Chapter 3

David, along with his brother William, had gone to the English court, where King Henry II did them the honor of knighting them personally. Of course, they stayed there for a while afterwards, as they wanted to attend the coronation of the young King Henry, to whom they swore allegiance just one day further on. At this point, they had no inkling of what would ensue from their decision.

Immediately afterwards, however, William was forced to return to his own court as soon as possible, but left his brother behind in England, who was to use the opportunity to establish ties with other nobles who were staying in England - acting in the name of the Scottish king -.

Therefore, David was still at the English court when Margaret of Gisburne arrived there accompanied by her stepson Edmond. And she was traveling without her husband, who appeared to be out of the country. David could hardly believe his luck, for he had never been able to forget the young woman, even though he knew full well that he could never claim her as his own. But he still remembered vividly how much he had enjoyed her company, and so he would gladly try to renew that friendship. While respecting all social graces, of course, for no one should be given the chance to accuse him - or her - of doing anything improper.

Lady Margaret's stepson turned out to be a slender boy of fourteen, who had recently risen from a page to squire with the Earl of Gloucester. Edmond was as dark-haired as his father, but that was where the similarities between the two ended. Above all, he did not convey the same ill-tempered impression as Sir Edmund, and for this reason David found the boy much more likeable than his father. However, he later learned that he was rather wary of other people and the Scottish noble wondered if this had something to do with his father.

It was obvious that the squire got along quite well with his stepmother, who was only a few years older than he. After a few days, he also accepted David, although he seemed a bit envious when he learned that the Scotsman - who was only four years older than himself - had already been knighted and that too by the English king in person. But David quickly realized that the younger man had understood that, as the son of a knight, he could not compare himself to the brother of a king.

Lady Margaret and young Edmond had only been at the English court for a few days when the Earl of Gloucester arrived there as well. As a result, the squire had to say farewell to his stepmother, for his master was going to France for a tournament and Edmond, of course, had to accompany him.

No one at court thought anything of it when David of Scotland gave his attention to the lady who now remained behind all alone, for no one seemed to recall that the two had met some years before. Therefore, no one was able to remember how well the two had gotten along at that time either. This suited the young Scotsman very well and after some time Margaret was also able to relax a bit, which was possibly also due to the fact that her husband was far away in the Holy Land. And that he had already left for there a year ago.

But then the task David had taken on on behalf of his brother took him away from the court of the English king again, and he had to say farewell to his love once more. But this time he did not leave without having extracted a promise from her. Now he was sure she would contact him - without delay - should she ever need help. He, in turn, had assured her that any message would reach him immediately, provided she sent it to the Scottish court. He had also reassured her that he would respond promptly.

However, he did not expect to hear from her soon.

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After having read the message that had reached him at his brother's court, David was quite baffled. Of course, he had not forgotten that he had taken Margaret's promise to contact him should she deem it necessary. But frankly, he had not expected her to make use of it; after all, she had made it quite clear to him that she wanted to be a good wife to Sir Edmund. Even if their marriage was not a very good one. Therefore, there was no way he had anticipated hearing anything from her so soon.

"What have you got there?" his friend Donald inquired. In an attempt to protect the woman he loved, he hid the letter from the other. Yet he did so only half-heartedly, for he also knew that the other had never yet betrayed his trust. Moreover, he had an urgent need to discuss the contents of this message with someone, and this he could really do with only one person. With his friend Donald. It was therefore not difficult for him to hand him the letter.

"Please tell me what you think of this", he asked the older one.

Donald studied the few lines thoroughly before looking at David's face with scrutiny. Perhaps he assumed that he could see there what his friend was up to. However, the latter himself did not yet know how to proceed now, so there was at most confusion to be observed on his face.

"This message is pretty obvious. If it were addressed to me, I would immediately set off on my way", he told David. However, he quickly went on to say, "You know you can't just rush off, right? You have to think carefully about what you're going to do, David, and you have to consider your brother while you're at it."

"Margaret is asking for my support. She's all alone now. Her husband has perished in the Holy Land and her stepson is somewhere in France, and a minor at that. Moreover, I promised her that I would not abandon her should she ever need my help. Therefore, I must go to her", David tried to convince his friend that he had no other choice.

Donald shook his head, although he was not unaware of the state of David's heart. "Why did you promise her such a thing when you know very well that your brother will never agree to you marrying her. Nor can I imagine Henry giving you his consent, even if she is only the widow of a knight."

"I did not consider the possibility of marriage when I made my promise, Donald. Even though I was not particularly fond of Sir Edmund, I did not wish him to stay on the battlefield."

