Ophelia Read Online Free PDF Page A

king, and a good judge of men. He chose my most deserving husband, Lord Valdemar, from the ranks of all his nobles to be one of his privy counselors," she said proudly.
    "And how did Lord Valdemar choose you?" I asked. Elnora smiled at the long-ago memory.
    "His father and my father were in battle together against Norway many years ago, and they pledged us to each other when my lord was still a stripling and I was at my mother's breast," she said.
    I longed to ask if she had been a mother, but I dared not. She, however, seemed to read my thoughts.
    "We were not blessed with babes, alas, and that is to my regret," she said with a sigh. "But God's will be done, whether I will or no," she added briskly. "Instead I was blessed in tending to the queen through her confinements. More than one ended in grief, with babes born too soon. It is a perilous nine-month journey, you know, for both the mother and her child."
    "I do know," I whispered.
    "Then came Prince Hamlet, wailing and thrashing from the moment he first drew breath. Though he was as strong as a young oak tree, his mother feared an accident or sudden illness would befall him. She scarcely let him out of her sight. But while the queen rested, I would take the prince and let him tumble about in the meadow to roughen him up. Sometimes I pretended he was my own son, so easily did he make others love him. Now the boy gives no thought to old Elnora." She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes. Then she looked at me as if surprised by my presence. "I should not be telling you these things!" she said, scolding herself. "Sit straight, not like a slug. No, get up. Go, and dress your hair more neatly."
    "I promise I can be discreet," I said. I took her hand, with its puffed flesh and gnarled bones, between my own small hands, which were not, as Cristiana claimed, fat and clumsy. Then I got up and did as she bid me.
    I learned how to please Elnora so that she would treat me kindly. I did not tire her by chattering, as young ladies often do, but listened while she rambled around in her large memory. She told me about the dark times when Denmak waned with Norway and a long drought brought starvation to the village and hunger to the castle. She told me how a strange plague once broke out, afflicting hundreds, Gertrude among them, and how she nursed the queen from the very brink of death to complete health again.
    I was surprised to discover Elnora's deep knowledge of medicines and herbs. Courtiers and ladies came to her for love potions made of heartsease, another name for my beloved pansy flower. Those with rheumy lungs favored her simple but pungent mustard plaster. Because Elnora's eyes were weak and her knees crippled, I helped her by digging roots and measuring tiny pinches of dried plants. I shadowed her like a familiar, doing her bidding and anticipating her wants.
    With Elnora I made my first visit to Mechtild, the wise woman whose skill in medicine was legendary at Elsinore. She was a mysterious and reclusive figure whom few had ever seen. She dwelt beyond the far side of the village, where I had never ventured. From time to time Elnora would visit her to purchase herbs that did not grow at Elsinore and medicines that only Mechtild knew how to make. I begged Elnora for permission to go along. Not only did I wish to meet this strange woman, but it had been months since I had left Elsinore and I longed to be in the woods again. One day she relented, and we set forth from the castle in a litter enclosed by curtains and borne by servants. Through the village we traveled, stopping at the edge of the woods. We would walk the final way to Mechtild's cottage, for Elnora was secretive about her task. She leaned on my arm for support. I guided her around the rocks on the path and moved aside the brambles and branches that would snag her skirts.
    "Did I tell you about the time that Mechtild was charged with witchcraft?" Elnora asked, pausing to rest against a large rock. "Her accuser recanted after