The bard bridled. ‘You flatter me, Sir Roger. No, this is my cousin Sian and her three children. I do not know why they were camping in your field but I guarantee it would not be with the intention of burning your hay crop.’

I took courage and wrenched my arm from my captor, deciding it was time to drop a curtsy. ‘No indeed, Sir Roger,’ I said. ‘We were merely intending to rest in your byre for the night on our way home. I apologize for causing you distress.’

Sir Roger cleared his throat loudly. ‘Harrumph. You should have made yourself known at the gate, Mistress. Where is your home?’

He waved back the men with sickles and I felt a surge of relief but at the same time I also scrabbled mentally for a reply to his question. The wrong answer could land us in even hotter water than we had been hitherto. ‘Like Lewys, my family is from the west, sir, but my husband is a mason and we have been in Hereford. He has travelled on to find new work and will send for us again when he has found it.’

Sir Roger glared at his man with the sickle. ‘So not a vagrant, Meurig?’

‘She said she had no money, sir.’ The man scowled fiercely at me.

‘It is hard to explain at the point of a blade,’ I retorted. ‘We were set upon by thieves the other night and all our money was stolen.’

‘Well, Mistress Sian, when the trestles are cleared you are welcome to sleep here in the hall but meanwhile you can go to the kitchen for some supper. Now let me get on with my meal!’

Lewys came out to greet us while we ate and his cheeks grew pink as he received our grateful thanks. When I told him of our eviction from Weobley and our travels so far he was indignant. Then I revealed that Tenby was our destination, which I had not told the children, in case they let it slip.

‘You cannot go that far alone, Mistress Jane,’ he said.‘You will become lost or worse. I will guide you to Tenby and see you safely to your house,’ adding in a whisper. ‘Lord Jasper would expect no less.’

‘I cannot let you do that, Lewys,’ I protested … but Davy was thrilled, especially at the prospect of learning how to lift a trout from a pool with his bare hands, which Lewys had once boasted he knew how to do.

I laughed and gave him a hug. ‘Oh, Davy, we could not have got this far without you. I look forward to your first trout!’