"His wife would ne'er have returned to him!" ejaculated Aliva indignantly.
"Neither had he any patrimony here, either in the castle or in the manors," added Ralph. "Were they not wrested from my uncle and from others, and given to him as a reward for his evil services to our late king John? And hark ye, my Aliva, the father abbot showed me also, written by his learned scribe, the whole account of the siege of the castle; and he saith that, in after ages, the history of Bedford will be known ever as it is known now. Perchance our names are mentioned, but I read not that portion of the chronicle."
His wife scarcely heeded. She was thinking of the present, and not of the future. Woman-like, her mind was running on match-making.
"Does the Lady Margaret know of Sir Fulke's death?" she asked.
"I trow not," answered Ralph. "The news hath but even now reached England, and hath but just been set down by the abbey scribe at the end of his history of the siege. But doubtless news will be sent to Earl William de Warenne, who, as thou knowest, has charge of the lands and possessions which were hers ere she married, and which have been restored to her."
"Then she is free!" mused Aliva.
"Ay, free, poor lady. The priests decided, when she sought to be released, that there had been no impediment of canon law to her marriage, and that it could not, even if it had been in a manner forced, and the bride unwilling, be dissolved by the authority of the Church. Death hath loosed her bonds."
There was a stirring of the heavy curtain which hung in the doorway of the apartment. But so engrossed were the two speakers that no one noticed it but the child, who, after looking towards it, began to toddle uncertainly in that direction.
"She is free," repeated Aliva thoughtfully. "Her husband is dead, and she hath not yet bound herself by the vows of a religious life, even did she wish it, which, often as I have talked with her these three years past since she hath sought shelter at Elstow, I doubt much."
"True, wife; if any one should know the Lady Margaret's mind, it should be thou, who art to her as a daughter. But beshrew me if I wot what thou art driving at, sweetheart."