The Lady in the Tower (11 page)

It was not the season for stag hunting in May, but who was to argue with His Majesty? Why should he not hunt the king’s own deer when he chose?

A horn sounded. The hounds were baying. With a clatter of hooves and some shouts, the yard began to empty. I could hear the hollow clumping of many horses crossing the drawbridge.

I led Arianna out and swung myself into the saddle. Unfortunately Tom chose that moment to cross the yard. At the sight of me he dropped the broom he was carrying with a clatter.

‘Mistress Eleanor! You’ll never—’ But he did not get to scold. Gregory’s voice broke in and rescued me.

‘Ah, cousin! I thought you would not miss this sport. I’ve been looking for you. Come, let us not be left behind!’

I followed Gregory from the yard, leaving Tom behind, standing shocked and anxious.

‘Don’t worry, Tom,’ I called out softly. ‘I’ll come to no harm.’

I had a fair idea it was not my safety he was concerned about, but my etiquette.

We followed the last of the horses out through the gatehouse. More horses and riders were joining the hunt from the encampment. I used my cousin as a shield to stay out of sight of Sir Walter and his friends. I stayed close beside Gregory as the hounds took up a scent and led us up the hill away from the village.

‘We shall have some sport today!’ exclaimed my cousin as we swiftly crossed the first field. His eyes were alight with anticipation. ‘Though I suppose you will be turning back with the other ladies in a while?’

I threw him a look of deep reproach. ‘Turn back? There is little chance of that. I’ll wager I can ride as far and as hard as you can.’

‘I wouldn’t take you. I’d be sure to lose,’ Gregory laughed. ‘But will Sir Walter allow it?’

‘Of course,’ I replied. ‘As long as he doesn’t see me.’

The hunt was thrilling. I knew every inch of countryside, but I had never experienced the excitement of the chase before. I rode mostly beside my cousin, following his lead in matters such as how closely to follow the hounds. But I frequently showed him a better line across streams and through thickets. All my senses were trained on the dogs and the distant stag. I did not notice when the other women turned back, or when the king no longer rode with us. My brother Walter must have been sent home, too. I forgot to look out for Sir Walter as the hunt thinned, but perhaps he was as intent as I, for if he noticed my presence, he did not object. Once I saw Stanton looking at me. I ignored him.

We pulled up in the lee of some trees, while the hounds cast for the scent. There were fewer than twenty horses left. I was too excited to be tired, but the horses were glad of the respite. The weather was growing warmer, and many of them were lathered with sweat.

Sir Walter’s eye fell upon me at last. I saw his brow crease with annoyance, but he refrained from speaking to me. We were surrounded by his friends, and he did not choose to quarrel. We were also many miles from Farleigh, and he could not send me home without accompanying me, or requesting someone else to do so. It was what I had relied upon. He did, however, cast a look of outrage at my saddle, and I feared I might hear more upon that subject later.

The hounds picked up the scent at last and gave tongue. We wheeled about and pursued them, skirting the copse and crossing the next two fields. I thought I had my cousin beside me and called out to him: ‘Do you think we are close now?’

‘Drawing closer,’ the wrong voice shouted back. I saw with a shock it was not Gregory who rode next to me, it was Stanton. I bit my lip, furious with myself for having appeared so friendly to him. ‘Do you always ride astride, Mistress Eleanor?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

I urged Arianna on faster, hoping to outpace him. But his black gelding kept pace with my palfrey easily. Slowly, he began to draw ahead. I could have fallen back, and have avoided him that way. But something inside me urged me onwards.

Arianna was galloping flat out, she could do no more. Our way forward was over a stream not far ahead. I could remember it. It had steep banks and there was only one point where it could be crossed with any degree of safety. The only other option was a shallower spot at the far end of the meadow.

As the other horses slowed and their riders began to cast about for a safe crossing, I steadied Arianna and headed her for the place we had crossed once before. She remembered it too. I could feel her gathering herself for the scramble down the steep bank. We shot past Stanton and dropped down the slope. My stomach lurched suddenly, but not with the descent. To my horror, a fallen tree that had not been there before lay at an angle across the stream.

