"Well, Cicely was a novice, but she had not taken the vows of a nun; and more than that, the Cardinal Legate has absolved all novices from whatever vows they may have made, either public or secret; and so my Cicely is quite free to marry me so soon as Master Clark shall come, though it will be a poor bridal for my darling," added Miles with a sigh.
"Ah, the funeral baked meats for the bridal marchpane," said Margery. "Could it not be otherwise? It is not fitting that you who are Sir Miles Paton now should have no wedding feast."
"Better be without the feast than without the bride," said Miles. "I cannot feel that Cicely is safe for a moment out of my sight until we are married; for if she could be taken back to the convent I might not be able to rescue her again, and that is why I want you to keep her close in your rooms, and never leave her for a moment until Master Clark comes and the wedding is over. Until then say nought about her, even to the servants, for I would they should think that we married at Oxford, or before we journeyed from London. Once we are married I can speak of her as my dame, the young Lady Paton."
Miles was too impatient for the arrival of his friend to be able to settle to the consideration of business, although the family scrivener, having heard of his arrival, had walked over from the monastery to greet him, and ask if he had need of his services.
"Nay, not yet. I did but hear of my father's death this morning, and knew not that my mother was ill. You know to whom general and special invitations to the funeral should be sent. It cannot be hastened, for all must have time to journey hither. Send messengers with letters to all old friends of my father both near and far," he said.
This commission satisfied the scrivener for the time, for writing the letters and going and coming of messengers would cause a little stir in the torpid life of the brotherhood. And so Miles and his whilom enemy parted very good friends, for the time being.
Master Clark arrived early the next morning, having ridden with such hot haste, that people, seeing he was a priest, thought he must be riding to the death-bed of some patient; and when he enquired for Paton Hall, they informed him there was no need to hurry, as Sir Thomas had passed away before his son had reached him.
His arrival was not such a startling surprise to the servants as Miles feared it might be, and the traveller being taken almost immediately to Mistress Margery's rooms did not excite any surprise, as the priest might be expected to go and say a word of comfort to the daughter, seeing he had arrived too late to speak a word to Sir Thomas himself.
So there was a very small wedding-party gathered in Margery's winter parlour, and Cicely Guildford became Cicely, Lady Paton; but there was no marchpane or hippocras, or anything that could suggest that a wedding had taken place in the house of mourning.
The ladies still kept to their own wing of the house, as was usual in such cases, and Miles was not in too much haste to speak of his wife as Lady Paton, or even to mention her at all, leaving the servants to surmise what they liked, as he was sure now of being able to introduce her as his wife when the time came for her to emerge from her retirement with Margery after the funeral.