“I hope you know how lucky you are, little mistress.”
For once, Marthe could not disagree.
15
Hushed voices rose and fell in waves around her. It was not bright enough for Élisabeth to read the angle of the sun, but she would not have been surprised if it were before dawn. She closed her eyes and tried to let the voices fade like a will-o’-the-wisp into a marsh.
It did not work.
“I want you to be happy, Lou.”
“I will be. Though, if Jambon’s friend does not please you, you need not choose him.”
Élisabeth grasped for her dream with her bare hands but it was too late. The moondust started to fade as the voices became clearer. She opened her eyes again.
“But we agreed to marry neighbours so we would never be parted,” Rose said. She was lying on the mattress next to Élisabeth, propped up on her elbow, Lou lying flat on her back. When she saw that Élisabeth had woken, her eyes lit up.
“Good morning. You were sleeping so soundly we did not dare wake you.”
Élisabeth struggled to sit up, the straw mattress giving way under her elbows.The empty beds in the dormitory meant most of the other girls must already be up and at their chores.
“What time is it?”
“Midmorning. It’s been raining since dawn. Sister Gagnon said she didn’t want us churning up mud in the garden and bringing it in on our clogs, so we’ve been allowed to stay in bed.”
“Midmorning!” She glanced at Jeanne Roy’s empty pallet. She had not been able to speak to the witch the night before. Jeanne had been surrounded by nuns and giggling girls from the moment the men had left. But today Élisabeth would corner her. She pressed her hands on her stomach to steady the familiar pangs.
“What would you do, Lili? Marry right away, or wait to see if someone better comes along?” Lou fixed Élisabeth with a stare.
“I-I cannot say.”
“Well then, what did you think of Jambon? And Lajeunesse? The farmers.”
Élisabeth searched her memory. She remembered being introduced to a short man with a big laugh. She could not recall his friend.
“He seemed… merry.”
Lou turned to Rose and raised her eyebrows. “See?”
“But, Lili, consider Marthe. You wished for her to know the baker a little better before agreeing to his proposal, did you not?”
“True,” Élisabeth said quietly.
“Marthe is happy!” Lou insisted. “She knew her own mind and made her choice. So did Jeanne, and now she’s on her way to the altar too. Why should I not do the same?”
“You know what is said,” Rose frowned. “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.”
“What do you mean, on her way to the altar?” Élisabeth said, swivelling to look again at Jeanne Roy’s mattress in the corner.
“Oh, you know what she is like,” Rose said. “She told Sister Gagnon she had no need for fuss nor festival and saw no reason to read the banns threetimes. Sister Gagnon was not certain at first, but as it is nearly the first of September and Jeanne is so persuasive I think she came round to the idea. Then Sister asked Agnès if she’d like to hurry up and go too, seeing as she has signed a contract with that habitant from Lachine. Can you believe the man’s holdings are only four farms over from her childhood friend from Soissons? She signed as quick as she could—”
“No reason to read the banns?” A fistful of snakes suddenly writhed in her entrails. “What do you mean? Where is Jeanne?”
“She left for the village at first light.”
Élisabeth threw her blanket off and leapt to her feet. “How long ago?”
“A few hours, maybe more. She hasn’t got a trunk, so they didn’t need to send for a carter, and with her soldier being so anxious to make a start for the land of the Odawa, she decided—”
