Beloved Pilgrim Read Online Free PDF Page B

Calm her down."
    Torn between his affection for her and
intense curiosity he rose and followed her out of the hall into the
courtyard.
    Albrecht remained, fading into the flickering
shadows to listen without being noticed.

    In the courtyard Elias had found it
impossible to calm his sister. She would neither speak to him nor
look at him. He was relieved when Albrecht finally joined them
where they sat on the mounting block.
    "I think you will be pleased at what has been
agreed upon, my lady," Albrecht said reassuringly.
    Elisabeth lifted her tearstained face.
"What?"
    Albrecht glanced at Elias and grinned. "Your
mother and father will not permit the marriage to be consummated
until the baron returns from Palestine."
    "They . . . they will not? And the baron
agreed?" Elisabeth's relief was easy to hear in her voice.
    "Well, he wasn't happy, but it was your dower
and inheritance about which he worried. He was afraid they would
renege on the agreement. He made them promise to stipulate that the
lack of consummation did not allow for annulment."
    "Why did they do it? My parents, I mean?" she
asked.
    "They said you were not ready to be a
complete woman, and your mother said she did not want you burdened
with his child not knowing if and when he would return."
    Elias inquired, "And he went along with
it?"
    "So long as it does not jeopardize the
transfer of your dower and property to him."
    "That figures," Elias said sardonically.
Turning back to his sister, he remarked irreverently, "Just think,
you may be a widow before you are even deflowered."
    Elisabeth chastised, "Elias!" and the three
made the sign of the cross. But then she smiled.
    As Elisabeth, relieved, left the boys to go
to her rest, Albrecht held Elias back, saying, "There's something I
have to tell you."
    Elisabeth slowed her steps long enough to
hear something about Reinhardt knowing the boy's secret. She heard
Elias exclaim, "How can he? Don't be ridiculous. It is your
imagining."

    Over the few days before the wedding,
Elisabeth had ample time to observe the man she was about to marry.
He spent what time he did not spend talking with his knights and
the commander of his foot soldiers looking about the manor and its
surrounding lands. He asked her father's steward for a tour of the
holdings. The only time she saw him smile was while in conversation
with that same steward. The few times she caught him looking at
her, she saw a mix of speculation and distaste on his thin lips. He
sat stroking his pointed beard, just showing the tinge of gray in
the black hairs under his lower lip, surveying her body, front and
back.
    "I am surprised he has not checked my teeth
nor taken my ankle to examine my hoof," she confided to Elias.
    Her brother laughed. "Darling Elli, he has
done that, but to your lands, not your adorable person."
    She looked at him, questioning. "But he
cannot expect to get Papa's holdings! Those will go to you! You and
your wife and children." Her voice trailed off. She had seen his
slight reddening and his quick glance in Albrecht's direction.
    He put on his usual cheery expression. "Ah,
but I heard Father assuring him that you shall have the income from
one-third of the revenue from the estate."
    Elisabeth's mouth hung open. "Really?" He
nodded. It was an unheard-of arrangement, making such a generous
provision for a daughter.
    Father Boniface, the household priest,
conducted the mass and the bridal ceremony in the family's small
church. Elisabeth told her brother and Albrecht she felt like one
of those overdressed dolls her mother had brought from her own
childhood home in Lombardy.
    Elias took her in his arms and planted a kiss
on her brow. "You are beautiful, sister. Simply beautiful. I even
saw your betrothed giving you an appreciative look."
    She pushed him away roughly. "I am not
beautiful. Do not even say that. I am plain. I look more like a boy
than you do." She saw his raised eyebrow and hurt look. "I don't
mean you are girlish, Elias. Just that I