I had never seen the Duchess Isabel close to before, and I was startled by her likeness to her younger sister, the Duchess of Gloucester. There was the same delicate colouring of eyes and skin, the same air of fragility that made me think of harebells blowing in the wind. She wore a loose robe of leaf-green sarsenet which imperfectly concealed the fact that she was pregnant — about five months gone by my reckoning, the dark circles beneath her eyes and the way she sank thankfully into a chair indicating that she was finding her condition trying. She already had children, the daughter Margaret who had been born at Farleigh, and a son called Edward after the King, his uncle. I thought that George of Clarence, had he been concerned for his wife’s health, should have been content with the two he already had, for the Duchess looked a sick woman to me.
The Duke nodded curtly in my direction. ‘I couldn’t place your face when I first saw you yesterday evening,’ he said. ‘But then, when I noticed you again this morning at Mass, I remembered who you are. Our paths crossed last year when you saved my brother Richard from assassination.’
‘I had that privilege,’ I answered, bowing. ‘His Grace the Duke of Gloucester has employed me once or twice on his private affairs, but I am a chapman by trade.’
Clarence seated himself in a carved armchair and pursed his lips. ‘Yes, he told me all about you, how he offered you a place in his household and you refused.’ He laughed mirthlessly. ‘You’re a fool, man! But I suppose you know that.’
‘Perhaps, but I prefer to be my own master.’
The Duke shrugged and his blue eyes surveyed me with indifference. ‘That’s up to you, of course. The important thing at this moment is that I know my brother trusts you, and that I can therefore call upon you with confidence to perform a small service for me.’ He waved a hand dismissively. ‘Oh, nothing of any significance; not at all the kind of thing you’ve done for Dickon. An errand really!’ He turned and beckoned forward the man and the girl. ‘This is William Armstrong, one of my sergeants-at-arms, and this is his daughter Cicely, chamber-maid to the Duchess.’
The man was tall and thickset with closely cropped, curling red hair and a surly expression. The girl was as different from him as she possibly could be, the top of her head not reaching much above his shoulder. She had small, neat hands and feet, and a huge pair of violet-blue eyes beneath well-shaped eyebrows. Her hair was concealed under a linen hood, but from the few stray tendrils that had escaped their confinement and lay damply across her forehead, I guessed it to be a pale golden brown. She was not beautiful — her lips were too thin and there was a slight heaviness of the lower jaw — but when she glanced up and gave me an impish smile I was ready to swear that she was one of the prettiest girls I had ever met.
The Duke continued, ‘Mistress Cicely is leaving us. She is going home to Glastonbury to her aunt…’ He paused, looking to William Armstrong for enlightenment.
‘Mistress Gildersleeve, my sister,’ the Sergeant supplied gruffly. ‘Cicely’s to marry my elder nephew, her cousin Peter,’ he added with pride. ‘He and his brother, Mark, have their own business close to the abbey. They’re parchment makers.’
‘Yes, yes!’ the Duke interrupted testily. He turned again to me. ‘The point is, Chapman, that the said Peter Gildersleeve should have arrived here last night, ready to escort his betrothed back to Glastonbury and his mother’s house this morning. Our being at Farleigh for twenty-four hours seemed the ideal opportunity for conveying Cicely thence with the least possible inconvenience to any member of my household. But Master Gildersleeve has failed to appear.’ His Grace looked annoyed at this setback to his plans. ‘Which is very inconsiderate of him. We must leave here no later than noon. I have to be in London by the middle of the week, and I cannot spare William to go with his daughter. He, on the other hand, is worried for her safety between here and her aunt’s house at Glastonbury. So, Chapman! If this Peter Gildersleeve is still absent at midday, I am putting the girl in your charge, and will rely upon you to accompany her to her destination.’
I had no choice but to express my willingness to comply with the royal wishes. I did, however, raise one objection. ‘Your Grace, I go on foot. I have no horse.’
The Duke frowned and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. ‘Can you ride?’ he demanded after a second or two’s deliberation.
I acknowledged that I could, if forced to, adding, ‘But I have not done so for some while.’
‘Once learned, never forgotten,’ Duke George replied shortly, and rose to his feet. ‘I’ll give orders for a mount to be ready for you in the stables. You can take the girl up behind you.’ He moved towards the door. ‘And you may eat your dinner in the great hall with the rest of us in ten minutes’ time.’
The audience was at an end. He left the solar accompanied by the Duchess, who lingered in the doorway just long enough to bid the girl come to see her before quitting Farleigh. Then she followed her husband down the stairs and I found myself alone with William Armstrong and his daughter.
The former regarded me with a certain amount of suspicion. ‘His Grace does right to trust you, I suppose. He seems to know you. I wasn’t in France myself last year, so I can’t vouch for his story. It really was you who saved my lord of Gloucester’s life?’
‘It was. And you may trust me with your daughter’s, if that’s what’s worrying you.’
Armstrong sighed. ‘Well, you look a strong lad, and I daresay you’re handy with your fists if the need arises.’ His eyes narrowed and he moved closer to me, lowering his voice so that Cicely could not hear what he was saying. ‘But you’re a good-looking fellow too, and my daughter’s not long turned sixteen. A susceptible age, when girls grow flighty and don’t necessarily want to do what’s best for them. Cissy’s future is assured with her cousin. She’ll have a decent home and my sister to keep an eye on her. My nephews are fine, upstanding men in possession of a thriving business. Peter, especially, has a healthy respect for making money. My girl will want for nothing. But, as I said just now, she’s at an age when a handsome face can easily turn her head. Do you understand me?’
‘Perfectly,’ I answered coolly. ‘And I can assure you, Sergeant Armstrong, that your daughter’s virtue is as safe in my hands as it would be in your own. Moreover, if we set off as soon as possible, on horseback, even with both of us in the saddle we should reach Glastonbury before dark. At this time of year, daylight still stretches well into the evening. There will be no necessity for us to spend a night on the road.’
He appeared satisfied, nodding in a grudging sort of way, then turned fiercely on his daughter. ‘You behave yourself, mind, Cis! Do as you’re told, and when you get to your aunt’s find out what the devil’s happened to Peter.’
‘He’s probably forgotten all about me,’ Cicely suggested with a toss of her head. ‘I don’t believe he’s any more in favour of this marriage than I am.’
William Armstrong shot out a hand and clouted her around one ear. ‘You watch your tongue, my girl, or you’ll get a beating.’ He breathed heavily. ‘It’s high time you had a husband to tame you. Go on! Go and get your dinner. I’ll see you again before you leave.’
When the door had closed behind her, he sighed. ‘She’s been motherless for the past three years, and that’s why I asked the Duchess to take her into her household, so I could keep her under my eye. But I couldn’t give her a mother’s guiding hand, which is what a girl needs at that age.’
‘Is that why you’ve arranged this marriage for her?’ I enquired, expecting to be told to mind my own business.