“Did you and the dog settle it then?” Elsbeth asked as Adair entered the cottage.
“How did you know I speak with the dog?” Adair demanded to know.
Elsbeth chuckled. “Ever since you were a wee girlie, you’ve gone and talked things out with Beiste whenever you are feeling sad or confused. Did you think I didn’t notice?”
Adair had to laugh. “You see everything, don’t you, Nursie?”
“I do,” Elsbeth agreed. “Now, what have youdecided?”
Adair took the chair by the fireplace. “We go on as always,” she said. “I don’t know what else to do. We can’t cease our way of life because of the king. Nay. It’s almost midsummer. The fields are green, and the cattle are in the high meadows. We will do what we always do at this time of year—we’ll make soap and conserves.
Were you able to save my apothecary? I should inven-tory what is there, and begin to gather what is necessary to make new salves, ointments, and medicines.”
“You’re a sensible young woman, my lady,” Elsbeth’s sister, Margery, said sharply. She had just come into the cottage, and had stood listening. “The Stanton folk need to feel that naught has changed for them. We’re simple folk, after all. It don’t matter to us if you’re a countessor not. You’re our lady. Now, are you hungry? I’ve got a nice rabbit stew on the boil.”
Adair found that to her surprise she enjoyed the simpler life of her villagers. The summer moved on, and the new cottage was slowly being raised up. It was a bit larger, she could see, than the other homes, but she said nothing, for Adair realized that as the Stanton folks’
lady she was considered different from them. Still, until she knew that the land was hers again and no one could take away her new home, she could not rest easily. But no word came from Lady Margaret.
The grain ripened in the fields, and was cut and threshed. There had been a bit more rain this summer than in the past, and so the granaries were not as full as Adair would have liked them. Still, she knew from experience that she could get them all through the winter.
The day of her birth came and went. She was twenty-one years of age now. Robert Lynbridge rode over from Hillview to tell her that word had come that the queen had given birth to a fair son who was baptized Arthur.
Although Adair had written to him about the change in her fortunes, he was still distressed to see the spot where the hall had once stood. And he was unhappy to find her living in a cottage.
“Come back with me to Hillview,” he pleaded with her. “Allis would be happy for your company. You have been gently raised, Adair. You should not be living like a common cottager. With Grandsire dead now, there is no one to provoke you.”
“I thank you for the offer, Rob,” she replied. “But I am most comfortable. My own new home is almost finished, and as you can see it is twice the size of everyone else’s cottage. These are my people. I am their lady, whether I be the Countess of Stanton or nay. My place is here.”
“The Scots will have discovered by now that you are vulnerable,” he responded.
“What is the worst they can do, Rob? Steal some cattle? Let them. I will not leave Stanton ever again,”Adair said stubbornly.
“Promise me you will reconsider,” he said to her.
“And send to me if at any time you feel threatened. I will come with my men, and we will protect you.”
After he had gone Elsbeth said, “You could go to Hillview for the winter months, my lady, and no one would think the worse of you for it.”
“I’m not leaving Stanton,” Adair said quietly. “It was the hall that attracted the Scots. They are hardly interested in a little village.”
But Adair had misjudged her neighbors, and one morning in late September a large party of Scots borderers swept down from the hills into Stanton village.
The village was filled mostly with women and the elderly. Most of the men were either harvesting apples in the orchards or tending the cattle. The villagers were herded into the square, and the Scots sorted them out efficiently and quickly. The elderly and infirm were told to return to their cottages. They were instructed to take the small children with them.
Adair finally stepped forward. “Who is in charge here?” she demanded to know.
“And who wants to know that, my pretty?” a tall borderer asked, leering at her.
“The lady of Stanton, that’s who, you border cur!”Elsbeth snapped.
“Why, you’re a hot-tempered piece of goods.” The tall borderer chuckled. “You’d keep a man busy and warm on a cold winter’s night.” He chucked Elsbeth beneath her chin, then, howling, drew back his bloodied hand, for she had stabbed him with her knife. “Bitch!” he roared. “You’ll pay for that!”
“Jock!” An older man of medium height with white hair and a commanding presence came forward. “Do not damage the captives. I’ll have no rape.”
“Are you in charge here, sir?” Adair asked the man.
“I am,” the borderer replied. “I am William Douglas.