It was too late to stop. I held Arianna grimly on course, shouting encouragement. She managed to steady herself in the water and cat-leap the tree. I felt her hind hooves catch on the trunk, and she stumbled, lurching and floundering. I thought we were going down. In those few dreadful seconds, I saw Arianna with a broken leg, needing to be put out of her misery. The world darkened around me.

And then we were up. Arianna had got us both over and regained her balance. She paused a second and then heaved us both up the bank. I slowed her to a gentle walk on the far side of the stream and patted her soothingly. We were both trembling with shock.

‘Well done, girl,’ I praised her. ‘Brave Arianna. That was close.’

The sounds of the other riders were falling behind us. Luckily no one had tried to follow me. They would find the crossing place soon, but meanwhile we had a few moments to recover. Stanton was the first to reach me.

‘Rash, Eleanor,’ he commented. ‘Very rash.’ He fell into step beside me once more, and Arianna quickened her pace.

‘I knew the stream,’ I answered him, more defiantly than I felt. We broke into a trot. One of the huntsmen was blowing a horn.

‘But not the fallen tree. Do you not even know the phrase “look before you leap”?’

‘Yes, and the phrase “all’s well that ends well”,’ I retorted angrily.

There was no time for more, the hunt was pressing on, but Stanton called over his shoulder: ‘That’s a fine palfrey you have there. Too fine to risk her legs with reckless riding and showing off.’

‘I was not!’ I gasped. I was speaking to myself, however, for he could no longer hear me. He was galloping now, mud flying from his horse’s hooves. Arianna was fretting to keep up, but I was holding her back, gripping the reins tightly, my knuckles white. I was furious with Stanton, because he was right. The knowledge was humiliating. For a moment, I considered turning back. I could find my own way home easily. I won’t give him the satisfaction, I thought angrily, and gave Arianna her head once more. She was tired, but broke into a canter, and we followed the hunt more soberly than before.

It was soon after that we finally cornered the stag. The hounds surrounded the exhausted beast. He shook his antlers fiercely at them, courageous to the last. He tried to charge the dogs, but they quickly brought him down. Sir Walter rode forward to be in at the kill, but at the last minute I found I did not want to see the noble beast die, and averted my eyes.

The ride home was long. At first everyone discussed the chase in eager, excited voices, reliving the excitement of the last few hours. Gradually, however, weariness came upon us all, and we fell silent. Horses and riders alike were spent.

I brought Arianna alongside Gregory’s horse.

‘You did well today, Eleanor,’ he said. He had not seen the incident at the stream.

‘Thank you, cousin. You are a skilled rider yourself,’ I responded.

I could not take much pleasure from his praise. I was still smarting from Stanton’s reprimand. My cousin’s voice broke into my thoughts.

‘That’s a fine hunter Stanton has there. I wish I had one half as good. And he has at least one mount I envy for the joust as well.’

‘He has?’ I asked curiously. ‘He must be wealthy.’

‘Oh, very. He has a good estate in Hampshire. Well, you will see it soon, as you are to marry him.’

I cast a quick glance around but there was no one near.

‘Not if I can avoid it,’ I confided in him. He turned a startled face towards me.

‘What can you mean?’ he asked. ‘You are betrothed! Do you not like Stanton? He is considered a good match.’

‘I dislike him intensely,’ I replied fiercely.

Gregory frowned. ‘I thought all the ladies ran mad over him. He is a handsome fellow and rich. He’s only a viscount now, but he will inherit the earldom from his father. He is the eldest son.’

‘For all that, he is intolerable,’ I retorted.

I would have said more, in fact I would have liked to vent my feelings by enumerating all Stanton’s many faults to my cousin, but there was one point that could not be argued with. I lowered my voice:

‘I know him to be involved in the plot to do away with my mother,’ I said.

