The Traitor's Daughter (12 page)

The servants led them into the manor house. Alais was
glad that Hugh had allowed her to change back into her own clothes; she could
not imagine arriving here dressed as a boy. The hall was as imposing as she had
expected from the exterior. It seemed almost large enough to contain the whole
manor house at Hill. Its walls were hung with beautiful tapestries and a number
of tables crossed it, indicating the large number of retainers that Sir William
fed at meal times. There was also a large fireplace, although no fire burned
there. Despite its size and the very obvious wealth on display, it had an
uncared for look about it. The rushes on the floor had not been changed for
several days, if not weeks. The tables had not been cleaned properly after the
last meal and were stained and dirty. She shivered. Having come in from the
cold, she had not even noticed that the hall was cold and damp. Although it was
only the beginning of October, there should have been a small fire in the
fireplace. There had been a fire at Hill and there would have been a fire at
Leigh.

There was no one to greet them and Hugh sent a servant
to fetch his brother and sister. He was terse with the servants. There was
something about the manor house at Liss, Alais thought, that was bringing out
the worst in him. He had not been pleased to discover that his father had gone
to London and left no orders about her, but there was also something about the
house itself that seemed to change him. While they waited, Hugh strode around
the hall giving orders for his and Edmund’s departure in the morning. He never
looked at her and she felt as if she had already been cast adrift to fend for
herself in this alien place. Hugh was very different here; she thought him
almost aggressive as he gave his orders. The servants bowed and rushed off to do
his bidding. There was no cheerfulness here as there had been at Hill. There
the servants had smiled as they went to do his bidding; here there were black
glances and mutterings as soon as they thought they were out of earshot.

“My lady?” It was Edmund. She turned and he was
indicating that she should sit, while they waited.

“Thank you, but I prefer to stand for the moment.” She
ached from the long ride and tried to stretch the kinks out of her legs as she
stood. She was grateful for his concern. After three days, she had become
convinced that he hated her.  It was only today that he had begun initiating
conversations, showing that he was aware that she existed. She could not blame
him. It was apparent that he cared for Hugh, although she was still not sure
exactly what their relationship was. She smiled and Edmund nodded and walked
away to exchange a few words with Hugh. They were interrupted by three small
girls and a woman not much older than Alais. The girls flung themselves at
Edmund and he knelt to kiss each one, then he took his wife in his arms and
kissed her. Alais smiled to see Edmund so happy. It must have been hard for him
to leave his family behind. Then it was Hugh’s turn to greet the girls. Alais sighed;
she was no nearer understanding what held Edmund and Hugh together. Edmund
introduced his wife to Alais, “Lady Alais, this is my wife Joan.” Alais
realised that he was very proud of Joan. She was a plump, young woman, more
used to smiles than frowns, gathering even a stranger such as Alais into her
welcome and who expected everyone to love her. Alais was certainly prepared to
do so. Anyone who could bring such smiles to the faces of the normally sombre
Hugh and Edmund was worth cultivating. She found herself smiling in return.
Joan curtsied. “She will look after you until other arrangements can be made,”
continued Edmund. Alais smiled up at him. Just as Liss manor house seemed to be
having an adverse affect on Hugh, it was having a good influence on Edmund.
Alais put that down to the presence of his wife and daughters.

“I wish I could leave Edmund to look after you as well,”
said Hugh, coming over to join them, “but he must come with me.” He looked
unhappy at the thought. Here, at last, was the Hugh she thought she knew, kind
and considerate.

“I am sure I will be well looked after here,” said Alais
and was dismayed when Hugh did not smile and agree with her.

“I should be back soon enough,” he said, but she doubted
it could be soon enough for her. He feared something here for her and she
wondered what it could be.

Two women and a man appeared through a door at the end
of the hall. One of the women was tall and beautiful. Her clothes were richer
than anything Alais could remember seeing. She had eyes only for Hugh and Alais
was sure that she was his wife. It seemed right that his wife should be so
beautiful, but Alais was not sure about the pride she saw in the way the woman
held herself. Surely that would not sit easily with Hugh.

