Wilda came when Leonie called her name softly. “My lady.”
Leonie’s curiosity was aroused. “Are stores kept up here?” she asked, looking at the row of rooms.
Wilda understood and shook her head. “My lady, I never heard of such as this. It was Sir Edmond’s idea to offer his guests privacy, so he ordered those small chambers built, each with a bed and other conveniences.”
“Each one of these is a small bedchamber?”
Wilda nodded. “Mildred said Crewel was never without guests. Sir Edmond liked to impress his guests.”
Leonie was not surprised that the maid knew so much. Servants gossiped. “Private chambers instead of a pallet in the hall is impressive indeed. I did not realize the Montignys were so wealthy.”
Wilda frowned. “There are rumors—”
“For shame, Wilda. You know I do not countenance rumors,” Leonie said automatically, and because Wilda knew her lady disliked gossip, she fell silent. It was just as well, for Wilda did not want to be the one to tell her lady about the rumors concerning her and her husband.
It suited Wilda to have the servants at Crewel think Rolfe d’Ambert had beaten his wife on their wedding night. She disliked him because of the insult he was dealing Leonie by keeping his mistress in their home. Wilda had no desire to correct the women servants’ opinions, or to argue with the men who took their lord’s side. She was going to stay well out of the battle and had warned Mary to do the same. Rolfe d’Ambert was not a man to be patient with servants.
She said only, “Well, Sir Edmond did serve the best foods and wines.”
“He must have had a different cook,” Leonie said dryly and Wilda giggled.
“Indeed, I understand the cook fled with the coming of the new lord. The one who rules the kitchen now was enlisted from the stable.”
Leonie was appalled. “Surely there must be some assistants of the old cook who are still here?”
“Yes. They could improve the fare, but they will not.” Wilda lowered her voice. “There was much resentment here against your husband, and there still is.”
“Was Sir Edmond loved?”
“No. He had a heavy hand. But with him there were no surprises and the servants always benefited from the abundance of food left over from his entertaining. But Sir Rolfe is here so little that they have not had any chance to know him, so they don’t trust him. And his temper frightens everyone. No one is willing to draw his master’s attention to himself.”
Leonie nodded. She had half guessed as much. She glanced once more at the row of closed doors. “Are these rooms all empty?”
Wilda knew her lady well. “She sleeps in the large room that was Sir Alain’s,” she whispered.
“But where does Sir Evarard—”
“That one is a soldier through and through. He sleeps with the men-at-arms. Mildred says he would be happiest rolled in a blanket under the stars.”
“And how would Mildred know that?”
Wilda grinned. “One thing Sir Evarard does not dislike about his being settled instead of marching from one campaign to the next is the women here. He is a handsome young man, my lady.”
Leonie controlled an urge to grin. “And you are thinking of trying him out yourself?”
Before Leonie’s marriage, Wilda would never have admitted such a thing, but now she answered loftily, “I have thought of it.”
Leonie shook her head. How could she scold Wilda for wanting pleasure? It never did any good to point out the sinfulness in a union without marriage.
“In the next few days,” Leonie said, changing the subject, “you will have little time to think of such things. You wanted a chance to put the Crewel servants to work, and now you will have it.”
Wilda was delighted. “You have his permission then? We may begin—”
“Not his permission, but we will begin anyway.”
“But—”
Leonie cut her short. “I cannot live like this. And he is not here to stop me.”
