Brother Cadfael 17: The Potter's Field Read Free

doubts at first. He kept him the full term and over in his novitiate. His desire was extreme, and our abbot suspects extremes. And then, the man had been fifteen years married, and his wife was by no means consenting. Ruald left her everything he had to leave, and all of it she scorned. She fought his resolve for many weeks, but he would not be moved. After he was admitted among us she did not stay long in the croft, or avail herself of anything he had left behind for her. She went away, only a few weeks later, left the door open and everything in its place, and vanished.'

    

'With another man, so all the neighbours said,' Hugh remarked cynically.

    

'Well,' said Cadfael reasonably, 'her own had left her. And very bitter she was about it, by all accounts. She might well take a lover by way of revenge. Did ever you see the woman?'

    

'No,' said Hugh, 'not that I recall.'

    

'I have,' said Aline. 'She helped at his booth on market days and at the fair. Not last year, of course, last year he was in the cloister and she was already gone. There was a lot of talk about Ruald's leaving her, naturally, and gossip is never very charitable. She was not well liked among the market women, she never went out of her way to make friends, never let them close to her. And then, you see, she was very beautiful, and a stranger. He brought her from Wales, years ago, and even after years she spoke little English, and never made any effort to be anything but a stranger. She seemed to want no one but Ruald. No wonder if she was bitter when he abandoned her. The neighbours said she turned to hating him, and claimed she had another lover and could do without such a husband. But she fought for him to the end. Women turn for ease to hate, sometimes, when love leaves them nothing but pain.' She had mused herself into another woman's anguish with unwonted gravity; she shook off the image with some dismay. 'Now I am the gossip! What will you think of me? And it's all a year past, and surely by now she's reconciled. No wonder if she took up her roots - they were shallow enough here, once Ruald was gone - and went away home to Wales without a word to a soul. With another man, or alone, what does it matter?'

    

'Love,' declared Hugh, at once touched and amused, 'you never cease to be a wonder to me. How did you ever come to know so much about the case? And feel so hotly about it?'

    

'I've seen them together, that was enough. From across a fairground stall it was plain to be seen how fond, and wild she was. And you men,' said Aline, with resigned tolerance, 'naturally see the man's rights first, when he sets his heart on doing what he wants, whether it's entering the cloister or going off to war, but I'm a woman, and I see how deeply wronged the wife was. Had she no rights in the matter? And did you ever stop to think - he could have his freedom to go and become a monk, but his going didn't confer freedom on her. She could not take another husband; the one she had, monk or no, was still alive. Was that fair? Almost,' avowed Aline roundly, 'I hope she did go with a lover, rather than have to live and endure alone.'

    

Hugh reached a long arm to draw his wife to him, with something between a laugh and a sigh. 'Lady, there is much in what you say, and this world is full of injustice.'

    

'Still I suppose it was not Ruald's fault,' said Aline, relenting. 'I daresay he would have released her if he could. It's done, and I hope, wherever she is, she has some comfort in her life. And I suppose if a man really is overtaken by an act of God there's nothing he can do but obey. It may even have cost him almost as much. What kind of brother has he made, Cadfael? Was it really something that could not be denied?'

    

Truly,' said Cadfael, 'it seems that it was. The man is wholly devoted. I verily believe he had no choice.' He paused reflectively, finding it hard to discover the appropriate words for a degree of self-surrender