The second woman had such fair hair that she could only
be Hugh’s sister. She, too, was richly dressed, but she was far from beautiful.
Her skin had a sickly pallor that indicated to Alais that she could not be long
in this world. She was very heavy with child and walked stiffly, as if in some
pain.

It was the man, however, who seized her attention. He
was tall and fair, like Hugh, but in all other respects he looked like Edmund
and was by far the most handsome man she had ever seen. Hugh was already taking
her forward and introducing them to her, before she realised that she had been
staring at the newcomer. She struggled to hide her confusion.

“Lady Alais, my sister Marguerite,” this was the fair
woman, “and my brother, Stephen.” Stephen stopped smiling.

“Lady Alais, welcome.” He did not bow, a calculated
insult, given that she was both his father’s wife and from an older
aristocratic line than his own. He made no apology for his father’s absence and
did not offer her the hospitality of the house. “Handsome is as handsome does.”
She had heard her mother say it so often and she had never really thought about
what it meant, but now she knew. Stephen certainly had the outward appearance
of beauty, but inside he was ugly. She knew she could never like nor trust him,
despite his beauty. She looked at Hugh and saw the anger on his face, just as
the other woman hugged him. He looked uncomfortable as he pushed her away. Not
his wife, then. That was interesting.

“Lady Alais, I should like to introduce Lady Katherine
de Grenville.” Hugh was gracious, but Alais could see that Lady Katherine was
far from being a favourite with him, even though her welcome had indicated that
she thought she should be. There was something going on here that she would
need to understand before Hugh left. There was so much that she needed to know
now that she was going to be alone.

Alais curtsied, Lady Katherine did not.

Lady Katherine put her hand on Hugh’s elbow and began to
walk away, turning her back on Alais. “My lord, I have much to tell you.”

“It will have to wait,” Hugh shrugged her hand off
impatiently. “I have to leave in the morning and I would ensure Lady Alais’
comfort before I go.”

Lady Katherine shot Alais a look of hatred that was
hidden from Hugh, then turned and smiled sweetly into his face. “As you wish,
my lord.” Alais had already made an enemy at Liss without saying a word.

Some servants appeared with food. Hugh took Alais’ arm.
“Come and sit, my lady. We will eat first. It will take some time for the
servants to prepare your bath.”

Alais smiled her gratitude. “Thank you, my lord. That is
an unexpected kindness.”  She felt his kindness particularly in the light of
the lack of it on the part of his brother and sister. In the short time that
she had known Hugh, it was his kindness that had made the biggest impression on
her.

Hugh led her to the top table and they sat down, he in
the lord’s chair and she at his right hand. Edmund had already disappeared with
his family. Lady Katherine sat the other side of Hugh, constantly trying to
start up a conversation with him. Hugh resisted, but did not talk to Alais,
either. He did not seem to have much of an appetite, but he made sure that
Alais ate and drank her fill. Alais was surprised that the quality of the food
was not better. It did not begin to compare with what she had been given at
Hill and she began to wonder what kind of household this was and whether she
would be able to improve it. Had she been misled about her husband’s wealth?
His main house seemed very mean and poor. Leigh was a much cleaner and more
cheerful place, even Hugh’s small manor had given her better hospitality.

 It seemed unlikely to her that its lord, her husband,
did not run it exactly as he would wish. Therefore, it must follow that he
liked his hall dark, dingy and cold; his food poor and bland and his small beer
undrinkable. Alais did not miss the small humiliation that they were not been given
wine, but since Hugh did not make a fuss, she assumed that small beer was the
normal accompaniment to a meal here. Even at Leigh, noble visitors were given
wine. She concluded, however, that they were further from the coast at Liss and
perhaps it was difficult to obtain good wine.

When they had finished eating, Hugh addressed his
brother, who was still standing by the door through which he had entered.

“Which room has my father given to Lady Alais?”

Stephen affected a look of surprise. “None, that I am
aware of.”