Gregory turned a shocked face towards me.

‘Eleanor, that cannot be. What would he have to gain from such a crime?’

I shrugged.

‘I have no idea. But Sir Walter told me so himself.’

My cousin opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment he was called from my side by Sir Walter who wished to speak with him.

Arianna and I jogged on steadily. My good mood was gone. I told myself I cared not for Stanton’s opinion of my riding. He was nothing but a low, murdering villain. But I did care, for I had been in the wrong, and I was furious with him for pointing it out.

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice at my side.

‘Your skills in the saddle command admiration, Mistress Eleanor. Especially in such a saddle.’

I scowled at Stanton, who was riding beside me once more, his face the picture of bland good humour.

‘Oh, no. It is all
showing off
,’ I snapped. I watched resentfully as his eyes creased with amusement.

‘You are too reckless, it’s true,’ he replied. ‘But you did not panic when faced with danger. That is a skill in itself.’

‘I don’t want your compliments.’ I was becoming angrier at every word he said, convinced he was taunting me. I risked a brief glance at him. He wasn’t actually smiling, but I was sure he was making fun of me.

‘But, Mistress Eleanor,’ he said, and now there was no mistaking the teasing note in his voice, ‘you are my bride-to-be. If I may not both scold and compliment you, who may?’

‘I don’t wish to marry you,’ I blurted out. ‘I should prefer never to have set eyes on you.’

‘Dear me, you have taken me in dislike, haven’t you? What can I have done to deserve that?’

‘I do not wish to be married at all. And certainly not to the sort of man who kisses servant girls in corridors.’

To my fury, Stanton threw back his head and laughed.

‘Have you not yet forgiven me that?’ he asked. ‘I believe I was the one who came off worst, you little vixen.’

‘Your behaviour was disgraceful. Is that how you treat serving girls?’

‘No, only ladies dressed up as servants,’ he responded cheerfully.

I was infuriated, and urged my tired mount to walk faster. To my annoyance, my unwanted companion kept pace with me, riding so close that from time to time our feet touched. I could not move further away without riding into the hedge.

‘You crowd me, sir,’ I commented. Stanton grinned but did not move further away.

‘I did not kiss you, and you were not a servant girl,’ he pointed out at last. ‘I shall consider that kiss owed to me.’

‘It is no such thing!’ I cried. ‘You insulted me. You should be ashamed of yourself.’

‘Not at all. I was expressing my admiration for your fine looks and figure.’

To my annoyance, I felt the colour flaming into my face. I tried another tack:

‘Why do you wish to marry me anyway?’ I asked. ‘Is there not some girl of your acquaintance you would prefer to a stranger such as me?’

‘Mistress Eleanor, I did not wish to marry you at all. It was my esteemed father’s notion. Truth to tell, I was most reluctant.’

I looked at him in astonishment. ‘But then surely—’ I began. He interrupted me by holding up a hand.

‘But I can assure you I am becoming hourly more reconciled to the prospect. Your obvious dislike enhances the betrothal no end.’ The laughter was back in his voice, and my surprise turned to anger once more.

‘You are no gentleman,’ I said, my voice shaking. ‘I’ll never marry you.’

‘It is rather late for that, Mistress,’ he remarked. ‘The whole hall heard you plight your troth to me two nights ago. I’m afraid you’ll just have to grow accustomed to the idea. I believe I improve upon acquaintance.’

‘You think you’re so clever,’ I said in a low voice that shook with passion. ‘But I’ve wiped cleverer shit off my horse’s arse.’

I saw Stanton blink with shock, and felt a tiny stab of satisfaction, but he recovered swiftly. He bowed ironically—as far as he could in the saddle.

‘Mistress Eleanor, allow me to tell you that my horse’s arse is cleaner than your mouth.’

I had had enough.

I turned Arianna and rode off in a different direction to find my own route home. There were hot tears of anger and humiliation stinging my eyes. I would not give Stanton the satisfaction of seeing them.