Whiter than the Lily (6 page)

Presently there was a soft footstep outside her partly opened door and a quiet tap sounded. Calling out ‘Come in!’ Helewise rose to greet her visitor.

Galiena Ryemarsh wore a dove-grey silk gown and was heavily veiled in fine linen, arranged so that the hem fluted prettily but concealingly around her face. A headdress modestly covered her hair. Helewise’s first impression was of a woman of fashion dressing as she believed fit when entering – albeit only temporarily – a convent full of nuns.

Her second impression was that Galiena looked older than eighteen.

‘You are Galiena?’ Helewise asked, although there could hardly be any doubt.

‘I am. Thank you for receiving me, Abbess Helewise,’ the girl replied.

Resuming her seat, Helewise indicated the low stool that she kept for visitors. ‘Please, sit down.’

Galiena did so. She moved, Helewise noticed, gracefully, and the tall, slender body sank down on to the stool in one smooth movement. The long linen veil fell in graceful folds to the floor, pooling with the grey silk of her gown on the worn stones. It was an attractive picture and, had Helewise not realised it was unlikely, she might have thought Galiena had deliberately planned it.

Galiena looked up and Helewise met the bright blue eyes. ‘You know why I am here,’ the girl said.

‘I do. My infirmarer tells me that there are things that she may be able to do to help you and I pray that it will prove so.’

‘I pray, too.’ The girl’s tone was fervent. ‘My husband is much older than I am, my lady, and our years together will probably not be as long as either of us would wish, so you see there is some urgency in this matter.’

‘But such things have a timing of their own,’ Helewise protested mildly. ‘Children are not necessarily begotten at our convenience.’

‘The remedy must work swiftly. It must!’ the girl cried. For a moment a hot pink flush coloured her pale cheeks but then, as if already regretting her hasty words, she said meekly, dropping her head so that her veil hid her face, ‘Of course, it is as you say, my lady. God will send us a child in His own good time.’

Or not, Helewise thought, although she did not say it aloud. ‘We shall make you comfortable while you are with us,’ she said instead. ‘You have already been shown your accommodation, I believe, and I trust you find it satisfactory.’

‘Oh, yes,’ Galiena said. ‘The room is somewhat small, but I shall be adequately comfortable.’

‘I am delighted to hear it,’ Helewise said with slight irony. ‘It will be a pleasure to have you as our guest and we shall do our utmost to help you,’ she added courteously.

Galiena smiled as if to say, naturally!

Fighting to keep a pleasant expression on her face,
Helewise said, ‘I am told that you arrived alone? Was it wise to travel without an escort?’

‘I did have an escort,’ Galiena said quickly. ‘My maid and my husband’s stable lad. But it is quite a ride back to Ryemarsh so, as soon as the gates of Hawkenlye were in sight, I dismissed them and sent them on their way.’

‘I see.’ Helewise frowned. The girl’s explanation was perfectly reasonable and, had anyone else given it, Helewise might have been impressed at the selfless motive that had prompted the premature dismissal of the escort. As it was …

I am being foolish, Helewise told herself firmly. I am wasting the Lord’s precious time on silly fancies.

Getting to her feet, she said, ‘I believe that you are to speak with my infirmarer in the morning so, if there is nothing else, I will let you get to your bed.’

Taking the cue, Galiena too rose. ‘No, I think I have all that I want,’ she said, frowning slightly as if checking through a mental list. ‘I will bid you good night, then, my lady.’

She bowed, straightened and turned, then glided out of the room.

Helewise listened to the quiet footsteps receding. For a little while she battled with herself. Then, giving up, she strode over to the open door, closed it rather too forcibly and, safely shut in her room, cried out, ‘Well,
really
!’

She returned to her chair and flung herself down. The cheek of the girl!
I think I have all I want
, indeed! As if Helewise had been offering to fetch
her a bedtime drink, wash out her personal linen or find her a softer pillow!

She sat fuming for some time. Then, as habits of charity reasserted themselves, she began to regret her outburst. The girl is troubled and upset, she reminded herself. She is clearly quite desperate to give her husband this longed-for child, and why should she not have her wish? The dear Lord knows, enough babies are born to those who do not want them, cannot support them and have little love for them. Is it not something eagerly to be desired, that the healthy young wife of a man of wealth and position conceives and bears a child?

