He needed to devise a similar system for the upper part of the wall. He could make a two-story side aisle, and simply repeat the remote buttressing; but that would block the light coming in through the clerestory-and the whole idea of the new style of building was to bring more light into the church.

Of course, it was not the aisle as such that did the work: the support came from the heavy piers in the side wall and the connecting half-arches. The aisle concealed these structural elements. If only he could build piers and half-arches to support the clerestory without incorporating them into an aisle, he could solve the problem at a stroke.

A voice called him from the ground.

He frowned. He had been on to something before he was interrupted, he felt, but now it had gone. He looked down. Prior Philip was calling him.

He went into the turret and descended the spiral staircase. Philip was waiting for him at the bottom. The prior was so angry he was steaming. “Richard has betrayed me!” he said without preamble.

Jack was surprised. “How?”

Philip did not answer the question at first. “After all I’ve done for him,” he raged. “I bought Aliena’s wool when everyone else was bent on cheating her-if it hadn’t been for me she might never have got started. Then when that fell apart I got him a job as Head of the Watch. And last November I tipped him off about the peace treaty, and that enabled him to seize Earlscastle. And now that he’s won back the earldom, and he’s ruling in splendor, he has turned his back on me.”

Jack had never seen Philip quite so livid. The prior’s shaved head was red with indignation and he was spluttering as he spoke. “In what way has Richard betrayed you?” Jack said.

Once again Philip ignored the question. “I always knew Richard was a weak character. He gave Aliena very little support, over the years-just took from her what he wanted and never considered her needs. But I didn’t think he was an out-and-out villain.”

“What exactly has he done?”

At last Philip told him. “He has refused to give us access to the quarry.”

Jack was shocked. That was an act of astonishing ingratitude. “But how does he justify himself?”

“Everything is supposed to revert to those who possessed it in the time of the first King Henry. And the quarry was granted to us by King Stephen.”

Richard’s greed was remarkable, but Jack could not get as angry as Philip. They had built half the cathedral now, mostly with stone they had had to pay for, and they would continue to get by somehow. “Well, I suppose Richard is in the right, strictly speaking,” he said argumentatively.

Philip was outraged. “How can you say such a thing?”

“It’s a bit like what you did to me,” Jack said. “After I brought you the Weeping Madonna, and produced a wonderful design for your new cathedral, and built a town wall to protect you from William, you announced that I couldn’t live with the woman who is the mother of my children. There’s ingratitude.”

Philip was shocked by this parallel. “That’s completely different!” he protested. “I don’t want you to live apart. It’s Waleran who has blocked the annulment. But God’s law says you must not commit adultery.”

“I’m sure Richard would say something similar,” Jack persisted. “It’s not Richard who has ordered the reversion of property. He is just enforcing the law.”

The noon bell rang.

“There’s a difference between God’s laws and men’s laws,” Philip said.

“But we must live by both,” Jack countered. “And now I’m going to have dinner with the mother of my children.”

He walked away and left Philip standing there looking upset. He did not really think Philip was as ungrateful as Richard, but it had relieved his feelings to pretend that he did. He decided he would ask Aliena about the quarry. It might be that Richard could be persuaded to hand it over after all. She would know.

He left the priory close and walked through the streets to the house where he lived with Martha. Aliena and the children were in the kitchen, as usual. The famine had ended with a good harvest last year, and food was no longer desperately scarce: there was wheat bread and roast mutton on the table.

Jack kissed the children. Sally gave him a soft childish kiss, but Tommy, now eleven years old and impatient to grow up, offered his cheek and looked embarrassed. Jack smiled but said nothing: he remembered when he had thought kissing was silly.

Aliena looked troubled. Jack sat on the bench beside her and said: “Philip’s in a rage because Richard won’t give him the quarry.”

“That’s terrible,” Aliena said mildly. “How ungrateful of Richard.”

“Do you think he might be persuaded to change his mind?”

“I really don’t know,” she said. She had a distracted air.

Jack said: “You don’t seem very interested in the problem.”

She looked at him challengingly. “No, I’m not.”

He knew this mood. “You’d better tell me what’s on your mind.”

She stood up. “Let’s go into the back room.”

With a regretful look at the leg of mutton, Jack left the table and followed her into the bedroom. They left the door open, as usual, to avoid suspicion if someone should come into the house. Aliena sat on the bed and folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve made an important decision,” she began.

She looked so grave that Jack wondered what on earth it could be.

“I’ve lived most of my adult life under two shadows,” she began. “One was the vow I made to my father when he was dying. The other is my relationship with you.”

Jack said: “But now you’ve fulfilled your vow to your father.”

“Yes. And I want to be free of the other burden, too. I’ve decided to leave you.”

Jack’s heart seemed to stop. He knew she did not say such things lightly: she was serious. He stared at her, speechless. He was disoriented by the announcement: he had never dreamed she could leave him. How had this dreadful thing crept up on him? He said the first thing that came into his head: “Is there someone else?”

“Don’t be daft.”

“Then why?”

“Because I can’t take it anymore,” she said, and her eyes brimmed with tears. “We’ve been waiting ten years for this annulment. It’s never going to come, Jack. We’re doomed to live this way forever-unless we part.”

“But…” He cast around for something to say. Her announcement was so devastating that arguing with it seemed hopeless, like trying to walk away from a hurricane. Nevertheless he tried. “Isn’t this better than nothing, better than separation?”

“In the end, no.”

“But how will it change anything if you move away?”

“I might meet someone else, and fall in love again, and live a normal life,” she said, but she was crying.

“You’ll still be married to Alfred.”

“But nobody will know or care. I could be married by a parish priest who has never heard of Alfred Builder and who wouldn’t consider the marriage valid if he knew of it.”

“I don’t believe you’re saying this. I can’t take it in.”

“Ten years, Jack. I’ve been waiting ten years to have a normal life with you. I won’t wait any longer.”

The words fell on him like blows. She carried on talking, but he no longer understood her. All he could think about was life without her. He interrupted her: “I’ve never loved anyone else, you see.”

She winced, as if she was in pain, but she went on with what she was saying. “I need a few weeks to arrange everything. I’ll get a house in Winchester. I want the children to get used to the idea before their new life begins-”

“You’re going to take my children,” he said stupidly.

She nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said. For the first time her resolve seemed to waver. “I know they’ll miss you. But they need a normal life too.”

Jack could not take any more. He turned away.

Aliena said: “Don’t walk out on me. We ought to talk some more. Jack-”