Page 54 of The Tailor's Treasure

"Isabel!"The sound of Hilda's voice made her heart sink even as she looked up.Hilda was standing in the doorway, with that awful smirk playing about her lips again.The girls both looked up as well, sensing some impending scene."You've a visitor downstairs."

"I can't think who would come to visit me," Isabel said, but she let her mending slide off her lap and into the basket as she stood.It was not entirely true - Elizabeth might, if she was concerned about not having seen Isabel for some time.There was an outside chance of it being Matthew, for the same reason, though he usually shunned this house.Or - her heart thumped painfully at the thought - it could be Constance.Isabel had never told her precisely where to find her at home, but she was a clever woman, and she knew the family name - so perhaps ...?

"You may as well come and see, then," Hilda said, still smirking, then turned on her heel and went out.Isabel got to her feet and followed, feeling her chest tighten.Whoever it was, that look on Hilda's face boded ill.

She got to the bottom of the stairs, then stopped, feeling the blood drain from her face.Jack Folet was standing just inside the door of the main room, his thumbs hooked into his belt, looking around with an idle curiosity as if his presence didn't threaten to destroy everything Isabel had been trying to accomplish.Hilda stood opposite him, her arms crossed, her expression openly triumphant.And no wonder: Jack could not have better played into her hands if he'd strode in and announced to all and sundry that he was here to see his concubine.

"Ah, Isabel," Jack said when he saw her.She cringed in inward horror at his familiarity."Constance sent me after you - she was worried you hadn't been to visit lately.I had an errand to run nearby, so I offered to stop in.I hope you're well?"

"Quite -" Her voice was faint and tremulous to her own ears, so she cleared her throat and tried again.It would not do to show weakness."Quite well, thank you.I have -" She would not look at Hilda again.If she did, she was not sure she could maintain her composure."I have been greatly occupied," she said, "With - sundry tasks.Mistress Marillac has required my presence here, and I cannot be spared for the sake of a visit."

Jack looked at Hilda, then back at her.She could see him calculating, but she did not know him well enough to guess what he would do or say.She prayed he was not of her brother's temperament: an outburst would be disastrous beyond measure."My sister mentioned also," he said carefully, "that you had some embroidery still in your possession that she required for Leah's gown."He addressed himself to Hilda."Isabel has been assisting my sister in preparing a dress for a young bride.Her help has been invaluable.I hope you are compensating her well for her work?"

Isabel concentrated on her breathing, largely to keep herself from crying.In.Out.In.Out.He'd been clever to bring up the embroidery as a pretext, but oh, if he went on calling her Isabel - if he showed himself too interested in her welfare, or abnormally defensive of her - Hilda would draw the obvious conclusion.Isabel couldn't even blame her for it.It wasn't as if the truth suggested itself to anyone who did not already understand it.And if she decided that Jack's presence here was proof that Isabel was not fit to remain under her roof ...

"She eats at my table and sleeps under my roof," Hilda said."As would any servant in my employ.That is quite compensation enough, in exchange for what she provides.And now, if you have said all that needs to be said ...?"

Isabel did not fail to notice the way Jack's expression tightened."Almost," he said."There is the matter of the embroidery.Might you spare Isabel for a quarter-hour to deliver it to my sister?I believe she also required some instruction in the matter of how to attach it to the gown, or some such.I know little about it, I'm afraid."He shrugged."And, of course, Isabel must be paid for her labour.As a servant would be."His voice sharpened on the last sentence, and Isabel stared daggers at him, thinkingstop it, stop itso loudly that she was half-surprised he didn't hear her."Is that amenable to you?"

Hilda looked like a cat with a bird in its claws."Oh, no," she said."That would hardly be fitting.I have been concerned enough already regarding Isabel's good character.I surely cannot be expected to allow her out of my sight with a strange man, with only your word as surety to her conduct."

Jack's brows creased."Her conduct?"

"If I may," Isabel said, before the conversation could grow any more dangerous."If Ellyn could be spared - perhaps she may accompany me?Or Bridget?They both may serve as guarantor for my conduct and my swift return."Oh, how she wished she were free to laugh at the idea of it - Bridget or Ellyn, both unmarried girls hardly old enough to manage a kitchen, sent to chaperone a woman twice their age who had been wed and widowed already.Neither girl held any sort of authority to keep her in check, but that wasn't the point.The point was to ensure that Isabel remembered whose will governed her days and her friendships and her life."And we may stop at the market to fetch anything you require," she added.It wouldn't do to seem too eager, but she could at least sweeten the pot.

Hilda tapped one foot against the floor, apparently considering.Then she seemed to come to a decision."Ellyn!"she shouted, turning to face the passageway that led to the kitchen."Ellyn, come here!"

Ellyn appeared within minutes, her expression surly as always.It only grew darker when she saw Isabel."What is it?"

"You are to accompany Isabel to Master Rykener's tailoring shop and back," Hilda rapped out."I expect you to stay by her side all the while she is there, and that you will both return directly.Understood?"

Ellyn heaved a lengthy sigh, but she was already untying her apron strings."As you wish, Mistress."

"Good.And you -" Hilda pointed to Isabel."I expect you to be gone no more than a half-hour, or I will know the reason why."

Isabel ducked her head, the better to keep Hilda from seeing her expression."Of course."

She was permitted to run upstairs and fetch the embroidery - thank Christ and all his angels, she had an old piece tucked away in her basket that could serve as a pretext for the visit - then descended again to be waved out the door along with Jack and Ellyn.Ellyn stumped along beside them for a few steps, but seemed to find their pace too grueling, and quickly fell to dawdling behind them.As soon as she was out of earshot, Jack leaned in close to Isabel."Is everything all right?Constance said -"

She could not bear to hear what Constance had said."You should not have come," Isabel said, and marched ahead before he had the chance to reply.She had the distinct sense of a prisoner walking to the executioner's block.

# # #

"Like this?"Margeryheld her latest effort up for Constance to examine.

"Almost," Constance said, taking the button from her niece's hand and examining it."You've got the shape right, and the stitches are neat, but it needs more stuffing.It'll collapse elsewise, look -" She squeezed the little ball of fabric between her thumb and forefinger, and it flattened in her grasp.

Margery sighed, taking the button back from her."This is dull.I'd rather be embroidering."

"It's dull, but it's needful," Constance said."How else will you close up your sleeves?"

"With laces."Margery was already stuffing scraps of fabric into a fresh button.Constance had to admit, it was dull work - dull and fiddly, two things that had never appealed either to her or to Margery.But if Margery had any interest in tailoring - which was, after all, the nominal purpose of her afternoon's visit - then she needed to learn how to do it properly.

"Laces work well," Constance conceded, "but more and more fine ladies are looking to button their kirtles, and if you wish to have their custom, then you must offer what it is they want.As to the embroidery, you may ask Isabel to teach you when she next visits.God knows I've no knack for it."

The sentence, when she next visits pulled at her heartstrings, and she turned away from Margery so she would not see the worry writ in her face.Isabel had other responsibilities, she knew, and it was entirely possible that some calamity had arisen that required her attention at home.But something about her absence struck Constance as wrong.It was one thing for her to be busy; it was another for her not to send any word, especially after the night they had spent together.She had thought, at the time, that they had been of one mind as to what it meant.But if Isabel had found herself regretting it after she left that day, then perhaps ...

"Oh, good!"Constance had been so lost in her thoughts, she had taken no notice of the door opening: it was only Margery jumping down from her stool that drew her attention."We were just speaking of you.Aunt Constance says I may learn embroidery if you offer to teach me, and I -"