Chains of Folly Read Online Free PDF Page B

speak to the person, and try to speak to others in the parish. If the complaint is justified, then speak to the priest and…ah…see that the problem is amended. With this other trouble we have, I do not want to use Church discipline if I can avoid it.”
    “Yes, my lord.” Bell glanced out the window, saw that the sun was still well up. “If you have nothing else for me to do, I will start on this at once.”
    * * * *
    Magdalene watched Bell go out the door and then returned her attention to the smoked salmon on her trencher. There was a warmth in her, a sense of familiar comfort that slowly cooled into misery. He had been much as always, but she knew the breach between them was not mended.
    More the fool he. He was happy here. His patience with Ella was remarkable. He was as quick to understand Letice’s signing as any of them, and he knew Diot for what she was. Why, why could he not just accept the Old Priory Guesthouse as his home, the women as his family, take his joy with her when he desired, sleep in her bed like a long time husband when he was weary? He did not despise the other women for being whores. He understood their necessity and, despite Church training, did not judge. Why did the fact that she loved William too drive him mad?
    What a fool she had been to tell him that! It was one of those things he had no need to know. She should have found another excuse for staying in Oxford…that she dared not refuse any request William made. Bell would have believed that. He had learned to accept the fact that she lay with William when he asked…her lips curved wryly. Well, if no one mentioned it. Bell would not think about it, but acceptance was too positive a word for his reaction.
    Suddenly Magdalene stopped chewing and swallowed the mouthful of fish. She took another with more appetite. It had occurred to her that just thinking about Bell made her feel better. Why should she be miserable? It was ridiculous. Because she feared to be hurt again, she would suffer for who knew how long now?
    Utter foolishness, specially when Bell missed being with her—with them all—as much as she missed having him. She had seen tears in his eyes twice. She had seen how he looked at her women, as if they were dear ones he had believed dead and had found restored to him.
    Moreover, Ella was not all wrong about Bell and his long sword making the house safer. Magdalene pursed her lips. Now there was a ploy she had never thought of using. What if she paid him for his protection of their premises with her body, as most whores paid for services provided for them? If she suggested it. Bell would have a fit! But really, it was not such a bad idea to remind him that she was a whore, not a wife who happened to be running a peculiar business. A stifled giggle escaped her.
    Diot’s head lifted. “Has that dark cloud begun to lift?”
    “Perhaps,” Magdalene said. “Perhaps it has. It is something I need to think about. We will see.”
    “He is a very peculiar man—half very fine, half a natural killer. Do you know how he got that way?”
    Magdalene smiled. “Yes, I do. Pillow talk, but not secret. He would tell you if you asked. He came from a large and happy family. His father was a knight of very comfortable circumstances but little ambition and he had two older brothers and three older sisters.”
    “Ah. And he was the pet of the sisters, no?” Diot asked with a smile.
    “He did not put it that way, but yes, I think so. He is very comfortable with women and does not immediately see them as bedmates.”
    Diot nodded. “But how did he come by reading and writing and not only French but Latin?”
    “What was his father to do with a third son? The estate would bear a small living for a second, but to divide it farther would make all three too poor, so Bell was educated for the Church.”
    Letice laughed soundlessly and shook her head.
    Magdalene laughed too. “You are right. Bell was not cut out for the Church. He told me that at