“What kind o’ useful tattle?”
“Who’s ill.Who’s soused.Who’s stealin’ from the kitchens.Who’s sneakin’ off in the middle o’ the night.”
“So ye’re employed as a spy?”
“Nay.”
“Then why do ye do it?”
She shrugged.“To right wrongs.”
“Hmm.”
“Your turn.”
“Let’s see… I once posed as the mystic Hildegard o’ Bingen.”
She gasped.“What?”
His brows shot up.“Ye’ve heard o’ her?”
She realized he’d startled another piece of information out of her—that she was knowledgeable.Of course she’d heard of Hildegard of Bingen.Among the educated, Hildegard was a renowned abbess, a visionary versed in natural philosophy, medicine, writing, and music.
“Everyone has heard o’ Hildegard o’ Bingen.But how…?”She couldn’t imagine Adam disguising himself as a woman, especially such a famous woman.
“Everyone hasheardo’ her,” he said.“But has anyoneseenher?”
He had a point.If he comported himself with enough confidence, she supposed he could fool anyone into believing he was the elusive abbess.That was how he’d convinced everyone he was the emissary of the Pope.Still…
“Ye can’t pass for a woman,” she decided.
“I can.And have.Granted, my Hildegard is a rather large woman with a husky voice, but…”
That made her laugh.This she had to hear.“Do the voice.”
“Now?”
She nodded.
He cleared his throat, then spoke in a ragged voice with a thick German accent.“Zere is ze music uff heav’n in all tings.”
Her eyes widened.Adam did sound like a wizened woman.
She skewered him with a glittering gaze that was half admiration, half scolding.“Ye know ye’re wicked, feignin’ to be Hildegard.Why would ye do such a thing?”
“To gain access to a library.My cousin needed a copy o’ Aristotle’s treatise on Physics.”
“So ye stole it?”
“Not exactly.The laird was delighted to give it to Hildegard.”
She shook her head in wonder.
“Besides,” he added, “that tome was covered in dust.I’m not certain it had e’er been read.”
Still, such an audacious undertaking was unthinkable to Eve.
“Your turn,” he said.
