“I rather enjoy our sparring.”
“I do not.” Selah glanced at the sullen maid. “Nor, I sense, does Ruth.”
“The maidservant has no say in the matter. She is simply here at the request of your father, which, regretfully, has deprived Governor Harvey a day’s labor in his household.”
“You expect me to ride about the country with you alone?” She looked askance at him. “I think not.”
His cold smile grated. “Ah, you are all pins and prickles, Mistress Hopewell. Waspish as well as spinsterish. The proper husband might change that.”
She fell silent, giving him no grounds to carry the conversation further. By the time the first Hundred came into view with its dozen houses and dependencies, its chimneys puffing smoke, she’d collected herself somewhat. Dogs barked at their approach and turned her mare skittish. Laurent snapped his whip in warning as he led the way.
“Turn aside, Rufus,” a man called to the worst offender, a small cur with bristled back.
“We’ve come to visit your brides,” Laurent called out. “Beginning with yours, Monsieur Cassen, if you’re willing.”
“Obliged.” Cassen gave a red-faced nod, gesturing toward his rough-hewn cottage. “She’s feeling poorly of late. The dreaded seasoning.”
He led them toward a dwelling where a low fire made the close air smoky. As Selah entered in with the maidservant, she heard Laurent behind her, speaking condescendingly tothe husband just outside the door. The house smelled of sickness, making her glad she’d brought a few of her mother’s tonics.
In an adjoining room lay the former Jane Rickard, a bank of pillows behind her. She rose up briefly, her face flushed with fever. “Mistress Hopewell?”
“Indeed, but I shall make this blessedly brief, given you are unwell.”
“Nay, please be seated.” Jane was clearly eager for company as she gestured to a stool near at hand. “A visit might do me good.” Her inquisitive gaze dismissed Ruth and rested on Selah’s burgeoning basket.
“I’ve brought some things to hearten you, or so I hope.” Selah took a seat, settling the basket in her lap. Out of it she drew thread, a thimble, and needles.
Jane looked pleased. “You recall my seamstress ways.”
“If you describe your malady, I may have just the remedy ... though the physic is here too, and just outside, speaking with your husband.”
Jane swallowed as if her throat was sore. “Fever. Weakness. Thomas says not to drink the water, but ale just makes me thirstier.”
“A common complaint.” Selah held her tongue. Sometimes a person was simply made better by a little kindness and a listening ear, tonic or no. “You’re adjusting to settlement life, which takes a toll on every newcomer.”
“No cure for homesickness, I suppose.”
“Aye, time. ’Tis a wondrous cure-all.” Selah smiled to bolster her. “What do you miss most about England?”
“Hot cross buns. You could smell them for a league or more on a warm spring morn in Berkshire.”
“Oh, I can only imagine it. I’ve never been to England. But my mother, bless her, makes hot cross buns from Eastertide to Whitsunday.”
Jane caressed the sewing notions. “Does my heart good to hear some traditions from the motherland aren’t forgot.”
“Traditions, aye.” Selah gave her the tonic. “Britain is ages old, heavily peopled with so much history, unlike newborn Virginia.”
“I don’t miss the crowds or the stench. Virginia’s air is purer. Sweeter.”
“And how do you find married life?” Selah asked with a tremor of trepidation. How was an unmarried miss to hazard such a question?
Jane downed the tonic with a wince of distaste. “Married life suits me. At least when I’m hale and hearty and on my feet.”
As she spoke of the travails of colony life, Laurent came in. He greeted and then examined Jane while Selah and the maidservant stood by.
“What is this?” He sniffed the cup that held the tonic and turned a critical eye Selah’s way. “Herbs and simples are temporary at best. What you need, Goody Cassen, is a dose of Gascoigne’s jelly. With powder of pearl for purification of the blood and melancholia, there’s no better remedy.”
Watching him dispense his own medicines, Selah tried to dwell on the good. Laurent seemed knowledgeable enough, though the colony boasted few physics and she had little to compare him with. Still, his past misdeeds, his trickery of Mattachanna...
