Free Scales of Retribution by Cora Harrison Page B

hold without conditions .” And the will went on to say, if I remember rightly: “ However, this testator would like to express a hope that the gift will enable the said Nuala, daughter of Malachy O’Davoren, to fulfil her ambition to have a school of medicine and also to enable her to pursue her studies in that subject .” I may have misremembered some of it,’ she concluded, trying to sound modest, ‘but I would say that it was the gist of the matter.’
    ‘I’m impressed by your memory, Mother.’ Oisín didn’t sound too put out and he spoke lightly, his tone casual. ‘Still,’ he added, ‘I’m sure that you will do your best for me, and of course, for your daughter and grandchildren.’
    ‘I do my best for everyone in my interpretation of the law,’ said Mara serenely. Suddenly she began to feel better. She enjoyed pitting her brains against a worthy adversary. Oisín was bright and clever, but he underestimated his mother-in-law if he thought that he could bribe or bully Mara, Brehon of the Burren.

Six
    Cáin Íarraith
    (The Law of Fosterage)
    The fee for fosterage ranges from three séts , one-and-a-half ounces of silver, for the son of a small farmer, up to thirty séts, fifteen ounces of silver, for the son of a king. The fee for a girl is higher than for a boy because a girl is less likely to be of benefit to her foster parents in later life.
    Triad 249
    There are three things in life where the outcome is dark:
Depositing an object into somebody’s custody.
Going surety.
Fosterage.
    R ather to her surprise, Mara saw no more of Boetius on the day that she sent him off to record the names and amounts of poisons on Malachy’s shelves in Caherconnell. She was just as glad, as it gave her an opportunity to have a long talk with Fachtnan and to assure him that she would be delighted to employ him as an assistant for the coming year.
    ‘I’ll need help in the school, what with the baby and everything,’ she told him, ‘and I can think of no one that I would be more pleased to have and who would suit me better. You will be of great assistance to me. So don’t worry about a thing. Nothing has changed. Now tell me, what do you think that we should do with Hugh?’
    ‘He’s upset,’ said Fachtnan sympathetically.
    What a nice boy he is, she thought. He is able to put aside his own bitter disappointment and enter into the feelings of the younger boy.
    ‘Perhaps you could give him a bit of extra help over the next few days,’ she suggested. ‘It would be good for Hugh and good for you also. While you are going over the early stages of law and Latin and poetry, you will be improving your own memory as you are trying to help Hugh to memorize everything. I’ll ask Enda to take over Moylan and Aidan. We mustn’t take up any more of young MacClancy’s time. I think that you and Enda can manage, do you think so?’
    Fachtnan was a little hesitant and said eventually that Aidan might be a bit difficult. ‘He got on very well with Ollamh MacClancy and I think that has gone to his head a little.’
    Things must have got quite bad, thought Mara, for Fachtnan to say that. He was a boy that never liked to tell tales. Aloud she said, ‘I’ll be in and out. I think you’ll find that Aidan will soon settle down again. Enda can be quite firm when he wants to be.’
    After supper Eileen arrived. Mara was quite astonished when a grey-haired woman with lined skin followed her housekeeper into the room. She had not expected Eileen to look so old. She looked far older than Mara, whose black hair was still without any grey and whose skin was still plump and fresh.
    The woman was well spoken, though, intelligent and alert. She looked very clean and her léine was snowy white.
    ‘I think it is best if the baby feeds whenever he wants to feed,’ she said, proffering her opinion without apology. ‘I know some people like to keep to set hours, but I will be with the baby every hour and minute of the day and I have