“The gardens aren’t forbidden to my mistress, Alice,” Orva said. She was a tall, lanky woman with prematurely iron gray hair and sharp, dark gray eyes.
“Who are these little lads?” Cicely Bowen asked, curious.
“They are your half brothers, poppet,” Orva answered. She looked to Alice. “Which one is this? The eldest?”
“Nay, this is Lord Richard, the second-born,” Alice replied, holding him by her side as he squirmed.
At the sound of his name the child broke free of his nursemaid and, giggling, began to run off on fat little legs. Alice shrieked, but Cicely quickly caught the little boy by his hand, laughing.
“Nay, nay, naughty one,” she said. “You must stay with your Alice.” She turned to Orva. “How many brothers do I have now?”
“Three,” Alice volunteered. “We’ve been on t’other side of that hedge.”
“Ohh, let me see them!” the little girl cried, and she dashed around the tall green hedge, where she observed Charles and the baby, Henry. “Hello,” she greeted them. “I am Lady Cicely Bowen, your big sister.” Plunking herself down next to Henry, who was lying upon his back, she tickled his little tummy. Henry chortled with delight, waving his fists at Cicely. The two other nursemaids stared, horrified. They knew the difficulties where the earl’s daughter was concerned, although they did sympathize with the little one’s predicament.
Orva came around the hedge and, taking Cicely’s hand, pulled the girl to her feet. “Come along, my lady. Your father has carefully explained to you the state of affairs with his wife. If you are found here with her sons there will be merry hell to pay.”
And the words were no sooner out of Orva’s mouth than the Countess of Leighton stepped into view and, seeing the four children together, shrieked as if the very portals of hell had just opened and demons were coming to take her away. At once the three little boys, frightened, began to howl in response to their mother’s apparent distress.
“She is attempting to bewitch my sons!” Luciana screamed for all to hear. “Kill her! Kill her! Donna Clara! Donna Clara! Come quickly. Do not let her harm my boys!” And the countess ran forward to grasp Cicely by her long hair, and began beating the little girl.“Bastarda!”she cried. “You will not have anything here! My sons are the true heirs!Bastarda! Bastarda!”
Orva had been taken by surprise by the countess’s attack upon her charge, but now, without hesitation, she stepped forward and pulled Luciana from Cicely. “You will not touch my lady, madam,” she said in her deep voice. Then, quickly gathering Cicely up in her strong arms, Orva strode off, carrying the weeping child.
But Luciana recovered quickly from her shock at being manhandled by the big woman. She whirled to face the three nursemaids, who now stood cowering with their individual charges. “You will all be beaten,” she said in a dark and dangerous voice. “There will be no help from my lord for any of you, for you well know the servants are mine to command. Get back to the house now! Leave my sons in more capable hands in their nursery. Then you will come to me for your punishment. How dare you allow that bastard brat near my precious children.”
“It were Alice!” cried Henry’s nursemaid. “She brought them near us.”
“Aye,” Charles’s nursemaid agreed, hoping like her companion to deflect the worse of their mistress’s ire to the unfortunate Alice.
“My little master ran away, and I came upon them chasing him,” Alice protested, seeing where the situation was headed. “I told them to go away, my lady. I did!”
“But they didn’t, did they?” the countess said. “You will receive the most blows, Alice. You are indeed responsible.”
“Shelet the little girl touch Master Henry,” Alice responded, pointing at the baby’s nursemaid, who had started all of this.
“She touched my precious infant?” The countess fell back, one hand dramatically over her heart. “Sweet Jesu! My son has been cursed by thebastarda!” Her brown eyes narrowed as they fixed themselves upon Henry’s servant.“You!”she accused. “You will feel the blows of my rod harder than the rest. And when I have finished with the three of you, it is back to the village for you all. You will never care for my boys again!”
Alerted by the other servants of some altercation in the gardens, Donna Clara had now arrived. “What has happened?” she wanted to know as she stared at the white-faced trio, the three howling children, and her enraged mistress. They all spoke at once, but from their babble the older woman learned of the incident. She gathered her mistress into the comfort of her arms with soft, soothing words.“There, there,bambina mia. No real harm has been done here. It was an unfortunate happenstance; that is all. You must calm yourself, for you have frightened the boys. Alice and the others acted in accordance with your wishes, I am certain. They did their best to send the earl’s daughter away. You might have never even known of the incident had you not come upon them.”
“Thebastarda’s servant put her hands on me!” Luciana cried angrily.
“And the earl shall know of it,bambina mia,” Donna Clara assured her mistress, stroking her head. “Come now, and let us return to the house. You are distraught and must lie down. I have a lovely soothing draft that will ease your nerves.”
“I must beat these women first,” Luciana insisted. “They have been disobedient.”
“Nay,bambina mia,they are good servants, but they were taken unawares. It is no one’s fault. They did their best to control the situation, and you must not beat them.” She began to draw Luciana away from the others, all the while murmuring to her, half in their native language. “Andiamo, cara mia.Everything is all right now.”
The earl was apprised of the situation by Donna Clara. Then he interviewed the three nursemaids. Orva was called to the house. “I am told you pulled the countess away from my daughter,” Robert Bowen said.
“I did,” Orva replied without a moment’s hesitation. “She began to beat my lady. The little one has bruises on her arms, her face, her shoulders and back, my lord. Certainly you did not mean for your daughter to be treated in such a dreadful fashion?” Orva’s dark gray eyes met those of the earl without flinching.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” Robert Bowen said quietly.
Orva related the incident truthfully and without emotion as her master listened. He recognized her version as the truth of the matter. His sons’ servants had been terrified out of the few wits they had by Luciana and their fear of her retribution. He knew that the threenursemaids felt their safety lay in lining up on the side of his wife. As for Donna Clara, she had also been truthful with him, admitting she had come upon the chaotic scene after all had been said and done.
“Lady Cicely made no attempt to harm your sons, my lord,” Orva repeated. “She caught little Lord Richard by the hand when he tried to run from Alice. She sat by the baby and tickled his tummy. She had no contact whatsoever with Lord Charles.”
“The others say she put the evil eye on the two elder, and muttered cabalistic words in Henry’s ear,” the earl told his daughter’s nursemaid.
