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conversations.value: What is a plot for a book about Hyacinth, Richard, Cadfael entitled The Hermit of Eyton Forest?
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conversations.value: The Hermit of Eyton Forest: On 18 October 1142, Richard Ludel, lord of Eaton manor, dies of wounds taken at the battle of Lincoln in February 1141.\nSheriff Hugh Beringar has charge of the manor lands for King Stephen, with the steward John of Longwood to run the manor.\nAbbot Radulfus is guardian of the son.\nBrother Paul informs young Richard, 10 years old, that he is orphaned, and lord of Eaton manor.\nRichard is educated at the Abbey per his father's wish.\nHis grandmother, Dame Dionisia Ludel does not believe in such education for a lord.\nHer goal is to marry the boy to Hiltrude, daughter of Fulke Astley, who will inherit the estates on either side of Eaton manor: Wroxeter and Leighton.\nShe aims at increasing family lands and her own power.\nDame Dionisia gives the hermit Cuthred and his helper Hyacinth a disused hermit's chapel.\nThe local folks rapidly accept the hermit in their midst.\nHe and his helper are present at the funeral of Richard's father.\nOtherwise, Cuthred never leaves his small residence.\nIn November, Eilmund, forester for the Abbey, reports unusual damage in the Eyton Forest to young trees and plants.\nCuthred sends Hyacinth to tell the Abbot this is punishment for Richard being kept at the Abbey.\nNeeding a friend to tell him about his lands, Richard approaches Hyacinth.\nThey form a pact.\nReturning to the hermitage, Hyacinth saves Eilmund in Eyton Forest.\nHe rolls a fallen willow tree off him.\nLocal men carry Eilmund to his assart.\nHyacinth runs ahead to warn Annet, Eilmund's daughter.\nShe asks Hyacinth to fetch Brother Cadfael to set her father's broken leg.\nHugh Beringar shares the latest news in the conflict between King Stephen and the Empress Maud.\nShe is held under siege in Oxford Castle.\nThe Empress sent a messenger from there to Brian Fitzcount, Lord of Wallingford.\nRenaud Bourchier's horse was found, with empty saddlebags, and no sign of the man.\nDrogo Bosiet and his groom Warin of Northamptonshire arrive at the Abbey, hunting a villein named Brand, who fled his manor.\nAbbot Radulfus is not well inclined to Drogo's goal, so recommends him to the sheriff for aid.\nAfter Vespers, Brother Jerome, ever righteous, meets with Drogo to tell him that the hermit's helper bears resemblance to the villein Brand.\nRichard overhears this threat to his new friend Hyacinth, and rides his pony to warn Hyacinth, finding him in the Eyton Forest.\nHyacinth avoids the hermitage, as Richard heads back to the Abbey.\nThat day, Brother Cadfael rides back from Eilmund's assart, leaving in darkness.\nCadfael encounters Drogo's horse, then the body of Drogo Bosiet, killed by a knife in his back.\nIn the morning, Hugh Beringar and Cadfael inspect the corpse and the scene.\nDrogo was stabbed in the back as he walked his horse on the forest path en route to the Abbey.\nNo knife is found.\nThe motive for the murder is not obvious.\nThe Abbot added Brother Jerome's conversation, revealing Drogo's destination to the hermitage.\nCuthred tells Hugh and Cadfael that Drogo visited him the day before, but Hyacinth has been absent since then.\nCuthred met Hyacinth, a beggar at the gates of the Cluniac priory in Northampton, at the end of September.\nCadfael learns that Richard has not been seen in the Abbey since the day before at Vespers.\nHugh sets a manhunt for both Richard, suspected kidnapped, and Hyacinth, suspected of murder.\nCadfael talks with Rafe of Coventry, of the Earl of Warwick, staying at the Abbey.\nAt the alms box, Cadfael sees a coin from Rafe is struck with the image of the Empress.\nRafe comes from Oxford.\nWhen Cadfael asks if he is come to find the murderer of Bourchier, Rafe says no.\nCadfael finds the much-sought Hyacinth by following Annet as she meets him.\nAnnet, Eilmund and Hyacinth bring Cadfael in on their secrets.\nAnnet loves Hyacinth and her father approves it.\nThey hide Hyacinth during this manhunt.\nHyacinth was with Annet at the time of the murder.