Free Besieged by Bertrice Small Page B

rang out. My father was killed instead. The men came from the fields and saw the glint of a musket up upon the hill. They ran as fast as they could and captured the culprit. He was the same man mama had dismissed as the estate’s agent, and he was bold enough to admit it was mama he had wanted for kill.”
    “Why did she dismiss him?” William was curious.
    “He was cruel and he was bigoted. He had driven mama’s villagers from Maguire’s Ford because they were Catholic. He planned to populate the place with only Protestants. He thought mama too forward for a woman, and believed my father was bewitched by her.”
    “You don’t approve of driving Catholics away.” It was a statement.
    “Nay, I do not. Why would you drive decent, hard-working people from their homes based upon their religious preference?” Fortune said.
    “They’d murder us given the chance,” he replied.
    “I know that, but you’d do the same,” Fortune told him in exasperated tones. “Do you think I am a dunce, Will Devers? There is anger and bigotry on both sides of the issue. I understand that, but I belive the English would be better off if they just came to Ireland to rule, and left everyone to live in peace, but no. The English must have their way in all things, and so the Irish will resist with all their might. ’Tis madness.”
    “You think a great deal for a young girl,” he noted as they moved away from the hanging tree.
    “Do you not approve of a woman being educated then, Will?”
    “I have always been taught a woman’s place is in the home, supervising her servants, and her children. She is responsible for their welfare, both temporal and spiritual, as well as pleasing her husband in whatever ways he may desire, and making his home a place of peace.”
    “Does a woman have to be uneducated to do all those things?” Fortune asked him seriously. She glanced over at him so she might see his face when he answered, and know if he was prevaricating.
    “My mother has taught my sisters all manner of household duties,” he began.
    “Can they read? Or do arithmetic? Do they speak other languages than their own? Do they know the history of their country, or where the New World is on a map? Can they look up in the sky at night, and name the stars, Will?” Fortune waited for his answer.
    “Why would they need to know these things?” he wondered.
    “If you cannot read or write, how can you truly manage your household accounts? If you do not know arithmetic, how can you be certain that your estate manager isn’t cheating you? Knowing other languages allows you to speak with the French, the Italians, the Germans. As for the rest, it is simply fun to know these things, Will. Knowledge gives one power. All the women in my family are educated. I intend educating my sons and daughters, too. You read and write, don’t you?”
    “Of course!” he replied hastily. “But my sisters do not. Mary, Colleen, and Lizzie are all married women. They have no need of an education such as you describe. My mother certainly didn’t. She was my grandsire Elliot’s only child, and heiress. My father wanted an heiress for a wife because he was poor in monies though rich in land. My grandfather wanted a man with a goodly estate and cattle. That is how matches are made, Fortune. It doesn’t matter if the bride is educated or not. It is her property first, and then her charm that win her a husband.”
    “I still prefer being an educated woman. The women in my family do not have husbands who stray because they are interesting both in and out of the bedchamber,” Fortune said proudly. “I hear it said your father has a mistress.”
    He flushed. “Young ladies should not speak of such things, or even know about them for that matter.” Then he chuckled. “You are a most outspoken girl, aren’t you?”
    “Would you rather I dissemble? Or be coy, and giggle like so many girls on the husband hunt?” she demanded of him.
    “No,” he said,