He’d gone outside to clear his head with a walk down to the bailey and back but it hadn’t helped. Haworth, who accompanied him, was strangely garrulous but Hugh had often noticed that brisk activity seemed to invigorate some men while in his case it only slowed him; anyway, he supposed Haworth had done enough in the last week to invigorate himself: stealing away a child, killing Alan d’Arques and making a quick return to Hawarden. It was Haworth who had encouraged him, earlier in the day, to confront Eleanor and punish her for running off and causing so much trouble all those years ago. Since their return, she had been confined to two rooms at the very top of the castle tower with only one woman to serve her. She had been silent and expressionless during the journey but the instant the horses had ridden through the gate, she had demanded in a cold, sharp voice to see her daughter. When her request was curtly refused, she would not dismount and had to be pulled protesting and struggling from the horse she shared with one of Hugh’s knights, and then half-dragged and half-carried into the keep and up to her prison.
