The Green Man by Kate Sedley Read Free Book Online Page B

caring if he heard me. What use to me were his feelings and premonitions? What I needed were reasons for them. If I could have talked to any one of my fellow servants – for there was little doubt in my mind that the status of servant was what I had been reduced to – it might have helped. But James Petrie, John Tullo, Davey Gray and the two squires all seemed unable to speak in anything but the broad Scots dialect whenever they found themselves in my company. (I wondered how they had fared in France.) The five of them made their contempt for me, as a Sassenach, perfectly plain; yet, in spite of derision and occasional insolence, they tolerated my presence with far less resentment than I would have expected in the circumstances; a fact that made me wonder if they knew of their master’s suspicions concerning at least one of their number.
    I asked Albany.
    â€˜God’s Nightgown, no!’ he exclaimed. ‘I want to flush the bastard out, not put him on his guard.’
    â€˜So what explanation has Your Highness given them for my inclusion in your retinue?’
    He laughed. ‘What else but that you are guarding my sacred person from the possible machinations of the English? They know the part you played in my escape from Bristol to Ireland three years ago and that, as a consequence, I trust you. And to tell you the truth, Roger,’ he added, clapping me on the shoulder, ‘that’s not just an All Fools’ Day story. These forebodings that possess me, warning me of danger, might well apply to my English hosts and have nothing to do with my brother’s men. Or—’ At that ‘or’ I heaved another sigh, deeper than before, but Albany ignored me. ‘Or,’ he continued, ‘I could have enemies in both camps.’
    â€˜Or in neither,’ I suggested.
    He shook his head. ‘I’m a sensitive soul, Roger. I don’t have the “sight”, I admit that. I cannot “see” things that are about to happen, but I can feel them. Oh, yes! Definitely I can feel them. And I have known for some weeks now that danger threatens me from some quarter or another. I racked my brains for someone disinterested enough to guard me without the possibility of his being in the pay of either my brother, King James, or King Edward, who might secretly have decided to make peace, after all, thus reducing me to an embarrassing encumbrance.’ He gave me a radiant smile. ‘And suddenly, I remembered you, my dear friend and saviour. I knew, at that juncture, that Cousin Edward would deny me nothing. So, here you are!’
    â€˜Just sitting on my arse and doing nothing.’
    Albany put an arm about my shoulders and grinned at me. ‘Don’t sound so bitter! I’m paying you well, aren’t I? What I mean is that I will be paying you well as soon as I get my hands on the allowance dear Edward has promised me. Meantime, you’re better fed and clothed, I daresay, then you’ve ever been in your life before. And all you have to do in return is to watch my back.’
    â€˜Do all your family have this fatal charm?’ I grunted. ‘I’m persuaded Your Highness could turn a Mussulman Christian.’
    He smiled broadly. ‘Oh, we Stewarts are noted for our charm, but unfortunately not for our tact or superior understanding. We make enemies all too easily.’
    Against my will, I smiled back. He had an ironic streak that appealed to my own. I found myself liking him in spite of the instinct that told me to resist the notion that, whatever he might call me, however much he might flatter me, he regarded me as a friend. Members of the nobility never made friends of people like me. They used us, then forgot us when we were no longer of value to them. There were no exceptions. I suspected that even the man I admired above all others, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was completely oblivious to my existence until he had work for me to do. Then my