Callum immediately spoke up. “My two older brothers already work with our da in the smithy, my lady. They will inherit the forge one day. I have no taste for it, however; nor do I wish to be a soldier. If I can learn to read and write, Pastor Blaine says there are more opportunities open to me. I can go out in the world and earn my bread.”
Annabella nodded. “’Tis true,” she agreed. “And when ye have learned both reading and writing, I will teach ye yer numbers, Callum Ferguson. Then ye will have three skills to offer a master.” The lad was respectful, and had an intelligent look about him. He could prove useful to Duin if he were capable of learning. She looked to Una.
The little lass spoke up now that it appeared to be her turn. “I dinna want to follow my mam into the laundry, my lady,” she admitted. “I want to go to Edinburgh and work in a fine shop. If I can read, write, and do my numbers, I can do this.”
As there were no shops in Duin village, and it was quite unlikely that the lass had ever been farther from her home than a few miles, or even gone past the borders of the earl’s lands, Annabella was curious as to how little Una even knew of shops. “Who has told ye of Edinburgh?” she asked.
“There is an old peddler who comes to Duin now and again. My mam always gives him a place to sleep. He has told me stories of the town, and of the beautiful shops where folk can purchase wonderful goods from foreign lands. I should rather earn my bread doing that than doing the castle laundry,” Una said, blushing. “I mean no offense, my lady, but I hate the laundry.”
Annabella suddenly had an idea. Why should she come to the village when she could teach these two bairns more comfortably in the castle? “Would ye both be willing to live in the castle while I teach ye this winter?” she asked them. “I will find places for ye both so ye may earn yer keep, but the snows of winter will not keep ye from yer learning if ye’re at the castle.”
“Aye!” the two would-be scholars chorused, grinning at her.
“I shall have Matthew Ferguson speak wi’ yer parents,” Annabella told them.
Again, Matthew Ferguson was not pleased when the lady of Duin made her simple request. “I must speak wi’ the earl,” he said in almost surly tones.
“Why is it ye are so against my teaching these two bairns?” Annabella demanded of him. “I’ve freed this wee cot now for some deserving soul. Is that not better?”
“Are ye wi’ bairn?” Matthew asked her bluntly. “Are these the fancies of a breeding woman?”
Annabella was astounded by his query. She blushed furiously, a flash of scarlet flooding her pale cheeks. She spoke before she could think. “Nay!”
“Well, ye should be by now,” Matthew replied. “My brother’s prowess is proven by the two little lasses he has fathered. The mistress he put away before the wedding was wi’ bairn. She will deliver any day, I am told.”
Annabella was almost speechless with anger now. “I will speak to my husband,” she said in frosty tones.
“He married ye to gain legitimate heirs,” Matthew persisted heedlessly. “Ye need to do yer duty instead of trying to teach two cotters’ bairns to read and write.”
“Ye’re dismissed,steward,” Annabella told him. She was near to weeping, and she would be damned if she would allow Matthew Ferguson to see her weep. Then she felt Jean, who had been by her side this whole time, squeeze her hand hard. She drew a long, deep breath. “Go!”
Surprised by her harsh tone, Matthew turned, only to be stopped by his sister’s voice. “Apologize to yer lady, brother, for yer presumption,” Jean told him. “She is gracious, and yer breach of good manners will remain between ye, but I will not hesitate to speak with the earl, our brother, if ye do not tender yer apologies to our mistress immediately. If I tell our mother, ye’ll never hear the end of it, and ye know it.”
Flushing, for he knew he had overstepped his bounds, Matthew turned and bowed to Annabella. “Ye have my regrets, my lady, for speaking out of turn,” he told her. Then he left the two women.
Chapter 5
They watched him hurry from the hall.
“His apology is almost as gracious as he is,” Jean murmured.
Annabella laughed weakly. Matthew’s words had unnerved her. “The trouble is that he is right,” she said.
“A bairn is more easily conceived when two people come together,” Jean replied softly. “Surely ye are more comfortable wi’ him now. It has been two months.”
“Ye know?” Annabella was embarrassed to learn her secret was revealed.
Jean patted her mistress’s hand. “Aye, I know. There was no blood the morning after yer wedding night. Now, that might have been because ye were nae a virgin after all, but I dinna believe that is the case. But no one else, including my nosy brother, is aware of the private relationship between ye and the earl.”
Annabella sighed. “Since that night he has not come to my bed. He is kind, yet I fear my lack of beauty is what keeps him from me.”
“Has he said it?” Jean inquired, although she refused to believe Angus was that cruel or stupid.
“Nay, he says he would give me time to know him. Still, I suspect my lack does nothing to encourage him,” Annabella mourned. “Have ye not noticed that he has never once called me by my name? He addresses me asmadam.”
“Even in yer bedchamber?” Jean was shocked. What the hell was the matter with Angus? Then she asked, “Have ye ever called him by his name?”
“Nay! He has not given me permission to do so,” Annabella responded.
