So he went."
"Ay. But whither, man? Whither?"
"Here to his house, where he disguised himself and bade me prepare to
travel with him. Only then the sickness took me and I could not. So he
went with some of his people, riding for Avignon."
"What to do at Avignon?"
"To obtain the confirmation of his marriage with the lady Eve Clavering.
It has been promised to him by certain cardinals at Court who have the
ear of his Holiness the Pope."
"Ah, I thought it! What more?"
"Only this: tidings reached him that the lady Clavering, with the old
Templar, Sir Andrew Arnold, journeys to Avignon from England, there to
obtain the dissolution of their marriage with Sir Edmund Acour, Count de
Noyon, Lord of Cattrina. In Avignon, however the cause may go, Cattrina
purposes to snare and make her his, which will be easy, for there he has
many friends and she has none."
"Except God!" exclaimed Hugh, grinding his teeth.
"And Sir Andrew Arnold," broke in Dick, "who, like some others, is, I
think, one of His ministers. Still, we had better be riding, master."
"Nay, nay," cried Nicholas in a hoarse scream. "Tarry a while and I'll
tell you that which will force the Pope to void this marriage. Yes, it
shall be set in writing and signed by me and witnessed ere I die. There
is ink and parchment in yonder little room."
"That's a good thought," said Hugh. "Dick, fetch the tools, for if we
try to move this fellow he will go farther than we can follow him.
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