The reasoning was sound enough. Why, then, Helewise asked herself, was she left with the feeling that Galiena Ryemarsh was a determined and ruthless young woman who would stop at nothing to get her own way?

‘I am ashamed of myself,’ Helewise whispered softly. She stood up, then, falling to her knees, began to pray. With sincere contrition she confessed her lack of charity and the unreasonable way that she had jumped to judge another human being, one, moreover, who had come to Hawkenlye for help. Knowing that these were faults she would have to share with her confessor in due course made her guilt lift slightly; Father Gilbert would view them as gravely as she did and the severity of her penance would probably reflect that. Until she could open her soul to him, she resolved that she would go out of her way to be kind to Galiena.

By acting in charity towards another, the nuns said,
you could override antipathy and even downright dislike. That was why you sometimes observed a sister silently and unobtrusively performing small acts of kindness for one of her fellow nuns; it was never easy, at least to begin with, but very often, with God’s grace, it worked.

Helewise sighed. The strength of her reaction against the prospect of doing kind little deeds for Galiena Ryemarsh only went to show how important it was that she start as soon as she could.

The next day was as hot as its predecessor. The sun shone down from a cloudless sky and there was no breeze to cool the nuns and monks as they worked through the long hours of toil. To add to the usual daily quota of problems, greater or smaller in nature, a swarm of bees had appeared out of nowhere and settled in the eaves of the stable block. Sister Tiphaine, who knew more about bees than anyone else at Hawkenlye, was trying in vain to keep the nuns calm while she readied a skep for the new swarm, but two of the young postulants had gone too near and one of them had received several stings. From the fuss she was making, Sister Euphemia had been overheard to remark caustically, you would have thought she had been cast into Hell and was being prodded by red-hot pitchforks.

Helewise, making a determined start on her resolve to be kind and generous of heart towards Galiena, offered up a special prayer for the girl at Matins, at Prime and at Tierce. She did not know exactly when Sister Euphemia planned to interview Galiena – the infirmarer had not been specific – and so Helewise sent word to the infirmary asking Sister Euphemia
to report to her as soon as there was anything to report.

Sister Euphemia came to see her in the middle of the morning.

Helewise, taking in the expression on Sister Euphemia’s face, realised immediately that things had not gone well. Reaching for the jug that stood on her table, she poured out a mug of barley water and handed it to the infirmarer, who took it with an absent nod and downed it in one.

‘That’s better.’ She smacked her lips. ‘Thank you, my lady.’

‘You looked as if you needed a cool drink,’ Helewise observed.

Sister Euphemia grinned briefly. ‘It was as obvious as that?’

‘It was,’ Helewise agreed. ‘What has happened, Sister?’

Sister Euphemia sighed and shook her head. ‘Precisely nothing, my lady! For all that she clamours for our help, she will not speak to me of intimate matters between herself and her husband. Not a word! And when I suggested I have a look at her, she leapt up and clutched that long veil she wears tightly around her as if I were threatening to strip off her clothes and examine her by force!’ Pink in the face at this insult to her professional integrity, Sister Euphemia was momentarily lost for words. Then, in a quieter voice, she added, ‘The very idea!’

‘Do not distress yourself,’ Helewise said soothingly. ‘All of us who know your ways treasure your kindness
and your tact when – er, when a patient’s treatment requires certain intimacies.’

‘Thank you, my lady.’ Sister Euphemia muttered something to herself then, eyes raised to meet Helewise’s, she said, ‘I wouldn’t have said that young lady was coy, though. I find it strange that she should react to my questions like a timid child.’

‘You can never tell,’ Helewise remarked. ‘Sometimes what we see on the surface masks other, very different emotions.’ Remembering her vow to be charitable to Galiena, she went on, ‘Perhaps she finds this whole business of trying to conceive rather embarrassing. I mean, she is still young and to have strangers know of – er, of matters usually reserved for the bedchamber, to have people, no matter how well-intentioned, aware that there are difficulties …’ Floundering, she broke off.

