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cannot be for the King, though he is recently widowed, for he is a very old man, too old for marriage.’
    Adelicia said: ‘Why should you suppose they come to talk of marriage? Could it not be of other matters?’
    â€˜Nay, ’tis marriage. All say so. And that means you, Adelicia, for you are the eldest. My turn will come next.’
    Adelicia shivered slightly. It was alarming to contemplate giving up all that had been home during one’s lifetime to go away to a foreign land.
    She returned to her stitching.
    â€˜How you can go on working at such a time I can’t imagine,’ said her sister impatiently. ‘If a husband were to be offered to me I would be so excited.’
    Adelicia smiled. Inwardly she was far from calm, but of what use would it be to give vent to her feelings? She must wait and see. At that moment a serving woman appeared and said that the Duke, her father, wished to see her without delay.
    Calmly she laid aside her needlework and rose.
    Her sister watched her with round eyes. ‘I can’t wait to hear, Adelicia,’ she said. ‘Promise to come straight back and tell me.’
    Adelicia went sedately to her father’s apartment.
    â€˜Come in, daughter,’ he said.
    Her mother was there too. The Countess took her in her arms and kissed her ceremoniously.
    She is pleased, thought Adelicia. So it must be someone worthy of her blood.
    â€˜My dear child, a great honour,’ murmured the Duke. ‘But be seated.’
    Godfrey of Louvaine was tender. It was sad, he thought, that girls should be taken from their homes. But this was life and it happened to all. He loved his eldest daughter dearly. He cherished the beautiful standard she had made for him andoften regretted that rulers such as himself must be forced to leave their homes so often in order to protect or regain their patrimony. Men must go away to fight and women must go away to marry. It was, alas, the accepted order of things.
    He stroked his smooth cheek – a habit he had acquired thirteen years or so before when he had shaved it. He was even now known as Godfrey Barbatus because before the year 1107 he had worn a luxuriant beard. He had made a vow that he would not shave this beard until he recovered Lower Lorraine which had belonged to his ancestors. Now his smooth face proclaimed to the world that he had regained that which had been lost to his family.
    â€˜My dear child,’ he said, ‘you know that envoys have been arriving here at the castle. They come from England and you may have guessed for what purpose. You are a child no longer and it has long been my wish, and that of your mother, to find a husband for you.’
    â€˜A
suitable
husband,’ said the Duchess.
    â€˜He must indeed be worthy of our house, and so we are now well pleased.’
    Adelicia waited in trepidation.
    â€˜You have guessed, daughter,’ said her mother. ‘They come from England and there is only one whom we could consider.’
    Her father put in: ‘The King of England is asking for your hand.’
    â€˜The King of England! But he is an old man.’
    â€˜He is a king,’ said her mother reprovingly.
    â€˜Fifty is not so old,’ said her father soothingly. ‘And the King of England is a man who has kept his youth.’
    She was afraid. An old man! What had she heard of him? He was the son of the Conqueror who was spoken of throughout the land with awed respect.
    She wanted to fall on her knees and beg of them to allow her to stay with them, so frightened was she at the prospect of going to England.
    She looked from one parent to another but neither would meet her appealing gaze.
    â€˜It is a brilliant match,’ said the Duchess. ‘There is to be no delay. The King is very eager for the marriage to take place at once.’
    â€˜He has heard excellent reports of you,’ said her father.
    â€˜Of a certainty he has,’ reported the Duchess.