Almost Innocent Read Online Free PDF Page A

turned back to the parapet. “What is it you wished to talk to me about, sir?”
    “How would you like to journey to London with me?” He saw little point in prevaricating.
    She spun round to stare at him in astonishment. “For what purpose, sir?”
    “Why, to be wed.”
    “To
you?”
    “Nay, not to me.” He laughed at the absurdity. “To my nephew who is in my wardship.”
    Magdalen continued to stare at him. It was not as if the idea of marriage was a novel one. She knew that by twelve years of age she would be considered marriageable, just as she knew that her father would choose her bridegroom for what benefits of alliance, power, land, or money would accrue therefrom. Marriage was the woof and warp of diplomacy, an incident in the system of barter and allegiance among families and nations, and it did not occur to her to question the decision that had been made for her. The Lords Marcher were powerful barons, vassals of the king and of no other, so she could expect the match made for her to be an important one. But there was something abrupt and overhasty about its presentation. Why must it bring seven knights to her father’s castle? Why was he not telling her of his decision, but leaving the matter to this lord? Oh, she liked the lord and felt a trust for him, but something did not sit aright, and Magdalen was quick to nose out matters that did not sit aright.
    “Well, what say you?” De Gervais leaned against the parapet, watching her carefully.
    “Why is your nephew not with you? Is it that he is ill favored, crookbacked, walleyed?”
    De Gervais laughed. “Nay, not so. You will find him well favored enough. But this is a long journey andtakes a good week on each side. He has duties and training to attend to. I am here in his stead and will stand proxy for the betrothal, which will take place before you leave this house. Now, what say you?”
    “How is he called?”
    De Gervais stroked his chin. He was clearly going to receive no answer until she had asked her own questions and been satisfied, for all that her answer could only be of one kind.
    “Edmund de Bresse. His sire, my half brother, was the Sieur Jean de Bresse, a liege lord of Picardy; his mother the daughter of the Duke de Guise.”
    “But how is he in your wardship?”
    “He and his mother were taken hostage some four years past, after the death in battle of my brother. The lady died soon after, and the child was placed in my care.”
    Magdalen chewed her bottom lip. There were interesting puzzles there. Why was this lord a vassal of the English king, when his half brother’s family was clearly for France? And why was her father desirous of forming an alliance with one of the great seigneural families of France? He took no active part in this war that had been dragging on between the two lands these last thirty years, being far too busy defending the Welsh border for his king. But she knew nothing of politics. The reasons for the choice could not concern her, and she returned to questions that were of much more moment.
    “How many summers has he?”
    “Fourteen.”
    “Of what character is he?”
    “One you may find sympathetic. He is not fond of his lessons and has been often whipped for their neglect.” He smiled at her. “He is more at ease with his companions in sport, tilting, archery, hawking, hunting. But he is not averse to dancing, or to music.”
    “He is a squire?”
    “Aye, in my household, and will receive his spurs in a twelvemonth.”
    “But if the war continues, will he then fight for England or for France?” She was frowning in puzzlement, the problem of such divided loyalties striking her as insurmountable.
    “Such weighty issues are not for the minds of maids,” Guy de Gervais said, deciding it was time to put an end to the catechism which began to grow uncomfortably pointful. “Come now, how do you answer
my
question? If you can still remember it after such an inquisition as you have subjected me to.”
    She