Free A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E. L. Konigsburg

mean by turning out right.”
    Eleanor looked at Henry and smiled. “No one who matters questions that I have turned out anything but right.”
    Becket cleared his throat, “Well … about King Louis’s request. He will not agree to the match unless he is assured that Marguerite’s education and care will be supervised by someone other than Eleanor.”
    Henry and Becket both looked at Eleanor for a reaction. Eleanor threw her head back and laughed. “Is Louis afraid that I will teach her to sing, or is he afraid that I will teach her to dance, or is he afraid that I’ll teach her to use some naughty words in chapel?” Then she looked at Henry and Becket and said, “I am happy to be relieved of the care of sweet Constance’s daughter. I had not expected such a bonus in the bargain.”
    Henry and Becket exchanged a glance. For all her bravado, Eleanor’s pride had been hurt.
    “You have done your work well, Thomas,” Eleanor said. “We seem to excel at the same things, you and I. We both love splendor and show. We both set a fine table. We both are efficient administrators. Now, Thomas, I suggest that you attempt to raise a child.” Eleanor turned to Henry and said, “Surely Louis would approve of his daughter’s education being in the hands of this man who studied for the priesthood and who charmed him out of the Vexin.”
    “An excellent idea, Eleanor,” Henry said. “Thomas, find some proper teachers and nurses, and you shall be in charge of the young couple.”
    “Thank you, your majesty,” Thomas said. “I hope that I shall do all that is expected of me.”
    “You always do more,” Eleanor replied.
    “More
is what I receive, madam.”
    “Goodnight, Thomas,” Eleanor said.
    “Goodnight, Tom,” Henry added. “Remember, falconing tomorrow at dawn.”
    “Speaking of falcons …” Thomas added.
    “Yes?” Henry asked as he followed his chancellor out the door and left Eleanor alone with me. And with her thoughts.

9
     
    FOR A WHILE it seemed that Eleanor and my son Henry could do nothing wrong, and Louis and Constance could do nothing right. Only two years after the birth of Marguerite, Eleanor came to me with the news that Constance had had another child and that Constance had died at childbirth. Another daughter. They named this one Alais.
    “Is Louis in mourning?” I asked.
    “In panic
would better describe him. He is forty years old and the father of four daughters; he has lost two wives, one by design and one by death, and is still without an heir.”
    “What will he do?” I asked.
    “It is not a question of what he will do; it is a question of what he has done. He has remarried already. Less than a month after Constance’s death.”
    “Who is the lucky bride this time?”
    “A cousin,” Eleanor answered.
    “No!” I was genuinely shocked.
    “Yes!” Eleanor laughed. “Since Abbot Bernard has passed away and is not there to shout
cousin!
in his ear, he has married Adele of Champagne.”
    I smiled. “He apparently likes to keep it all in the family. He betrothed your daughter Marie to one of Adele’s brothers, and he betrothed your Alix to another one, and he himself marries Adele. That makes his sons-in-law also his brothers-in-law, and in a sense it makes sisters of his daughters. The complications overwhelm me.”
    “It is strange to think that when I was married to Louis, he was at war with Champagne. Now both families appear to share a single bed.”
    “Your daughters are well married,” I reassured her. “Take comfort. The House of Champagne is powerful and rich.”
    “My beautiful Marie is engaged to Henry, Henry of Champagne; she is fifteen, he is twice that. She will be married to a rich
old
man.”
    “You seem to care nothing about a difference in age when the lady is the senior and the man is the junior.”
    Eleanor laughed. “We both seem to have a shaded point of view about that.”
    “What does Henry intend to do now that Louis is married again?”
    “He