“Let him send me word of the day,” said Hughheartily, “and I’ll be there.”

“Good, I’ll tell him so. And for the rest,you’ll know already that it was only the handful of captains,with Brien de Soulis at their head, who sold out Faringdon to theking, and made prisoner all the knights of the garrison who refusedto change sides. The king handed them out like prizes to some ofhis own followers, to profit by their ransom. My lord has got holdfrom somewhere of a list of those doled out, those among them whohave been offered for ransom, and those already bought free. Herehe sends you a copy, in case any names among them concern youclosely, captors or captives. If anything comes of the meeting atCoventry their case will come up for consideration, and it’snot certain who holds the last of them.”

“I doubt there’ll be any there known to me,”said Hugh, taking up the sealed roll thoughtfully. “All thosegarrisons along the Thames might as well be a thousand miles fromus. We do not even hear when they fall or change sides until amonth after the event. But thank Earl Robert for his courtesy, andtell him I’ll trust to see him in the priory of Coventry whenthe day comes.”

He did not break the seal of RobertBeaumont’s letter until the courier had departed, to make forCoventry and Bishop Roger de Clinton’s presence on his wayback to Leicester. In the last few years the bishop had madeCoventry the main seat of his diocese, though Lichfield retainedits cathedral status, and the see was referred to impartially byeither name. The bishop was also titular abbot of the Benedictinemonastery in the town, and the head of the household of monks borethe title of prior, but was mitred like an abbot. Only two yearspreviously the peace of the priory had been sadly disturbed, andthe monks temporarily turned out of their quarters, but they hadbeen firmly reinstalled before the year ended, and were unlikely tobe dispossessed again.