Page 83 of The Silent Songbird

When she finished the song, most of the people near the stage were smiling and clapping, while others all over the meadow had stopped to look at her. Some older people at the other end of the stage—perhaps they were the judges—put their heads together and were talking, nodding, and gesturing with their hands.

Westley smiled broadly. She caught sight of Lady le Wyse standingfarther out in the crowd, smiling much like her handsome son. Lord le Wyse was probably dealing with his new prisoners.

Evangeline walked off the stage, practically skipping down the steps. Westley met her at the bottom. “You were wonderful.” He took her hand. “You sing more beautifully than a songbird.”

“You are flattering me.”

He drew her hand through the crook of his arm and walked her into the crowd.

“My dear Eva!” Lady le Wyse was holding on to the hands of her two youngest children. “Your singing was the most beautiful! I cannot imagine anyone’s voice as lovely as yours.”

Evangeline impulsively hugged Lady le Wyse. The woman embraced her in return as if it were the most natural thing.

Later, after Lady le Wyse was occupied with talking to one of the other ladies who pulled Westley into the conversation, Evangeline suddenly had a thought. She turned to Westley. “Where is Sabina?”

“Sabina?”

“Yes. She was helping John Underhill. She taunted me after John’s men locked me in the dairy and told me that John Underhill had taken you.”

Westley’s brow creased. “I don’t know where she is. We did not see her when we captured John and his men. But I will tell Father and our men to look out for her.”

“She boasted about marrying John. And she told me that John blamed you and your father for his father’s death.”

“His thinking is so warped. He isn’t remembering his father the way he actually was.” He stared past her shoulder, a dazed look in his eyes. “I suppose his father influenced him much more than I did, in the end.”

Evangeline nodded. Who had influenced her? Muriel? The other servants and her early nursemaids? The priest at the castle, whomshe had been inexplicably afraid of until a couple of years ago? She had no parents, and one of her nursemaids had abused her. What had that done to her thinking?

But she had also read her Psalter until she memorized it. Surely God was guiding her through those psalms. Her thinking could not be all bad with those scriptures in her head.

“I am sorry you lost a good friend, Westley.”

“And I am sorry you were treated roughly by those vile men. I assure you, they shall be punished and will never hurt you again.”

“I am safe now.” She drew closer to him, and he put his arms around her. “And you are safe, and that’s all that matters.”

He kissed her temple.

Suddenly everything quieted around them. The woman who had led her onto the stage to sing now stood on the stage again.

“After hearing the five singers from each of the five villages who are participating in this festival, the judges have come to a decision. The winner of the singing contest is . . . Eva of Glynval.”

The woman locked eyes with Evangeline and motioned for her to come up on the stage. The crowd parted for her as she made her way through. She kept hold of Westley’s hand. He helped her up the steps but left her to go onstage without him.

Lady le Wyse presented her with a basket full of wares from the sellers at the festival, which included a scarf, candles, flowers, and several other items. Evangeline hugged her, and Lady le Wyse kissed her cheek.

Sabina stood on the ground below her, scowling up at her with a contemptuous curl of her lip, hate glaring out from under her lowered brows.

Evangeline smiled anyway, pretending not to see her as Lady le Wyse said, “You were wonderful. I’m very proud of you.”

As Evangeline made her way back down the steps, Reeve Folshamapproached Westley from behind with a grave look on his face. He leaned down and whispered near Westley’s ear. Westley’s smile disappeared, and she decided not to tell him just now that she had seen Sabina in the crowd.

Evangeline hurried toward them. Had John Underhill escaped? “What is it? What has happened?”

Reeve Folsham bowed to her. “Come and you will see.”

Westley’s blue eyes seemed serious. He asked someone to take her basket to the house for her, and they both followed the reeve out of the crowd.

They walked across the courtyard at the manor house to where a man stood watering his horse from a bucket. It was Frederick, the stable master, the man Muriel had said she was in love with.