World Without End Page 0,419

the priory.

To his surprise, he found Caris up and dressed. "I'm better," she said. "I'm going to return to my usual work tomorrow." Seeing his sceptical look, she added: "Sister Oonagh said I could."

"If you're taking orders from someone else, you can't be back to normal," he said; and she laughed. The sight brought tears to his eyes. She had not laughed for two weeks, and there had been moments when he had wondered whether he would ever hear the sound again.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

He told her about his walk around the town, and the disturbing sights he had seen. "None of it was very wicked," he said. "I just wonder what they'll do next. When all their inhibitions have gone, will they start to kill one another?"

A kitchen hand brought a tureen of soup for their supper. Caris sipped warily. For a long time, all food had made her feel sick. However, she seemed to find the leek soup palatable, and drank a bowlful.

When the maid had cleared away, Caris said: "While I was ill, I thought a lot about dying."

"You didn't ask for a priest."

"Whether I've been good or bad, I don't think God will be fooled by a last-minute change of heart."

"What, then?"

"I asked myself if there was anything I really regretted."

"And was there?"

"Lots of things. I'm bad friends with my sister. I haven't any children. I lost that scarlet coat my father gave my mother on the day she died."

"How did you lose it?"

"I wasn't allowed to bring it with me when I entered the nunnery. I don't know what happened to it."

"What was your biggest regret?"

"There were two. I haven't built my hospital; and I've spent too little time in bed with you."

He raised his eyebrows. "Well, the second one is easily rectified."

"I know."

"What about the nuns?"

"Nobody cares any more. You saw what it was like in the town. Here in the nunnery, we're too busy dealing with the dying to fuss about the old rules. Joan and Oonagh sleep together every night in one of the upstairs rooms of the hospital. It doesn't matter."

Merthin frowned. "It's odd that they do that, and still go to church services in the middle of the night. How do they reconcile the two things?"

"Listen. St Luke's Gospel says: 'He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none.' How do you think the bishop of Shiring reconciles that with his chest full of robes? Everybody takes what they like from the teachings of the church, and ignores the parts that don't suit them."

"And you?"

"I do the same, but I'm honest about it. So I'm going to live with you, as your wife, and if anyone questions me I shall say that these are strange times." She got up, went to the door and barred it. "You've been sleeping here for two weeks. Don't move out."

"You don't have to lock me in," he said with a laugh. "I'll stay voluntarily." He put his arms around her.

She said: "We started something a few minutes before I fainted. Tilly interrupted us."

"You were feverish."

"In that way, I still am."

"Perhaps we should pick up where we left off."

"We could go to bed first."

"All right."

Holding hands, they went up the stairs.

Chapter 71

Ralph and his men hid in the forest north of Kingsbridge, waiting. It was May, and the evenings were long. When night fell Ralph encouraged the others to take a nap while he sat up, watching.

With him were Alan Fernhill and four hired men, soldiers demobilized from the king's army, fighters who had failed to find their niche in peacetime. Alan had hired them at the Red Lion in Gloucester. They did not know who Ralph was and had never seen him in daylight. They would do as they were told, take their money, and ask no questions.

Ralph stayed awake, noting the passing of time automatically, as he had when with the king in France. He had found that, if he tried too hard to figure out how many hours had gone by, he became doubtful; but, if he simply guessed, what came into his head was always right. Monks used a burning candle, marked with rings for the hours, or an hourglass with sand or water trickling through a narrow funnel; but Ralph had a better measure in his head.

He sat very still, with his back to a tree, staring into the low fire they had built. He could hear the rustle of small animals in