eBooks Base 2000

Willebald would have fought them; I, more
wise, bought them at a price. For two score years they have wrought
faithfully for me. You say well, a mother in Israel!"
"I could wish that a Christian lady had no dealings with the accursed
race," said the Cluniac.
"You could wish folly," was the tart answer. "I am not as your burgher
folk, and on my own affairs I take no man's guiding, be he monk or
merchant. Willebald is long dead; may he sleep in peace, He was no mate for
me, but for what he gave me I repaid him in the coin he loved best. He was
a proud man when he walked through the Friday Market with every cap doffed.
He was ever the burgher, like the child I bore him."
"I had thought the marriage more fruitful. They spoke of two children, a
daughter and a son."
The woman turned round in her bed so that she faced him. The monkey
whimpered and she cuffed its ears. Her face was sharp and exultant, and for
a sick person her eyes were oddly bright.
"The girl was Willebald's. A poor slip of vulgar stock with the spirit of a
house cat.


Pages:
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105