‘Whether she does or not, you are right not to marry her. No good came of King Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. It has split the nobility even more drastically than it was divided before he usurped the throne and even worse, it has alienated the ordinary citizens. He had seemed a golden-haired, victorious young Galahad when he became king, but he lost all respect when he allowed his lust to override his reason and made a commoner his queen. Many no longer considered him worthy of their loyalty or fit to wear the crown. You might lose the support of your tenants and followers Lord Jasper, if they heard that you took your leman for your wife.’

For a few moments I frowned at William, a commoner who had married a queen’s daughter, albeit a secret one. ‘Do you speak as a lawyer when you say that?’ I asked.

‘Yes I do. Marriage is more than just words said before witnesses. It is a legal matter and I have drawn up many a contract for couples who understand its importance in binding our society together. It is as important as the vow a vassal makes to his lord or to his king. Love may come after marriage but it is a hazardous foundation for it.’

‘Did we not marry for love, William?’ Indignation spiked Meg’s interjection.

He leaned from his chair to take her hand, smiling fondly. ‘Oh yes, we did, but we had known from childhood that we would and our parents and all our friends and neighbours also knew and approved. Nevertheless I would still say that our marriage is based on more than love. Shared values, mutual respect, loyal friendship – and, thanks be to God, the joy of rearing our children.’

His wife shot him a wicked sideways glance with those devastating blue eyes of hers. ‘Are you not forgetting a little something called the marriage debt, husband?’

He gave her a comical look of horror, snatched his hand back and smacked the palm to his forehead. ‘How could I forget that? Lust is a terrible thing, Lord Jasper, but at least in marriage it is legal!’

I had to laugh with them but my laughter was edged with guilt.

It was getting late when I collected Evan and my small retinue at the local inn and we set off for Stepney Green but while the men were laughing and joking after their drinking-session, I rode a little ahead of them, taciturn and lost in my thoughts. Witnessing my sister’s family life had led me to consider my own. I did not want Elin and Joan to suffer for being illegitimate but more than ever I knew that marriage was not possible with Jane. A way had to be found to solve these two apparently irreconcilable problems and William’s polemic on love and marriage had started a hare running in my mind.

46

Jane

Le Garlek, Stepney Green, London