Chapter Twenty-Two #2
He nodded and went back to his desk, while she raced upstairs to check the untidy mess of papers and books on the desk and side table in their sitting room.
She tidied everything up carefully as she made a thorough search of the room but didn’t find her sketchbook.
A little dejected, she returned to the library.
“No luck?” he said, taking in her expression and the fact that she was emptyhanded.
“No. I wish I could remember—” She broke off. “You came in here last night to get those books, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” He frowned. “I don’t remember anything out of place, but I wasn’t looking at the trestle table. I went straight to the shelves.”
She sighed and sat down. “Well, I’d best get started on a new set of sketches then.”
Lord Bidenden didn’t return for luncheon, but Kenrick did.
When asked about the sketchbook, Kenrick said quizzically, “No disrespect to your artistic skills, Emily, but I’ve little interest in such things.
Unless of course,” he added with a cheeky look at his brother, “that goblet turns out to be the Holy Grail after all!”
Deo cast a puzzled look between the brothers. “No one has suggested it is, to my knowledge.”
“We made a joke to that effect last night,” said the duke.
Emily leaned forward eagerly. “Did Deo tell you that we have identified our man as a commander who fought under Arthur?”
“What?” said the duke, dropping his fork.
“Em!” protested Deo. “It’s not a positive identification. It relies on Mallory for goodness’ sake!”
“Only for the Bedegraine bit,” remonstrated Emily. “His actual name appears in Geoffrey and Wace and Layamon. You showed me those last night.”
“Whoa! Hold on!” said the duke, leaning forward. “You found this fellow’s name in History of the Kings of Britain?”
Deo sighed and threw Emily a frown. “We did.”
“Along with the identification of his location, which appears in the cross inscription,” added Emily, defiantly.
“So, we know it’s him. It has to be. He is from Caerlyr, which is Leicester, and Geoffrey, Wace, and Layamon all give him as Jugein of Leicester or some variation of the spellings we have on the cross.
And Geoffrey says he was a commander at the Battle of Suesia.
The inscription tells us that he fell at the Battle of Bedegraine.
Which, according to Thompson’s translation of Mallory, was located in Sherwood Forest, just north of here. ”
Emily sat back, beaming.
The duke and the viscount exchanged looks, and Emrys said with a grin, “And when were you going to tell us this, Deo? You didn’t breathe a word of it at breakfast. How could you sit on a discovery like that?”
Deo visibly squirmed and shook his head. “I’m still trying to make up my mind if I believe it,” he admitted. “It just seems too fantastical to me.”
“If it’s true, it’s the find of the century, surely?” said the duke.
“Potentially. But there is a lot more century left, Rob. I wouldn’t count chickens.”
“You’re a conservative old stick, aren’t you?” said Emrys, still grinning.
Deo shrugged. “With a scholarly reputation to protect, one tends to be.”
Emily squirmed at that. Have I gone too far? But surely there is no harm in sharing our discovery with Deo’s friends?
“So, it might be the Holy Grail after all?” said Kenrick.
“No!” said Deo. “There is no evidence for that.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Kenrick. “It was found in a Christian burial of a Knight of the Round Table. Sounds like the perfect candidate to me!”
“This is precisely why I didn’t want to talk about it!” said Deo, going almost as red as his hair.
“Steady on, old chap,” said Emrys, “Kenrick’s just teasing you.”
Kenrick chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”
“But is he, though?” asked the duke. “Seems to me there might be some truth to that?”
“Not you too!” said Deo.
“No, I’m serious,” the duke said. “You should consult Aberdeen, see what he thinks.”
“That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said yet,” said Deo.
“Good. We’ll write to Aberdeen then, after luncheon.”
Deo nodded reluctantly.
*
At the conclusion of the meal, Deo and the duke left the dining room together, heading toward the duke’s study. Emily, several steps behind them, faltered when Deo didn’t acknowledge she was there.
“Deo?”
He turned and looked at her soberly. “Keep working on the sketches, Emily. I’ll join you later.”
“Oh.” She swallowed, feeling like he had pierced her chest with a dagger. “All right.” She turned and walked with dragging steps back to the library.
It was the first time Deo had not included her in something to do with the excavation, and she was hurt and puzzled as to why he was so annoyed with her.
There was no doubt he was annoyed, quite angry in fact, and Emily entered the library to sit and stare at the artifacts, but she had no heart for the work.
Her throat tightened and tears welled up and rolled down her cheeks and she sobbed into her handkerchief.
