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blames me , she thought. He blames me and he hates me.
    A tear slid down her cheek.
    She was ushered to a chair, Josse holding her as if he feared she would fall, Sabin disentangling herself from her children and rushing to take Helewise’s hand. Then Dominic was before her, his face stiff as he said curtly, ‘I apologize, Mother. Apparently, I was wrong to put the blame on you.’
    She met his eyes. ‘She was, as you say, in my care,’ she said. ‘I will do my utmost to help you find her.’
    He studied her for a moment longer. Then he turned away.

THREE
    J osse sat with Dominic and Gervase as they worked on how best to hunt for Rosamund. Helewise, still looking so stunned that Josse longed to comfort her, sat alone and silent at the end of Gervase’s long table. Gervase had already summoned a group of his most reliable men and, when Dominic had asked if somebody could ride over to the Old Manor to ask his brother Leofgar to come to help, Gervase had readily agreed. Now, as they waited for the others to assemble, the three of them divided up the terrain and decided who should lead the hunt in which sector.
    â€˜We should each concentrate on the areas we know best,’ Gervase said. ‘This means you, Josse, concentrate on the forest between Hawkenlye Manor and the abbey.’
    â€˜We have searched the ground there all night!’ Josse exclaimed impatiently. Although he knew it was sensible to sit here and organize the search so as to make best use of the available men, in his heart he felt they were wasting time and he longed to be out looking for Rosamund.
    Gervase looked at him, sympathy in his light eyes. ‘I know, old friend,’ he said, ‘but it was dark. You may well have missed something important.’
    â€˜I’ll take the area east of the forest, centred on New Winnowlands and covering the roads and tracks to the coast,’ Dominic said. Josse glanced at him. His face was pale, and a muscle worked constantly at the point of his jaw. His pain and his anger were palpable. I would not, Josse thought, like to be the man who has taken Rosamund when her father finds him.
    â€˜Good,’ Gervase was saying. ‘You are confident that your brother will join us, Dominic?’
    â€˜I am.’
    â€˜Very well. We will assign to him the area to the north and north-east of the town. I propose to put my most able deputy in charge of Tonbridge, and I will concentrate on the lands to the west, taking a band of men out towards Saxonbury, Hartfield and the Ashdown Forest.’
    â€˜The forest is a royal preserve,’ Dominic said, frowning. ‘Is it not a waste of time to search there?’
    â€˜Indeed, the king often rides there and would like to make it his own private hunting ground,’ Gervase replied, ‘but as yet there is nothing to prevent access.’
    â€˜Providing you don’t hunt the deer,’ Josse muttered.
    â€˜Yes, but where does that not apply?’ Gervase countered. ‘They say there are plans to fence in the whole forest, but for now it is as good a place to hide as any.’
    â€˜I do not know it,’ Dominic said. ‘It is a forest, yet you speak of good hunting?’ He shook his head. ‘I cannot reconcile the two.’
    â€˜You are thinking, perhaps, of the Wealden Forest that surrounds Hawkenlye,’ Josse said. ‘Aye, you’d be hard put to chase and fell a deer there, for the trees and the undergrowth grow so densely that the very tracks disappear in the spring. The Ashdown Forest is in truth a heath,’ he went on, ‘and quite different in nature from the woodland around Hawkenlye. You—’
    But Dominic put up a hand to silence him. The question answered, Dominic had more pressing matters on his mind. ‘My mother should go to the abbey,’ he said decisively, sending a glance in the direction of the silent figure at the end of the table. ‘People come and