Part 11 (1/2)
Madouc spoke with feeling: ”Since my mother loved him, he was surely a person of high estate and n.o.ble character! Nevertheless, they call me 'b.a.s.t.a.r.d' and insist that I have no pedigree.”
Ca.s.sander frowned. ”Who commits such discourtesy?”
”The six maidens who attend me.”
Ca.s.sander was shocked. ”Really! They all seem so sweet and pretty-Devonet in particular!”
”She is the worst; in fact, she is a little serpent.”
Ca.s.sander's displeasure had lost its edge. ”Ah well, girls can be saucy at times. The facts, sadly enough, cannot be denied. Do you care to go further?”
Madouc halted in the path. ”Had Suldrun no friends to help her?”
”None who dared defy the king. The priest Umphred came occasionally; he said he wanted her for Christianity. I suspect he wanted her for something else, which was no doubt denied him. Perhaps for this reason he betrayed her to the king.”
”So Priest Umphred was the traitor.”
”I suppose he thought it his duty.”
Madouc nodded, a.s.similating the information. ”Why did she stay? I would have been over the wall and away inside the hour.”
”Knowing you, I well believe it! Suldrun, as I remember her, was of a dreamy gentle cast.”
”Still, she need not have remained here. Had she no spirit?”
Ca.s.sander considered. ”I suppose that she hoped always for the king's forgiveness. If she ran away, what then? She had no taste for filth or hunger, nor the cold wind by night, nor the certainty of rape.”
Madouc was uncertain as to the exact meaning of the word. ”What is 'rape'?”
Ca.s.sander explained in lofty terms. Madouc compressed her lips. ”That is boorish conduct! If it were tried on me, I would not tolerate it for a moment, and I certainly would have some thing very sharp to say!”
”Suldrun also disliked the idea,” said Ca.s.sander. ”So ends the story, and nothing remains but memories and Princess Madouc. Have you seen enough of this old garden?”
Madouc looked all around. ”It is quiet here, and eery. The world is far away. By moonlight it must be sad, and so beautiful as to break one's heart. I want never to come here again.”
An under-maid informed Lady Desdea of Madouc 's return to the castle, in the company of Prince Ca.s.sander.
Lady Desdea was taken aback. Her intent had been to chide the little minx at some length and then ordain six punitive hours of dancing lessons. Prince Ca.s.sander's partic.i.p.ation totally altered the case. To punish Madouc would imply criticism of Prince Ca.s.sander, and Lady Desdea was chary of such a risk. One day Ca.s.sander would become king, and kings were notoriously long of memory.
Lady Desdea turned on her heel and marched to the queen's parlour, where she found Sollace relaxing among her cus.h.i.+ons while Father Umphred read psalms in sonorous Latin from a scroll. Sollace understood none of the sense, but she found Father Umphred's voice soothing, and meanwhile she refreshed herself with curds and honey from a bowl.
Lady Desdea stood impatiently to the side until Father Umphred completed his reading; then, in response to Sollace's inquiring nod, she told of Madouc's latest delinquency.
Sollace listened without emotion, supping all the while from her bowl.
Lady Desdea warmed to her subject. ”I am bewildered! Rather than acting in accordance with my instructions, she chose to saunter here and there with Prince Ca.s.sander, heedless of the arrangements. Were her rank less exalted, one could almost think her controlled by a cacodaemon, or an esper or some other malignant ent.i.ty! Such is the perversity of the child.”
Queen Sollace failed to become exercised. ”She is a trifle wayward; no doubt as to that.”