The Song of the Nightingale by Alys Clare Read Free Book Online Page A

she ploughed on. ‘Helewise said she’ll need healers, and I am a healer. I’m
useless
here,’ she said with sudden vehemence, ‘and not being able to do what I know I can do well makes life all the harder and Ninian’s absence more painful to bear.’
    â€˜Don’t you think we all feel that way?’ he demanded.
    â€˜About Ninian, yes, of course,’ she said hurriedly. ‘But, Father, you, Geoffroi, Will and Gus are busy from dawn to dusk, as are Ella and Tilly, for the work you all do is right here. What is there left for me? I cannot do what I excel at, and everyone else is so efficient that there is very little left for me to do!’
    Her words echoed faithfully Helewise’s of a short while earlier. Had he not known both women better, he might have suspected them of collusion.
    He raked through his mind, trying desperately to come up with something with which he might appeal to her, even though he was all but certain it was useless. Then he had an idea. ‘What about Little Helewise?’ he demanded. ‘She’s come here to stay with us, undoubtedly because she wants to be with her grandmother and with you, a young woman close to her own age who also loves Ninian dearly, and yet here you are, you and Helewise, planning to run out on her the moment she’s arrived. Is that kind, Meggie?’
    Meggie’s face filled with such love and tenderness that he gasped. ‘Oh, dearest Father, I’m so sorry, but that is no reason to stay!’ she cried, and he saw tears in her eyes. ‘You see, Helewise had the same thought. She’s talked it over with Little Helewise, and she’s coming with us.’ Again, he started to protest, and again she didn’t let him. ‘I know, I know, the little cell by the chapel is hardly suitable for a girl like her, used to considerable luxury, but we’ve thought of that. She can stay down at the abbey if she’d rather, where without doubt the nuns will find her plenty to do to take her mind off worrying about Ninian.’
    Josse felt the passion and the anger flow out of him. Suddenly feeling very tired, he sank down on a straw bale and dropped his head in his hands. ‘You seem to have it all worked out,’ he said from behind them. ‘If you won’t listen to me when I express fears for your safety, if you won’t pause to consider that I might worry about you, miss you, then who am I to stand in your way?’ His voice had risen, and he made himself stop and draw a deep breath. ‘Go and pack a bag,’ he said wearily. ‘I despair of you all.’
    He heard a sound break from her – perhaps a sob? – and then her hurrying footsteps running out across the yard. When he looked up, she had disappeared round the corner.
    The journey through the forest from the House in the Woods to Hawkenlye Abbey was usually a pleasant one, whatever the season or the weather. Today, despite what he knew awaited him, Josse couldn’t wait for it to be over. He had asked Gus to come with them, fearing that he was in no state to protect three women if his worst fears were realized and they were attacked, and Gus was the only one who had a smile. Even his did not survive the first couple of miles, by which time the prevailing mood seemed to have affected him too.
    They reached the chapel, and Helewise turned to him. ‘Perhaps Little Helewise and Meggie might ride down with you while you ask Abbess Caliste if we may take up residence in the cell,’ she suggested. ‘They could then return here to give me the reply, leaving you free to proceed with your own business at the abbey.’
    It made sense. ‘Very well,’ he said curtly. ‘Gus, will you stay with Helewise?’
    â€˜Aye, Sir Josse,’ Gus agreed. He was looking around him, interested, and Helewise, apparently noticing, dismounted.
    â€˜Come, Gus, I’ll show you inside the chapel, and then we