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I prefer to be alone.’ Her tone, Helewise thought, was a little strange; almost as if she were having to force herself to be polite whereas in fact her inclination was quite otherwise.
    But I am being fanciful, Helewise reproved herself. It is probably just as Sister Euphemia said: this pooryoung woman is embarrassed at her inability to conceive and does not wish the world to know that she seeks help. What could be more understandable? And the Lord and his Holy Mother can hear her pleas as well down here in the shrine as up above in the Abbey church.
    ‘As you wish,’ she said. Galiena had turned her head slightly and Helewise found herself addressing the girl’s veiled cheek. ‘We will pray for you,’ she added. ‘Or, if you prefer that your personal matters are not made public, then I shall intercede on your behalf but in such a way that only God hears.’
    Galiena murmured something; it might have been her thanks. But now she was sitting almost with her back to Helewise and it was difficult to be sure.
    ‘The infirmarer tells me that the remedies she and Sister Tiphaine have prepared for you are ready,’ Helewise went on. ‘I understand that it is your intention to set off for Ryemarsh as soon as you can?’
    ‘Yes,’ Galiena said shortly.
    ‘Do you wish me to send someone with you to act as your escort?’ Putting that duty upon Brother Saul, or perhaps young Brother Augustus, would mean extra work for the other monks, Helewise reflected, but she could hardly send the young woman off alone.
    But Galiena shook her head. ‘No need,’ she said. ‘My maidservant will come for me.’
    ‘How will she know when to come?’ Helewise asked, puzzled. ‘She surely cannot guess the time that you are ready to start for home and—’
    ‘She’ll come,’ Galiena repeated, in such a way asto suggest that she did not wish to continue the conversation. ‘And now, my lady Abbess, if I may be excused, I would like to return to my prayers.’
    Sensing herself very firmly dismissed, Helewise swallowed her pride – it all but choked her – went back up the slippery steps and out through the door.

5
     
    By the evening of that day, Helewise’s resolve to think charitable thoughts about Galiena Ryemarsh and her problems was wearing very thin. Besides her indignation at the way in which the girl had addressed her, she also found herself dwelling on the question of just how Galiena could be so unreasonably certain that her maidservant would come for her. She must surely have sent word somehow, Helewise thought, frowning, but with whom?
    The only conclusion that she reached – and she felt it to be a feeble one – was that Galiena had found some departing visitor to the shrine whose way home went close to Ryemarsh and she had paid them to make the detour. She was on the point of setting out to the Vale once more to see if she could verify this assumption when, on going out of her room and into the cloister, she realised that the long June day was at last coming to a close and it was getting dark.
    She had been sitting brooding in her room for far longer than she had realised. It was too late now to go asking questions of the monks who would, she was quite sure, have settled down for the night.
    As indeed I should have done too, she thought,yawning hugely and not bothering to put a polite hand in front of her mouth. It was rather nice to be alone and not to have to worry about her manners …
    Walking slowly across the courtyard towards the dormitory, she reassured herself with the happy thought that Galiena Ryemarsh would probably be leaving Hawkenlye the next day and, with any luck, Helewise would never have to see her again.
    Galiena might have wished as fervently as Helewise that an early departure be accomplished. However, it was not to be. Well might the girl have been observed (by Sister Ursel, the porteress, and Sister Martha, who tended the stables) peering anxiously up the road to see if there were any sign of