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“And Earl Robert of Gloucester? He was the more powerful conspirator.”

“And therefore gets the lighter punishment. In fact no punishment at all. He has pledged allegiance to King Stephen, and his part in the plot has been ... overlooked.”

“But what has this got to do with our cathedral?”

Waleran stood up and went to the window. When he looked out at the ruined church, there was real sadness in his eyes, and Philip realized that there was a core of genuine piety in Waleran, for all his worldly ways. “Our part in the defeat of Bartholomew puts King Stephen in our debt. Before too long, you and I will go and see him.”

“See the king!” Philip said. He was a little intimidated by the prospect.

“He will ask us what we want as our reward.”

Philip saw what Waleran was getting at, and he was thrilled to the core. “And we’ll tell him ...”

Waleran turned back from the window and looked at Philip, and his eyes looked like black jewels, glittering with ambition. “We’ll tell him we want a new cathedral for Kingsbridge,” he said.

Tom knew Ellen was going to hit the roof.

She was already angry about what had happened to Jack. Tom needed to soothe her. But the news of her “penance” was going to inflame her. He wished he could postpone telling her for a day or two, to give her time to cool off; but he could not, for Prior Philip had said she must be off the premises by nightfall. He had to tell her immediately, and since it was midday when Philip told Tom, Tom told Ellen at dinner.

They went into the refectory with the other priory employees when the monks had finished their dinner and gone. The tables were crowded, but Tom thought that might not be a bad thing: the presence of other people might restrain her a little, he thought.

He was wrong about that, he soon learned.

He tried to break the news gradually. First he said: “They know we’re not married.”

“Who told them?” she said angrily. “Some troublemaker?”

“Alfred. Don’t blame him—that sly monk Remigius got it out of him. Anyway, we never told the children to keep it secret.”

“I don’t blame the boy,” she said more calmly. “So what do they say?”

He leaned across the table and spoke in a low voice. “They say you’re a fornicator,” he said, hoping no one else would hear.

“A fornicator?” she said loudly. “What about you? Don’t these monks know that it takes two to fornicate?”

The people sitting nearby started to laugh.

“Hush,” Tom said. “They say we have to get married.”

She looked at him hard. “If that was all, you wouldn’t be looking so hangdog, Tom Builder. Tell me the rest.”

“They want you to confess your sin.”

“Hypocritical perverts,” she said disgustedly. “They spend all night up one another’s arseholes and then they have the nerve to call what we’re doing a sin.”

There was more laughter at that. People stopped their own conversations to listen to Ellen.

“Just talk quietly,” Tom pleaded.

“I suppose they want me to do penance, too. Humiliation is all part of it. What do they want me to do? Come on, tell the truth, you can’t lie to awitch.”

“Don’t say that!” Tom hissed. “It makes things worse.”

“Then tell me.”

“We have to live apart for a year, and you have to remain chaste—”

“Piss on that!” Ellen shouted.