Still Hugh learned that she and Sir Andrew had come
to Avignon upon the Pope's summons to lay this matter of her alleged
marriage before him in person. When they reached the town they found it
already in the grip of the great plague, and that to see his Holiness
was almost impossible, since he had shut himself up in his palace and
would admit no one. Yet an interview was promised through Sir Andrew's
high-placed friends, only then the sickness struck Eve and she could not
go, nor was Sir Andrew allowed to do so, since he was nursing one who
lay ill.
Then Hugh began to tell his tale, to which Eve and Sir Andrew Arnold
listened greedily. Of Murgh, for sundry reasons, he said nothing, and of
the fight from which Acour had fled in Venice before the earthquake but
little. He told them, however, that he had heard that this Acour had
been or was in Avignon and that he had learned from a notary named
Basil, whom he, Hugh, had retained, that Acour had won from the Pope a
confirmation of his marriage.
"A lie!" interrupted Sir Andrew. "His Holiness caused me to be informed
expressly that he would give no decision in this cause until all the
case was before him."
As he said the words a disturbance arose in the outer room, and the
harsh voice of Grey Dick was heard saying:
"Back, you dog! Would you thrust yourself into the chamber of the lady
of Clavering? Back, or I will cast you through the window-place.
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