"Are you quite sure of that, David? You were very fond of her back then", the older tried to get him to admit that his promise was not made unselfishly.

But the young man shook his head vigorously. "I certainly hadn't any such thing in mind."

Donald sighed. "So, you're really going to set out? And what are you going to tell your brother? He'll want to know where you disappeared to."

"Well, I'm always out making contacts for him, so he's going to assume the same now, too." David laughed softly. "And I wouldn't even lie to him, because I actually plan to make at least one contact. Or at least to intensify it."

"You're incorrigible when it comes to this woman, David", the other noted with some exasperation in his voice.

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"My Lady Gisburne", David greeted the young widow and bent down to kiss the hand she held out to him.

"I am so glad you could arrange to come to Gisburne Manor, my Lord", she replied, while the few servants who kept order in the modest house watched them from the back of the small hall. David was sure they had all been chosen by her late husband.

"When I was knighted, I swore to take care of widows and orphans, and for me those were not empty words, Lady Gisburne", he went on, straining not to laugh out loud. How fortunate that he had been able, over the past few years, to gain experience in concealing what he was really thinking.

Margaret, however, wasn't holding up too badly either. But she had to turn her gaze to the floor - seemingly out of modesty - to hide the joyful sparkle in her eyes from the other people. After all, such a kind of thing did not go down well when one's spouse had only been dead for a few months. David hadn't missed it, though, and he could only hope that others weren't so observant. Or attributed the sparkle to unshed tears.

"I am very gratified that you are taking this obligation so earnestly, my lord, for going to the trouble of escorting me to the monastery at Kirklees. You cannot imagine how much I long for peace and seclusion after this twist of fate. And I am so fortunate that the steward of my late husband - God rest his soul - is so capable. He will have no trouble in settling the affairs of Baujot and Edmund's other estates to my complete contentment, so that I may hand them over intact to our son Edmond as soon as he comes of age. For this reason, I need not have a guilty conscience when I retire to the seclusion of a monastery, and it will be quite sufficient for me if I am accompanied only by Adney. After all, you will provide for my protection, my Lord."

David was not in a condition to reply to these words, for then he would run the risk of betraying himself by laughing after all. For this reason, he confined himself to a slight bow. At the same time, he remembered that Donald had been right. For this woman, he would indeed do anything.

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The young Scotsman observed that it was surprisingly easy to vanish from the scene on their journey to the monastery. However, it was somewhat more difficult to cover their tracks, but they were able to do this with the help of the faithful Adney, for she was devoted to Margaret - unlike the rest of the servants - and not to her deceased husband. This was not surprising considering that she had been taking care of the young lady since her birth, having previously served her mother. For this reason, her devotion could not be bought with money. Although she was no longer the youngest, she took it upon herself for the sake of her young mistress to bring a letter from Lady Gisburne to Kirklees. In it Margaret of Gisburne informed the abbess that there had been a change in her intentions, for she no longer wished to retire to the convent. After making sure that this news reached the nuns, the maidservant returned to the modest house that David had rented for Margaret and himself. She reached this just in time to witness the marriage of the two by a parish priest from the nearby hamlet. After that, she saw to it that the two lovers had nothing to worry about but themselves, for it was the happiness of her mistress that to the older woman was the most important issue in the entire world.

During the first weeks in this house, Margaret and David practically were in a state of perpetual happiness and therefore they did not notice anything that was going on around them. They were not interested in anything but their being together, and if it had not been for the maidservant, they might even have been in danger of starving, for they did not give any thought to food or drink. Adney looked after them as if they were children unable to take care of themselves.

But when the first rush of their so long withheld affections had dissipated, they at last began to be concerned about their future. It was Margaret in particular who brought this up, because David initially didn't want to hear about leaving here at some point. He had spent years dreaming of a life with the woman he loved, but in the process, it hadn't occurred to him that his imaginings couldn't stand up to reality. In contrast, Margaret had already had to say farewell to her aspirations once, after her father had hastily married her off to a man who was a stranger to her and also much older. This experience had taught her not to take anything for granted. Nevertheless, she was no less happy than David.

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"What do you think your brother will do when he learns that you married me?" the young woman wanted to know from her counterpart. The two of them were sitting quite relaxed in one of the two rooms of the modest house they had rented, at the table where they used to eat their meals.

This was one of the days when Adney was on her way to Kirklees to inquire about news for Lady Margaret Gisburne. On these occasions, she repeatedly apologized to the nuns for the fact that letters for her mistress arrived at the convent by mistake. She explained that there were people who had not noticed that her lady had not gone to the nuns after all, for no one should become suspicious when letters for her got to them. So far, this seemed to have worked well, but it also meant that the maidservant was on the road for two days.

