Page 150 of The Pillars of the Earth

“Perhaps you would step into the prior’s house, just across here,” Philip said to the bishop. The party began to move off. Philip squeezed Tom’s arm and said in a murmur of restrained jubilation: “We’ve done it!”

Tom breathed a sigh of relief as the dignitaries left him. He felt pleased and proud. Yes, he thought, we’ve done it. Bishop Henry was more than impressed: he was flabbergasted, despite his composure. Obviously Waleran had primed him to expect a scene of lethargy and inactivity, so the reality had been even more striking. In the end Waleran’s malice had worked against him and heightened the triumph of Philip and Tom.

Just as he was basking in the glow of an honest victory, he heard a familiar voice. “Hello, Tom Builder.”

He turned around and saw Ellen.

It was Tom’s turn to be flabbergasted. The cathedral crisis had so filled his mind that he had not thought about her all day. He gazed at her happily. She looked just the same as the day she had walked away: slender, brown-skinned, with dark hair that moved like waves on a beach, and those deep-set luminous golden eyes. She smiled at him with that full-lipped mouth that always made him think of kissing.

He was seized by an urge to take her in his arms but he fought it down. With some difficulty he managed to say: “Hello, Ellen.”

A young man beside her said: “Hello, Tom.”

Tom looked at him curiously.

Ellen said: “Don’t you remember Jack?”

“Jack!” he said, startled. The lad had changed. He was a little taller than his mother now, and he had the bony physique that made grandmothers say that a boy had outgrown his strength. He still had bright red hair, white skin and blue eyes, but his features had resolved into more attractive proportions, and one day he might even be handsome.

Tom looked back at Ellen. For a moment he just enjoyed staring at her. He wanted to sayI’ve missed you, I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you,and he almost did, but then he lost his nerve, and instead he said: “Well, where have you been?”

“We’ve been living where we always lived, in the forest,” she said.

“And what made you come back today, of all days?”

“We heard about the appeal for volunteers, and we were curious to know how you were getting along. And I haven’t forgotten that I promised to come back one day.”

“I’m so glad you did,” Tom said. “I’ve been longing to see you.”

She looked guarded. “Oh?”

This was the moment for which he had been waiting and planning for a year, and now that it had come he was scared. Until now he had been able to live in hope, but if she turned him down today he would know he had lost her forever. He was frightened to begin. The silence dragged out. He took a deep breath. “Listen,” he said. “I want you to come back to me. Now, please don’t say anything until you’ve heard what I have to say—please?”

“All right,” she said neutrally.

“Philip is a very good prior. The monastery is getting wealthier all the time, thanks to his good management. My job here is secure. We won’t have to tramp the roads again, ever, I promise.”

“It wasn’t that—”

“I know, but I want to tell you everything.”

“All right.”

“I’ve built a house in the village, with two rooms and a chimney, and I can make it bigger. We wouldn’t have to live in the priory.”

“But Philip owns the village.”

“Philip is indebted to me right now.” Tom waved an arm to indicate the scene all around. “He knows he couldn’t have done this without me. If I ask him to forgive you for what you did, and to regard your year of exile as penance enough, he’ll agree. He couldn’t deny me that, today of all days.”

“What about the boys?” she said. “Am I supposed to watch Alfred spill Jack’s blood every time he feels irritable?”

“I think I’ve got the answer to that, really,” Tom said. “Alfred is a mason now. I’ll take Jack as my apprentice. That way, Alfred won’t be resentful of Jack’s idleness. And you can teach Alfred to read and write, so that the two boys will be equal—both workingmen, both literate.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?” she said.

“Yes.”

He waited for her reaction. He was no good at being persuasive. All he could do was set out the situation. If only he could have drawn her a sketch! He felt he had dealt with every possible objection. She must agree now! But still she hesitated. “I’m not sure,” she said.