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he thought.
    In this instance, the heir had longed to serve God. The third may have desired, with equal fervor, to avoid that vocation. As one who had once lost all he loved, Thomas understood how despair might so ravage a man that the torments of Hell seemed mild compared to the agony suffered on earth. He would venture the question.
    “Might both your brothers have suffered a profound grief, a sorrow so dark that it drove them to self-murder?”
    “They had no reason to commit such a vile sin! Roger may not have had a calling to serve God, while Gervase did, but some satisfactory resolution with our father’s blessing could have been reached. It is true that he never granted them any audience after his return, but I see no rational cause for them to despair. Leonel was always ready to help us. Nay, the only conclusion is that the Prince of Darkness has put this castle under a spell, and God allows it because we have gravely displeased Him.”
    Thomas’ attention was caught by one remark. “You say that your father did not speak to those two sons after his return from Acre. How could he have ignored his heir?”
    “They never spoke together. None of us did.”
    “Was there some quarrel?”
    Umfrey folded his arms, although his back still pressed against the altar stones. “On the day our father returned to English soil, he sent word ahead that separate quarters must be prepared for him. When he rode into the bailey, he bowed to our mother but refused her welcoming embrace. As for his sons, he dismissed us without so much as a blessing and has since denied all pleas for any audience. There was no occasion for any disagreement to take place, Brother. All four of us, Gervase excepted, were mere boys when he first left us.”
    Thomas was mystified. To say that no quarrel had occurred was ridiculous. Something must have happened to make the baron shun all contact with his family, whether or not the event occurred before he arrived home. Rather than argue, the monk opted to remark on the obvious difficulty in this situation: “Your father must communicate with someone, else his orders and wishes could not be honored. Perchance his steward?”
    “Only to Leonel. Our cousin gives orders to the servants and takes messages to our father when need requires. When a reply is requested, he brings it. As always, he shows kindness by the swift delivery of our particular wishes.”
    “And this cousin has been long with you?”
    “Since the death of his own father. He is older than all of us, excepting the eldest, and took the cross with our father. He fought in Outremer with distinction.”
    Thomas frowned. What had caused Baron Herbert to behave in such a strange way? Was it fear that someone in his family might wish him harm? Or was all this due to either a misunderstanding or true quarrel? There was yet a third concern. Although he hesitated to suggest such a thing about a man who had vowed to recover Jerusalem, he knew he must ask.
    “Do you think your father is possessed?”
    “He is my sire, one who slaughtered many in God’s name. How can I believe that the Devil has found any place in such a Christian heart?”
    Respectful though this reply was, Thomas heard doubt in Umfrey’s tone. Possessed or not, the baron was a troubled man. His behavior toward his family was baffling. Added to that was the issue of why he had begged Sir Hugh to bring healers of both body and soul to this castle, a question yet unanswered.
    Hearing a scratching sound, Thomas nervously glanced over his shoulder.
    A small, round shadow raced across the floor and vanished into a gap in the wall.
    He sighed, grateful that it was not the Devil he had heard, scraping his claws on the stones. Nonetheless, he wondered if the Evil One was about as this baron’s son believed.
    Like Umfrey, Herbert might fear that Satan had spread his foul embrace around this castle. Or did he think some unnamed plague was raging here? When he sent for Sir Hugh, one son had