\nInnocence is not sufficient; he is not safe until the manhunt is stopped.\nHyacinth describes his bad treatment at Drogo's hands.\nBosiet distrained Hyacinth's father's lands before his death, leaving Hyacinth landless, but with skill in fine leather work.\nHyacinth ran after he beat up the steward when he chanced on him raping a local girl.\nCadfael promises to keep Hyacinth's secret, at odds with his promise to Hugh.\nDrogo's son Aymer arrives at the Abbey still focussed on finding the villein.\nOnce Aymer gives up his chase and takes his father home for burial, Cadfael can resolve the conflict of the two promises he made to Hugh and to Hyacinth.\nHyacinth seeks Richard at Leighton, the manor not yet searched.\nHearing a young woman travelling with her father Astley on horseback in the darkness, he knows he is right.\nHe finds Richard locked in a room, but cannot free him.\nLearning that the hermit Cuthred will act as the priest, Hyacinth persuades Richard to go along with the ceremony.\nAfter the marriage ceremony, Richard gains respect for Hiltrude; he shares why he agreed to the ceremony.\nShe is delighted.\nThey plan Richard's escape.\nRichard begins his ride after the midday meal.\nAstley becomes aware of the missing Richard.\nHe is angry and in immediate pursuit.\nThey arrive dramatically in the Abbey courtyard, Richard first on his pony.\nRichard falls off the pony and grabs the Abbot's legs, making clear where he wants to be.\nThe courtyard is full, as Vespers has just ended.\nAstley and Abbot Radulfus face off.\nAstley wants his son-in-law.\nThe Abbot takes control.\nBefore a rapt audience, Richard shouts out why he agreed to the ceremony, that Cuthred is not a priest.\nAt this, Rafe slips away.\nAbbot Radulfus plans to meet Cuthred the next morning, with Astley.\nHugh Beringar returns from Leighton on a wild goose chase for Richard.\nHe is not kindly inclined to Astley, so mutes him with mention of kidnapping charges.\nAymer Bosiet has not yet left the Abbey, still a threat to Hyacinth.\nAt the unexpectedly silent hermitage, Hugh sees Cuthred lying dead at the foot of the altar, his own knife near his hand.\nEverything is orderly except the sprawled body.\nA small casket is broken open and empty.\nHugh and Cadfael notice the absence of the breviary.\nBlood shows on the tip of Cuthred's knife.\nDame Dionisia arrives.\nShe is jolted by the sight of the dead man, realising how death can come at any moment, even hers.\nAymer Bosiet recognises the face of the dead hermit.\nHe and his father had met him at Thame one night.\nHe was dressed differently, hair cut in the Norman style, a man who wore weapons, but rode no horse.\nThey played dice and chess with him.\nThus is explained the murder of Drogo.\nThe hermit would not risk discovery by a chance-met stranger.\nAymer leaves the Abbey.\nCadfael brings Hyacinth out of hiding.\nHugh calls off the manhunt, as they go to Eilmund's place.\nWhen Hyacinth and Cuthred met, Cuthred was well dressed.\nHyacinth stole a habit for him at the priory, for his transformation to hermit.\nWhen Cuthred told Dame Dionisia he was a priest, she believed him, but it was not true.\nHugh tells Hyacinth he is free to seek work in the town.\nIn a year and a day, he will come to ask for Annet as his wife.\nRafe seeks Cadfael to treat his long knife wound.\nRafe de Genville, vassal to Brian FitzCount, loyal to the Empress will restore to Brian what is his, recovered in a fair fight between Rafe and the hermit.\nRafe found the jewels he sought in the reliquary.\nA personal letter was hidden in the breviary, already read by the dead man—seal broken.\nRafe asks, was his action sin.\nIn his day, Cadfael would have done the same.\nCadfael tells Hugh that he let Rafe go.\nHorse with no man, man with no horse, Cadfael had linked these together.\nHugh recoils upon realising the full horror of the first crime that Renaud Bourchier committed, fouler than murder.\nDeliberate dishonor from the thievery and the potential for blackmail of the Empress, if the Empress's husband in Normandy sought divorce—these are the calculations Bourchier was making.\nHugh is persuaded Rafe acted rightly.\nHonour is upheld, the lovers are united, and Richard is safe at school.