Free Gifts of the Queen by Mary Lide Page A

must be controlled by men, and wives must obey their husbands. I know, too, that no man likes a harpy as his wife, but there are some things that no one, man or woman, should endure.
    'I'll not have them here,' I blurted out. 'Off they go. I'll see their backs; they'll give me space . . .'
    Certainly Alyse de Vergay could,' he broke in dryly, more than twice your size.' Which showed he knew exactly who had stirred my wrath and why, but he waited graciously for me to finish my complaints. Cunning in my way (for what man likes to hear women complain?), I pointed out these ladies were so many useless mouths to feed and their needs were such, their demands so great, we would in no way satisfy them.
    'How else will you be served?' he asked. He spoke abruptly, to the point, but still courteously. 'Who will attend you when your time is come?'
    'I shall manage,' I repeated stubbornly.
    He sighed, set me down firmly on a stone, stood back, legs apart. 'Lady,' he said at last. 'I have no time to play at games. God's wounds, 'tis hard enough to find food and keep a shelter over our heads. I cannot act as wet nurse to a babe.' He caught back the end of his speech, but not before I guessed what he would have said. Bad enough even to have a babe at all.
    'I know,' he went on trying to be reasonable, I grant him that, 'you find our Norman ways difficult; I know you dislike these ladies. But, in truth, I'd rather them than their menfolk about our ears like bluebottles on a side of beef. I d rather Norman women here as spies than their men.'
    ‘Spies?' I cried. I know my voice rose a notch. 'I'll have no spies in my household. What are those men, Alyse de Vergay's father for one—if she be not too old to have a father left—and who is she, that I am loaded with her for convenience sake?'
    He said, still in that controlled, patient way, although I could tell his temper too was rising, 'Lady Ann, you need those women for women's work. But think. I have showed you where Sieux is set, between Normandy and the lands of Anjou. We think of ourselves as Normans, we men of Sieux, but we are not bound to a Norman overlord. I hold my lands direct from the King of France. What I have not explained is that Henry has not been long Duke of Normandy, which his father took. The Norman barons have little liking for Henry, and while he is away in England, will take the chance to stir up trouble if they can. Nor did I explain that the Normans have small liking for Sieux, either, and have long been jealous of our independence. The more they know of our plight, the more like are they to take advantage of us. I'd rather their womenfolk as hostages for peace than have Jean de Vergay, since you have named him, roll up his siege machines before our gates. Although, in truth, he is more like a weasel than a man, burrowing at his overlord's heels. That overlord is the Sire de Boissert. If Jean de Vergay's fighting days are done, for he suffers, so they say, from a weakness in the breast that causes him fainting spells, de Boissert's fighting days are not. There's little mischief in Normandy that does not have his mark on it.'
    There was a tone of contempt in his voice when he spoke that name. I remembered how, when Sieux had been lost, it was the Sire de Boissert who had repudiated his daughter's betrothal to Raoul. I could tell there was still no love lost between Raoul and him.
    'Send Alyse de Vergay off in a rage,' Raoul was continuing, 'and her father will support her in all her wrongs. In private he cowers before her, but in public he boasts she is worth twice his sons, and should have been a man herself. The more he bleats for peace, the more he longs for war, although he cannot fight himself. Off he'll trot to complain to his overlord, with enough gossip to whip de Boissert in a fret.'
    ‘They'll get no gossip from me,' I began, when he interrupted me.
    'Aye so. Comes a thought in your head and all the world knows.' Which