"What's he going to do?" was the counter question from Margaret's husband. "I know he won't be thrilled, but there's nothing he can do about it. He'll just have to accept it."

"He's a king", she retorted. "And in my experience, kings are capable of many things."

David laughed. "William is not like the English king. You don't have to worry in that regard." He rose to give her an affectionate - and rather long - kiss, for he wanted to reassure her. He didn't think they had to worry about that, because what else was his brother going to do? Margaret had already asked him if the marriage would cost him his place in the line of succession, but he had been able to assure her it would not be a problem. He actually regarded it in that manner; after all, William had never officially named him as his heir to the throne.

He assured her one more time not to worry. And then, to distract her, he asked her if she would like to take a walk through the orchard that surrounded the little cottage and at the same time protected it from prying eyes. When in response a smile appeared on her face, a strong sense of happiness swept through him. Once again, he realized how much he loved Margaret and he was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with her. He also couldn't wait for their first child to be born so everyone could see how strong their love was. Unfortunately, they had not yet been blessed with Margaret conceiving his child, but he was convinced this could only be a matter of time.

"Do you think we'll still be here when these apples are ready to be picked?" asked Margaret of her beloved husband as she strolled hand in hand with him through the garden.

"Do you think we would find the time to harvest them then?" he wanted to know from her in return, making her giggle as well as blush. Apparently, it had just occurred to her what they could be busy with instead.

"We can't expect Adney to do all the work by herself", she chided him, though smiling at him so he would understand she was just teasing him.

"I'm not either, Darling. But I expect we won't be here in the fall. By then we should have made our way to Scotland. And if that's the case, your Adney won't have to do all the work by herself. She has definitely earned some support", David said in a tone that was unexpectedly grave. This was caused by the fact that in the last few days he had started to reflect more often on how much longer they should stay in this house. If he had his wish, they would soon be on their way.

Margaret hadn't missed his tone. "I expect Adney back soon. I would like to hear her advice before we finish our plans, my dear. After all, she's been through a lot more in her life than either of us, so we shouldn't ignore what she has to say."

While David didn't necessarily believe he needed to rely on a maidservant's advice, for Margaret's sake he would hold off on that. After all, it couldn't really do any harm, since in the end he would make the decisions.

He was about to say something about that when he heard someone approaching the house. "I think she might be back by now", he drew his consort's attention.

Margaret turned around at the exact moment her maidservant appeared between the trees, so she couldn't help but notice how pale the other was. And then she turned even paler when she caught sight of her mistress, just as if she had just seen something terrible.

"Adney!" exclaimed the young lady, rushing toward her maidservant. "Has anything happened to you on your journey?"

"Not to me, my Lady", the latter returned, while tears ran down her face.

Meanwhile, David had also approached her. " First get into the house, Adney", he directed her to the door of their dwelling.

"Yes, my Lord", she yielded to him, but still she did not calm down.

After the three of them had entered the house, he made her take a seat at the table and brought her a mug of ale. She took a few minutes to recover a bit and then she turned to her mistress once again.

"My Lady, I found a letter waiting for me in Kirklees, addressed to you. Since you had given me permission to read messages to you, and it seemed appropriate in this case, I opened the letter." She paused and took another sip of ale. "I'm so sorry, my Lady", she then merely brought forth, before pulling the letter out of her pocket and placing it on the table. Quite obviously, she was in no condition to continue speaking.

Thereupon Margaret picked up the note from the table and tried to decipher the sender. A moment later she also turned pale. "It's from Edmund", she informed David in a shaky voice.

"It sure took a long time to reach you", he tried to reassure her, although at that moment a dire premonition gripped him. All at once he was afraid there might be something in that letter that would destroy their happiness.

Margaret took a deep breath and opened the letter with trembling fingers. She had only read a few lines when she dropped it, as if she had burned herself on it. Simultaneously she collapsed as if all strength had left her and David was just able to catch her and maneuver her to a chair.

"What is it, my Darling?" he tried to learn from her what was going on, but she couldn't get a word out. He realized that he had no choice but to read the letter himself.

As he read the few lines, he felt his strength desert him as well, for in them Edmund of Gisburne told his wife in a few words that he had finally recovered from the serious injury he had suffered in the Holy Land and was now on his way to be with her. And then David realized that this message had been written only a short time ago in Dover and his whole world was destroyed with a single stroke.