Page 180 of The Pillars of the Earth

“Come, Francis—you’re about to meet a remarkable young woman.” They left Tom and hurried out of the close into the town. Aliena had two houses side by side up against the west wall of the priory. She lived in one and used the other as a barn. She was very wealthy. There had to be a way she could help the priory pay Maud’s extortionate fee for the market license. A vague idea was taking shape in Philip’s mind.

Aliena was in the barn, supervising the unloading of an ox cart stacked high with sacks of wool. She wore a brocade pelisse, like the one the Empress Maud had worn, and her hair was done up in a white linen coif. She looked authoritative, as always, and the two men unloading the cart obeyed her instructions without question. Everyone respected her, although—strangely—she had no close friends. She greeted Philip warmly. “When we heard about the battle of Lincoln we were afraid you might have been killed!” she said. There was real concern in her eyes, and Philip was moved to think that people had been worried about him. He introduced her to Francis.

“Did you get justice at Winchester?” Aliena asked.

“Not exactly,” Philip replied. “The Empress Maud granted us a market but denied us the quarry. The one more or less compensates for the other. But she charged me a hundred pounds for the market license.”

Aliena was shocked. “That’s terrible! Did you tell her the income from the market goes to the cathedral building?”

“Oh, yes.”

“But where will you find a hundred pounds?”

“I thought you might be able to help.”

“Me?” Aliena was taken aback.

“In a few weeks’ time, after you’ve sold your wool to the Flemish, you’ll have two hundred pounds or more.”

Aliena looked troubled. “And I’d give it to you, gladly, but I need it to buy more wool next year.”

“Remember you wanted to buy my wool?”

“Yes, but it’s too late now. I wanted to buy it early in the season. Besides, you can sell it yourself soon.”

“I was thinking,” Philip said. “Could I sell younextyear’s wool?”

She frowned. “But you haven’t got it.”

“Could I sell it to you before I’ve got it?”

“I don’t see how.”

“Simple. You give me the money now. I give you the wool next year.”

Aliena clearly did not know how to take this proposal: it was unlike any known way of doing business. It was new to Philip, too: he had just made it up.

Aliena spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “I would have to offer you a slightly lower price than you could get by waiting. Moreover, the price of wool might go up between now and next summer—it has every year I’ve been in the business.”

“So I lose a little and you gain a little,” Philip said. “But I’ll be able to carry on building for another year.”

“And what will you do next year?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll sell you the following year’s wool.”

Aliena nodded. “It makes sense.”

Philip took her hands and looked into her eyes. “If you do this, Aliena, you’ll save the cathedral,” he said fervently.

Aliena looked very solemn. “You saved me, once, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“Then I’ll do the same for you.”

“God bless you!” In an excess of gratitude he hugged her; then he remembered she was a woman and detached himself hastily. “I don’t know how to thank you,” he said. “I was at my wits’ end.”

Aliena laughed. “I’m not sure I deserve this much gratitude. I’ll probably do very well out of the arrangement.”