THERE WAS A BIG CELEBRATION in town that night.

We ate at Odo's table, which filled most of his hut. His wife, Lisette, cooked, helped by Marie, the miller's wife. There were Odo and Georges, my closest friends, and Father Leo. And, of course, Emilie.

A special meal was prepared, a goose roasted in the hearth. With carrots and turnips and peas, a soup of vegetables in a garlicky broth, and fresh bread that we dipped in the soup. There was no wine, but the priest brought along a cask of Belgian ale he'd been saving for the bishop's visit. By our standards, it was a rare feast.

Odo played the flute, and we all pitched in with chansons. The children danced as if it were Mid-summer's Eve. And I performed a few tricks, a flip or two. Everyone laughed and danced, Emilie too. For a few hours, we forgot the past.

All the while I could not keep my gaze far from the brightness of Emilie's eyes. They were as light as the moon, and just as genuine. She clapped and laughed as Odo's kids tried to reproduce my flips, as if this were the most natural role in the world for her. She told them of life in the castle. It was a golden evening, free from all barriers and stations in life.

Afterward, I walked with her back to the inn. There was a chill in the air, and Emilie huddled tightly in her cloak. Part of me wanted to put my arm around her; another part quivered with nerves.

We walked amid the noises of the night-owls hooting., other birds fluttering in the trees. A bright round moon peeked through the clouds. I asked her, How is Norbert? His health?

He is fine again, Emilie said, except he is still unable to do that trick with the chains. But things have changed since Stephen's return. The Tafurs are everywhere, and the duke is behind them.

Stephen and Anne, I replied.

Anne... Emilie stopped, hesitating. I believe with all my heart she did not act of her own accord.

You mean the raids she directed in her husband's absence, the slaughter and mayhem, these were not hers?

I only meant that she behaved from fear. I do not justify it. She said something to me, Hugh, that I did not understand. I pressed her on why she allowed thes............