“None!” Hugh exploded from his seat. “He offers her no
accommodation of her own?”

“Lady Katherine has our late mother’s room. The only
other space available is with Elizabeth and Agnes.”

“This is intolerable,” spat Hugh and, privately, Alais
agreed with him. Even in a house as small as Leigh, her parents had kept
separate bedchambers. Was her husband to call her from her bedfellows when he
wanted her or was she to share his bed every night? This struck her as a very
strange household, where every action was an insult to her, the wife of its
lord.

Hugh turned to her. “My lady, I will resolve this matter
when I am with my father.” He lowered his voice so that only she could hear, “I
would give you my room, but…”

“Thank you, my lord. I know that you cannot.” It was one
thing for Alais to sleep in Hugh’s room in his own house with only Edmund and
his own servants to know, but in his father’s house it was a different matter.

“I will show you where Elizabeth and Agnes sleep and
make sure that you have all that you need.”

“You are very kind, my lord.” She made sure that her
eyes told him how grateful she was and was rewarded with a small smile. Alais
smiled back. His brother might be the most handsome man she had ever seen, but
she knew that a smile from him would not lift her heart in the same way that
Hugh’s did.

As she followed him out of the room, she asked him the
question that had been on her mind since she first saw Stephen. “My lord, your
brother and Edmund?”

“Yes?” He stopped in the passageway and turned to face
her. His face had regained its former openness.

“They are very alike.” She was hesitant to step onto
such dangerous ground, but she must know the answer, however much pain it might
give her or Hugh.

“That is because they…we… are half-brothers,” he
replied, his expression grim. “Edmund is Edmund FitzWilliam, the only one of my
father’s many bastards to be acknowledged by him.”

Alais was even more confused. It seemed even more
unlikely that Hugh and Edmund should be so close when one was the illegitimate
half-brother of the other. She was surprised that she was not more shocked that
there were many children resulting from her husband’s infidelities, but it was
the relationship between the half brothers that intrigued her.

“Yet he is your close friend,” she finally managed to
say.

Hugh smiled as if relieved that she chose not to dwell
on her husband’s infidelities and had spoken of something that was any easy
subject for him. “Yes, he is. We are of a like age and similar in temperament.”
Alais smiled, they were certainly both silent, uncommunicative men. “We grew
close as children, before I knew what he was. He and his mother, Hilda, lived
here, in the house. Once I knew, I helped him to force my father to acknowledge
him. We have shared many adventures. I owe him my life many times over.”

He started to walk again.

Alais did not move, “And Lady Katherine?” Her voice was slightly
louder than she had intended and she was a little afraid of what his answer
might be. She did not understand why she was afraid, but she was.

Hugh stopped. He kept his back to her. “My father hopes
I will marry her.” He said it so quietly that she could barely hear.

“Are you not already married? I thought Hill came to you
through your wife.” She knew that she spoke nonsense. The answer was obvious.
It was just that she had not considered it before.

“My wife is dead,” explained Hugh, turning back to her,
his face as impassive as she had ever seen it. She was surprised and a little
insulted, that he felt the need to hide his thoughts from her. “We were
betrothed as children and she came to Liss when we were both thirteen and the
marriage was consummated a year later when I was of age. If you could call it a
consummation. It was a very unhappy time. When we were betrothed her father was
a wealthy landowner, but by the time she came to Liss there was only one
property left and that was Hill. He got into debt and lost everything. My
father did everything he could to break the betrothal, but he could not and I
would not. And Margaret was always sickly. She was ill most of the time we were
married. She died shortly after I came back from fighting in the north.” He
spoke quickly, as if he wanted to unburden himself and then move on to
something else.

“I am sorry,” said Alais, simply.

“There was no love there,” explained Hugh, finally
turning back and looking at her. He seemed eager for her to understand,
although the memory was painful to him. “I was not a good husband and she was
not a good wife. I could not get a child on her and she was never well enough
to travel after she came here, so I could not take her back to Hill where she
might have been happier.”