The infirmarer was watching her with a smile. ‘Happen you’re right, my lady, and I’m grateful to you for reminding me of something I should have thought of for myself. I’m too forthright and well I know it. I meant well, though, and I did stop my questions when she looked so upset. And I’d only got as far as asking her whether her courses came regularly and fully, how frequently her husband lies with her and whether he’s still capable of ejaculation!’

Helewise had a moment’s genuine sympathy for Galiena. However well intentioned, Sister Euphemia could be formidable when she was seeking out the facts behind a patient’s malaise.

‘Then I said,’ the infirmarer was relating, ‘well, my
girl, if you don’t want to speak of such things, better hop up on the cot, slip your skirts up and let me have a look at you, and she went so white I thought she was going to faint!’ Amazement flooded the honest face all over again as Sister Euphemia described the scene.

‘Oh, dear,’ Helewise said. ‘The thought of an examination genuinely distressed her, then? It was not merely a pretence at delicacy designed to engage your admiration for her refinement?’

Immediately she regretted the words. Sister Euphemia was far too astute to miss their significance; the fact that Helewise should suggest Galiena’s modesty was purely to impress the infirmarer reflected all too clearly Helewise’s opinion of the girl.

The infirmarer looked at her for a moment. Then she said quietly, ‘Don’t look so guilty, my lady. The same thought had occurred to me. But aye, that pallor was real, all right. For some reason, the idea of my looking at her private – um, having a look down there put the fear of God in her.’

Helewise, only a little comforted, nodded. ‘Well, we must accept the young woman’s sensibilities and leave her be,’ she said. ‘Are you able to offer her any treatment that might help conception? Without knowing more about her – er, her circumstances?’

‘Aye,’ Sister Euphemia said heavily. ‘Aye, there’s things we can try. The trouble is, my lady, they may well be the
wrong
things. If I can’t pin down exactly what the problem is, then how am I to know how best to treat it? And I cannot identify the precise problem without Galiena’s help.’

Helewise remembered suddenly her first impressions of Galiena. ‘One thing does occur to me, Sister Euphemia,’ she began tentatively. ‘Although, when I come to think of it, it is scarcely worth mentioning.’

The infirmarer grinned. ‘Why not mention it anyway, my lady?’

Helewise returned the smile. ‘It was just that I understood the young lady to be eighteen years old.’

‘Aye, that’s what she told me.’

‘Yet to me she seems older. I cannot say why, exactly, especially when she keeps herself so well covered up. I just wondered if her age might be a factor in her barrenness.’

‘She could be a year or so older than she claims,’ the infirmarer agreed, ‘although I do not think it would make any difference to whether she conceives or not. Why, I’ve known first-time mothers ten or even fifteen years older than young Galiena! If she were forty, now,
that
might just make things trickier.’

‘I did not for a moment think she was as old as that!’ Helewise laughed. ‘As I said, it wasn’t really worth mentioning.’ She sighed, then went on: ‘If Galiena continues with her attitude, you will just have to manage without the young lady’s help and do the best you can, Sister.’ She got up, went round her table and, pausing beside the infirmarer, put a hand briefly on her strong right arm. ‘As I know you always do,’ she added softly.

‘Thank you, my lady. I’ll get over to Sister Tiphaine and the two of us will get our heads together and see what we can come up with.’ She took a deep breath,
releasing it noisily and with some force. ‘We’ll be guessing, like as not, but I suppose that’s better than nothing.’

‘A great deal better than nothing,’ Helewise said encouragingly. Then, with many rather odd thoughts and ideas buzzing in her head, she saw the infirmarer to the door and watched her hasten away.

As the day wound down towards evening, a thin band of cloud puffed up in the west so that, for a time as the sun went down, the perfect sky was shot with stripes of brilliant gold and orange. Helewise, going out of the rear gate of the Abbey on her way down to the Vale, stopped to look and to admire. As she stood in the peace of early evening she reflected that it was the first time she had allowed herself a moment’s quiet reflection all day. All week, come to that. Closing her eyes and determined to enjoy it, she breathed in the scent of hot dusty grass. This, she thought, eyes still closed, is a good place.