too independent-minded. It was Saul's showy piety that had tipped the balance, he decided. But Saul would never be leader of anything. What a waste. Godwyn wondered how he was going to break this news to his mother. She would be furious - but who would she blame? Anthony? Godwyn himself? A familiar feeling of dread came over him as he pictured his mother's wrath.

As he thought of her, he saw her enter the hospital by the door at the far end, a tall woman with a prominent bust. She caught his eye and stood by the door, waiting for him to come to her. He walked slowly, trying to figure out what to say.

"Your Aunt Rose is dying," Petranilla said as soon as he was close.

"May God bless her soul. Mother Cecilia told me."

"You look shocked - but you know how ill she is."

"It's not Aunt Rose. I've had other bad news." He swallowed. "I can't go to Oxford. Uncle Anthony won't pay for it, and Mother Cecilia turned me down too."

She did not explode immediately, to his great relief. However, her mouth tightened into a grim line. "But why?" she said.

"He hasn't got the money, and she is sending Saul."

"Saul Whitehead? He'll never amount to anything."

"Well, at least he's going to be a physician."

She looked him in the eye,