Justice for the Damned Read Online Free PDF Page A

of rough brown russet suggested
that her widowhood was recent and a disobedient daughter was not the sole
reason for her pallor.
    The
young man stepped closer to the wall, glanced upward, and squeezed his eyes
shut as if in rapt concentration. Although the glover could have been praying
for protection against possible flying objects, he might have been thanking God
as well, for the two women seemed to have quickly forgotten his presence.
    "A
duty in which you must be quite conversant, Mother," replied Alys. Her
voice projected a determined gentleness, but the clenched fist she pressed to
her breast hinted that her meaning was less than docile. "Sadly my
grandparents died before my birth, but I must assume, from your certainty in
this, that you did marry as your parents demanded." She breathed in deeply
as if taking in courage, then asked: "Can you claim to have been happy in
your obedience?"
    Bernard
nervously cleared his throat. If he meant to remind them that another was in
the room, someone who should not hear this quarrel, his effort was wasted.
    "You
choose to remember your father only when he was..." Jhone closed her eyes
and sucked in her lips if willing some unwelcome thought away. "Your
father may have been ill-tempered from time to time." Her voice quivered.
"The strain of running a successful business is hard on a man." This,
she spoke with firmness.
    Alys
gave her a look that was both disbelieving and disdainful.
    "Yet
he was a worthy man, provided well for us, and loved you as much as I, even
though you have now willfully decided to forget that." The mother's mouth
trembled with suppressed emotion, and she absently brushed one thin hand over
her abdomen. "Cruel daughter that you are, I am still grateful that God
allowed at least one of the children your father gave me to live."
    With
sympathetic courtesy Bernard nodded, a gesture that the elder woman noted and
acknowledged with a distracted smile.
    Alys
was also now gazing on the glover, but her look was not disinterested. Instead,
it had a particular warmth to it, the meaning of which did not much please
Jhone.
    The
widow loudly cleared her throat.
    "Well
and good, Mother, if that is what you believe," the daughter said, tearing
her eyes away from the young glover with evident regret. "A child does owe
obedience to her parent, but surely our obligation to God ranks higher? If you
will not allow me to marry as my heart wishes, please permit me to join this
Order of Fontevraud. Although I am sure Master Herbert is a most honorable man,
I regretfully find marriage with him somewhat less than agreeable. I would
rather leave the world and spend my life praying for your soul—and that of my
father." The girl folded her arms. A soldier could not have had a
straighter back.
    "Surely
there is a third way..." The young man reached out as if pleading for at
least one of the women to listen.
    Alys
waved at him to remain silent. "I would not be the first in the family to
ask this, Mother. You have told me that your parents were willing to let your
elder sister take holy vows instead of entering a marriage she did not
want." Certain that she had presented an unassailable argument, she smiled
with satisfaction.
    Jhone's
eyes widened with horror. "Need I remind you, however, that my sister
never took those vows but instead wed Wulfstan, a man of whom they most
heartily disapproved? Had they been stricter, she would have vowed herself to a
successful merchant and led a comfortable life instead of what she has
suffered!" Her eyes glazed briefly, and she spoke the next words with a
sweet but pleading tone. "Is it so wrong to want you settled into a
prosperous marriage? May I not look forward to grandchildren? These wishes are
not sins."
    "I
would agree, but only if I become Bernard's wife." Alys' face flushed as
she looked back at her beloved whose face quickly matched her rosy color.
"Why do you object to our marriage? We adore each other so."
    Jhone's
pale face turned a rough