Annis found her a few moments later. Emily hadn’t heard her enter, being too engrossed in her own misery. “Oh, my dear,” said Annis, drawing up a chair and putting an arm around her.
Emily was startled and embarrassed to be discovered crying.
She generally did so in private, for her tears were never tolerated by her mother.
She stiffened and tried to stem the flow, but the sobs kept coming.
She couldn’t get Deo’s expression of disappointment out of her head, and it was breaking her heart.
“It’s all right, my dear, have your cry out. Men are insensitive sometimes. And even the most placid temperaments can get grumpy.”
Emily wiped her eyes and blew her nose, trying to swallow her sobs. “You—you m-mean the viscount gets grumpy, too?”
“Occasionally,” admitted Annis with a soft smile. “He is the dearest man, but even he succumbs to bad temper occasionally.”
Emily blew her nose again. “Deo used to be quite bad-tempered when I first met him, but he has been much less so lately. I was taken by surprise, I suppose.” She swallowed and added, “Oh, it hurts when he looks at me like that! And the worst part is I don’t know what I did wrong!”
“He didn’t take Lord Kenrick’s teasing well at all, did he?”
“No.” Emily kneaded her damp handkerchief in her hands. “He is of a rather serious disposition. I used to think he didn’t have much of a sense of humor, but lately—he has been much more cheerful and lighthearted.”
“Yes, I have noticed the difference. That is due to you.”
“Is it?” said Emily wistfully.
“Of course it is! It is plain to the meanest intelligence that he adores you.”
“Not at the moment he doesn’t. Oh, what did I do wrong?” wailed Emily. Tears started down her cheeks again.
“I think he did not wish the possible Arthurian connection spoken of.”
“Yes, but why?”
“Well, for precisely the kind of reaction it provokes. People jump to conclusions.”
“Yes, he doesn’t like that. He is always counseling me to be cautious in my interpretations.
But in this case, the evidence is so strong—” She broke off, shaking her head.
“I wish I hadn’t said anything now. But how was I to know he didn’t wish it spoken of?
He didn’t tell me not to say anything. If he had, of course I wouldn’t have said it. ”
“I’m sure he will explain his reasons later when he is more rational,” said Annis.
“I suppose so. I do not wish to be a bad wife, Annis. Am I?”
“Of course not. It is natural to have disagreements occasionally, even in the most harmonious of relationships. I have found that the secret is always to communicate one’s feelings—but in a rational way, when the emotions are less engaged.
” Annis smiled softly. “I am fortunate to have a husband who agrees with me on that head. He was married before, as you must know. He has brought what he learned from his first marriage to ours, and it helps a great deal. Deo doesn’t have that experience, my dear, so try not to be too hard on him. ”
“Oh, I wouldn’t! He has been—” She stopped and swallowed. “Oh, if you only knew how wonderful he is! I love him so much!”
“Of course you do. And your shared happiness has been a delight to witness for all of us.”
Emily smiled down at her lap. “Have we been so obvious?”
“Emrys and I think so, but then we know what love looks like.”
“He does love me, you think?”
“Without a shadow of a doubt,” said Annis firmly. “You should see the way he looks at you. He is very proud of you, you know.”
“Oh!” Emily blushed with delight.
“Now I shall leave you to your work, for Emrys and I have promised the children an outing this afternoon while this wonderful weather holds,” she said, giving Emily a hug and rising.
Emily sprang up and hugged her back. “Thank you so much. I’m not accustomed to having friends. Especially female friends. You are most kind.”
Annis blushed faintly and said gruffly, “You may always count us as your friends, Emily. You’re like family to us, for Deo is a brother to Emrys in every way that counts.”
“Then you are like my sister? I have no siblings or even cousins,” confessed Emily, her heart swelling with affection.
“I have no family either, except a brother I never knew growing up, so it has been the greatest felicity to have Emrys’s family as my own.
And before him, the duke and duchess treated me like family, too.
Robert and Sarah are the kindest and most generous people.
I was the duke’s sisters’ governess, you know, before I married Emrys. ”
“I do know. That sounds like a very romantic tale.”
“It is,” acknowledged Annis with another faint blush and a soft smile. “I will tell it to you one day. Emrys was my knight in shining armor. Now I must go—the children will be waiting for me.”
Left alone, Emily took a deep breath and sat down at the table, determined to get on with the task at hand and wait patiently for Deo to reappear, so that she could apologize and perhaps understand why he was so upset with her.
*