“Aye.”
“Well, stay away from her. There be levels of hierarchy amongst the castlefolk here as in any keep, and her having the care of the lord’s daughters puts her higher up even than the other ladies’ maids, which be all higher than ye. But yer higher than those kitchen lackeys, so stay away from them, too. Ye will have enough wenches to choose yer friends from that be under my care, but do ye take my advice, ye will not make that Celia one of them.”
Rowena was not interested in “that Celia,” even if she was Warrick’s favorite. She was more concerned with her own predicament. She knew she was to be one of Mary’s “wenches,” but she had yet to be told what that entailed.
Her shock over her new servant status was only mild, for she had already suspected that her fate would be something of that nature by the clothes she had been given. And one of the first things Warrick had said to her, back in Kirkburough, was that she was lady no longer. The irony was that she could remember wishing for this very thing, that she were no more than a lowly serf with naught to her name that could be coveted and fought over. Verily, she would have to be more careful of her damn wishing in future.
Warrick could not, however, make her a true servant, for she was nobly born and raised, and that could not be taken from her, no matter how much he might wish it. But he could have her treated like a servant, had already ordered it so, and there was naught she could do about it, for she was, in truth, a prisoner at his mercy. Yet when it occurred to her that he could have had her sent back to the dungeon instead, and without the kindly John Giffard’s protection, she had to consider herself lucky, more than lucky. A servant had free movement, went about almost unnoticed. A servant could escape.
Chapter 19
“This be where ye will spend most of yer time,” Mary said as she opened the door to the weaving room on the floor above the Great Hall.
Three women immediately dashed from the window where they had been watching the men practice arms in the exercise yard. But they did not quite resume their seats before Mary noticed. And she could not help but notice the spindle with thread attached that rolled across the floor to disappear under her skirts. One of the women had quickly tried to continue spinning with it, but had dropped it instead.
Rowena took in the small room while Mary glowered at her workers. There was a basket full of spindles with stone whorls, enough to spin a great amount of thread if there were more women to do it, but there were only these eight. Larger baskets of newly treated wool lined the walls, ready for spinning into thread. There were six large looms, and another stack of smaller hand looms in the corner, but only three of the large ones were presently threaded, and only one had woven cloth nearing completion. The single window gave ample light, so at least there would not be the problem of candle smoke staining the newly made cloth.
Mary finally got around to blasting the women with her displeasure. “Wasting time again, are ye?” she admonished sternly. “Ye will finish what yer due for the day, or there will be no dinner for the lot of ye. And if I find ye idle one more time this week, ye will find yerselves demoted to the laundry. There be others than ye with nimble fingers., if I have to bring them up from the village.”
So saying, she slammed the door shut again, surprising Rowena into saying, “I thought I was to work here.”
“Aye, ye are, but there be enough for ye to do the rest of this day, for ye not to start weaving and spinning now, and sharing in the punishment of those lazy wenches.”
Rowena could not agree more after what she had already suffered, and in gratitude, she informed Mary, “I know how to produce a fine thread, though it takes longer with a double spinning, and I am capable of instructing the weavers to get a better-quality cloth, fine enough for the ladies of the castle.”
She had had little opportunity to direct servants in the past three years, other than those who served only her. But she had been ten and five when her life changed so drastically, and her mother had already taught her all that she needed to know in the running of a castle. And anything that she could direct to be done, she could do herself, for how could she direct properly unless she knew exactly what needed doing? Yet there were some things she could do better than others.
Having gained Mary’s complete interest, she continued. “But my talents would be wasted in this area, for I am better skilled with a needle.”
“So my lord must have thought, for he has also ordered ye to have the care of his clothes, and the making of new ones for him, though we have better than the spun wool for that. But ye can teach others to get a finer weave, ye say?”
Rowena was still flushing over what she considered a further punishment, to be forced to handlehisclothes, so she only nodded stiffly. But Mary did not notice her high color in the dimly lit corridor; she was merely surprised.
“Did ye have the care of the weavers at Kirkburough?” she asked.
“Nay, I was not there long.”
“Well, I would not take it amiss did ye do a little instructing of my wenches whilst ye do yer own weaving, but ’tis not what I was ordered to have ye do, and ye will have little enough spare time with all ye do have to do.” And then she turned to leave, adding only, “When ye finish for the day, ye can return here to sleep with the others.”
Rowena pictured that small room with so little cleared floor space and asked, “Allof them sleep in there?”
“Nay, only three. The other five are as sluttish as Celia. They all have men they sneak off to at night.” Mary stopped at the top of the stairwell to pin Rowena with narrowed eves. “Yer not of that bent, are ye?”
Rowena knew that people had seen her enter the lord’s solar three days ago, and others had seen her leave it this morn. Though Mary did not seem to know that, she was bound to hear of it eventually. If Rowena was to be under Mary’s careanddiscipline, as it seemed, she did not want to make enemies of the woman by leaving her to be surprised later by facts that Rowena could make clear to her now. And Mary did not seem to be a mean woman, just a beleaguered one. Mayhap she could even help Rowena, if she could gain her sympathy.
“I would be immensely grateful, Mistress Blouet, if you could keepallmen away from me, but—there is a thing you should know, if your lord did not tell you. He kept me in his solar these last three days—chained to his bed.”
“Nay, he would never!” Mary said indignantly. “Why do ye lie?”
The last thing Rowena expected was to hear someone staunchly defend that cruel, vengeful man. Was it possible Mary had no idea what kind of man he really was?
“Enid knows ’tis so, and I doubt your lord would deny it, for he had reasons to punish me so. I tell you only so you do not wonder if he singles me out for further punishment, for ’tis not likely he is through having his vengeance on me.”
Mary still looked skeptical, though she allowed, “Aye, likely not, for yer other duties, now I think on it, can be seen as a punishment if they be not to yer liking. Ye are also to serve Lord Warrick at table for all meals, see to the cleaning of his chamber with only Enid’s help, and attend him at his bath, which Celia is likely to take umbrage at, for ’twas previously her duty, and one she relished.”
Rowena felt sick to her stomach. And she had thought at least the worst was over, that being demoted to servant class would be the end of it?
“There is one other thing you should know. I am with child, and Lord Warrick knows ’tis his.”
