Priceless

6 Months have passed.

Rosamond went into her bed chamber and lifted her jewel box from a shelf. She took out a square pincushion set with 12 pins in 2 unequal rows. She took 1 from the top row leaving 3, adding it to the bottom row making 9. Looking at the result she smiled.

An observer would be forgiven for thinking the poor lady had lost her reason but there was sense behind this ritual.
The 12 pins represented the months between Meinir getting work in Leicester and the time until he and Eirian as his wife would be free. The 3 pins on the top row showed only 3 months remaining.

In the corner of her chamber she had a statue of the Blessed Virgin with a candle that she lit when she prayed. She lit it now dropping to her knees. 'Holy Mother help and protect them and please let Guy not search too diligently'.

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Her prayer which she offered up every month when moving her pins was at worst doing no harm, On top of his other duties Guy( and he swore Vasey was piling on extra these days), was charged with sending messengers to every town under royal charter asking after a young welsh goldsmith and his girl or wife.

Either the pair had vanished from the face of the earth or else the goldsmiths of a particular town were closing ranks for a talented brother.

At one time Guy would have been furious at this failure and given orders for
any variety of persuasion to be used. Now however he seemed to be simply going through the motions making no serious effort at all.

He knew of course that as much as she kept her feelings on the matter to herself.
Rosamond was glad that there was no news. It was the one matter that they could not talk about and it was uncomfortable.

Neither Vasey nor Eulalia had seen fit to inform Edmund of Bonchurch of his wife's lover. Guy knew that this was not in any concern for the Earl himself.

It worried him more than he cared to admit that the matter of the runaways and the brooch might well become some sort of weapon for them.

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Vasey was in a foul mood. Gisborne was getting more uncontrollable and nothing feasible had yet sprung to mind to put him out of Rosamond of Bonchurch's considerable favour.

His latest attempt had been to prime Eulalia with details of Guy's past. He was confident that his Master at Arms would have kept such information from his lady, and encouraged his daughter to have a 'friendly chat' with her sister in law.
Rosamond had serenely remarked that she knew about these things already and was reconciled to her lover's imperfections.

Eulalia had stressed the point that Guy was still involved in the search for her husband's fugitives. Rosamond had sighed at this and said it was simply a matter of their agreeing to disagree.

Vasey had to admit that it would take infernal intervention to help him now.
...............They do say that the devil takes care of his own.

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tbc