“You’ve changed,” he said with a smile as soon as he saw her. “What happened?”

He was perceptive, of course, especially of shapes. “I’ve been eating too much English honey,” she said. It was true: she was always hungry.

“You look well on it.” Remembering his manners he added: “If I may be permitted to say so, my lady.”

He stood on the other side of the table and helped her sort the apples, handling the good ones gently, throwing the bad into a barrel. She sensed that he was worried about something. She said: “Has Dreng sent you here to buy supplies?”

“I am no longer Dreng’s servant. I was dismissed.”

Perhaps he wanted to work for her. She quite liked the idea. “Why were you dismissed?”

“When Blod was returned to him, he beat her so badly I thought he would kill her, so I intervened.”

Edgar always tried to do the right thing, she reflected. But how much trouble was he in? “Can you go back to the farm?” Perhaps this was what was on his mind. “As I recall, it isn’t very productive.”

“It’s not, but I made a fishpond, and now we have enough to eat and some left over to sell.”

“And is Blod all right?”

“I don’t know. I told Dreng I would kill him if he hurt her again, and perhaps that has made him think twice about beating her.”

“You know I tried to buy her, to save her from him? But Wynstan overruled me.”

He nodded. “Speaking of Wynstan . . .”

He had tensed up, Ragna saw, and she guessed that what he was about to say was the real reason for his visit. “Yes?”

“He sent Ithamar to threaten me.”

“What’s the threat?”

“If I testify at the trial, my family will be evicted from the farm.”

“On what grounds?”

“The Church needs tenants who support the clergy.”

“That’s outrageous. What will you do?”

“I want to defy Wynstan, and testify for Aldred. But my family needs a farm. I’ve got a sister-in-law and a baby niece now, as well as my brothers.”

Ragna could see that he was torn, and she felt sympathy for him. “I understand.”

“That’s why I’ve come to you. In the whole of the Vale of Outhen it must happen that a farm becomes vacant quite often.”

“Several times a year. Usually there’s a son or a son-in-law to take it over, but not always.”

“If I knew I could rely on you to give my family a farm, I would be one of Aldred’s oath helpers, and defy Wynstan.”

“I’ll give you a farm if you’re evicted,” she said without hesitation. “Of course I will.”

She saw his shoulders slump with relief. “Thank you,” he said. “You’ve no idea how much . . .” To her surprise, his hazel eyes filled with tears.

She reached across the table and took his hand. “You can rely on me,” she said. She held his hand a moment longer, then let it go.