Matilda was awake and staring up at the ceiling. There was light enough coming in from the next room to keep her eyes busy, and she could not keep them closed. But her mind was even busier, and it was this that would not allow her to sleep.
She heard Alred reach up and scratch his head.
She pounced. “Are you awake?”
“I am. May I safely assume that you are as well?”
“I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking.”
“Why don’t you come lay your busy little head on my shoulder and I shall see if I can distract it?”
“I would rather talk.” She sat up.
“You would rather talk first, you mean.”
“I would rather talk first.”
“All right,” Alred sighed, sitting up as well. “Talk.”
“I was thinking about Egelric.”
“Oh, no!” Alred groaned. “I told you – no more Egelric for you. You leave that poor man alone.”
“No, listen! He hasn’t come to see me since – since that unfortunate misunderstanding. He won’t even allow me to apologize!”
“I believe I told him that you were willing to apologize whenever he was willing to see you again.”
“But why is he so angry at me?”
“I daresay you insulted his honor, Matilda. And this out of a desire to injure his friend.”
“So why didn’t he tell me I was wrong when I talked to him about it?”
“Presumably because you were too ‘discreet,’ and I use the word with copious sarcasm, to mention what you were discussing.”
“But he must have done something wrong.”
“We all have,” he sighed.
“But I’m trying to figure out what it was.”
“Why?” Alred asked, growing annoyed. “What is that to you?”
“Because I can’t sleep for wondering about it. Listen, Alred – ”
“I don’t want to listen to any more of your gossip and your speculation. Why is mine suddenly the ear into which you must pour your bile?”
“It’s not bile, Alred,” she said, hurt. “I’m only wondering. About my friends.”
“Well?”
“And with whom may I talk now that Colburga is gone?”
“Oh,” he sighed, defeated. “Lovely of you. What you need is a woman friend. Why don’t you talk Sir Leila’s ear off instead of mine?”
“Don’t start that again. I’m sure she’s a charming woman – for a Saracen.”
“And don’t you start that again. It is unbecoming. You are supposed to be far enough above her that you needn’t feel your nobility threatened by a mere Saracen lady.”
“You’re simply in love with her, that’s all.”
“Oh, Matilda! What’s the matter with you lately? She’s a remarkable little woman, clever and witty and all the rest, and I wish you would take the time to see it, but I shan’t put up with being accused of falling in love with her. Jupiter! Have you finished?”
“Anyway, she wouldn’t understand the half of what I say,” Matilda sniffed.
“So much the better, since the half of what you say is nonsense!”
“Alred!”
“It’s partly your own fault, you know. You despise Maud, you despise Sir Leila, you’ve crushed any possibility you might have had of making friends with little Gunnie Hogge – that leaves precisely one woman in the valley with whom you may associate, and that is Githa Ashdown. And I tremble at the thought of what gossip the two of you together may dream up!”
“That’s why I wish Egelric would get married,” she said eagerly. “But I don’t think he will, and let me tell you why – ”
“Oh, no! Oh, no! No more Egelric for you.”
“Listen, Alred! I think I know what he did. Don’t you want to know?”
“As a matter of fact, no. Good night, Matilda,” he said, scooting down into the bed again.
“Wait! Listen, Alred. I think I have it figured out.”
“Oh, good Lord,” he muttered, sitting up again. “If I let you tell me, will you promise not to tell anyone else?
“Promise!”
“Let’s hear it,” he sighed.
“Well, I have been thinking about that conversation I had with Egelric. The clue is there.”
“And?”
“And I remember what I said to him. I said, ‘I believe you’ve broken one of the Ten Commandments.’”
“That’s coy of you. If you had said, ‘I believe you are an adulterer,’ he could have risen up and smacked you and that would have been the end of this whole affair.”
“But listen! He simply said, ‘I didn’t kill, and I didn’t bear false witness, and I honor my father and mother,’ and so on. And then he laughed and said, ‘I suppose that leaves only adultery and coveting my neighbor’s wife.’ And so I said, ‘I suppose that’s it.’ And I was talking about adultery – but when he said it was true, I believe he was talking about his neighbor’s wife!”
“Oh, so that’s how this all began…”
“Because then he said, ‘Please don’t tell Gunnilda.’ And I didn’t understand why he would care about Gunnilda in particular – nor why he would tell me that what I told Gunnilda had destroyed his friendship with her. And furthermore, he was very clearly in love with someone. So, it all makes sense if you consider that Egelric is in love with Gunnilda, and he thought I told her so! So there!” She folded her hands over her belly in satisfaction and waited for him to reply. “You’re terribly quiet,” she said after a while. “It’s because you agree with me, isn’t it?”
“I’m simply thinking that it’s a sad story if it’s true – and I am not saying I believe it’s true. But it’s a sad story, Matilda. And I am sorry that you believe that you have any right to think about it. You ought to respect him enough to leave him in peace if it’s true. And all the more so if it isn’t. So there!”
“I don’t intend to bother him about it,” she huffed, shrinking down into her pillows. “I simply wanted to tell you, and hear your opinion.”
“I shan’t give you my opinion. I shall, however, give you my command, and it is this: leave that poor man alone. He has reason enough to be unhappy, even without this. You’re either correct, in which case you would hurt him terribly, or you are wrong, in which case you would also hurt him terribly. You already have, I remind you.”
“I know,” she said softly.
“That’s already something, if you know! Jupiter! What a handful you are, lately!”
“I’m sorry.”
“You may tell him so when he can stand to see you again.”
“I tell you so, as well.”
“That’s thoughtful of you, Matilda,” he sighed. How could he continue being angry at her when she spoke to him in that tiny, humble voice? And it was true, she had no one but him now that Colburga had gone. “Now, if you really want to be thoughtful, you will close your pretty eyes and go to sleep, that I might. Will you?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“That’s a good girl,” he said, pulling her head onto his shoulder. She nestled her body against his and sighed, and soon her even breathing against his neck showed that she was asleep.
Now it was he who lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
Chapters
Well, sooner or later someone would figure it out. Now hopefully, this time, Matilda will keep quiet about it and not shoot her mouth off when she feels wronged and/or jealous and/or drunk.