The Chase Read Online Free PDF

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     when she lost that temper. It was always best to soothe her if one could.
    “Forbear, Mother, we must forbear,” she said at last, adding hopefully, “God has seen fit
     to trial us thusly and he would not trial us with more than we could bear.”
    “Poppycock!” Elizabeth waved her efforts away with irritation. The abbess was an
     Englishwoman through and through. She had become a nun to avoid marriage to a particularly
     odious English nobleman over twenty years earlier. Unfortunately, the nunnery was a
     popular escape for women unhappy with their marital options, and there had been few
     positions in England at the time that she had not felt beneath her. Hence she had ended up
     an English abbess in a nunnery in the center of savage Scotland. 'Twas better than a
     position as a mere sister in an English abbey, or so she had thought back then. She no
     longer thought so. The speech of these heathens grated on her nerves like sand in her
     slippers. Lady Elizabeth was heartily sick of their barbarous ways and language. After
     twenty years of living here, she was fresh out of the patience needed to deal with the
     Scottish female who now sought sanctuary, and she would in no way believe it was the will
     of God that she should.
    “ 'Twas by no will of God Seonaid Dunbar was sent here.” She slammed one hand flat on her
     desktop. “ 'Twas the devil!”
    Sister Blanche's eyes widened, her worry deepening. “Oh, surely not!”
    “Aye.” The abbess nodded firmly. “She is the spawn of the devil, I tell you. Sent to
     trifle with our goodness and lead us unto temptation.”
    “Temptation?” Sister Blanche didn't bother to hide her doubt. “Aye. To break one of the
     commandments.” “Which of the ten commandments, my lady?” “Thou shalt not kill.”
    Blanche's jaw dropped, her eyes near popping out of her head. “Oh, sweet Jesu! You should
     not speak so!”
    “ 'Tis true.” The abbess smiled grimly at the fear and anxiety in the other woman's face.
     “I would delight in spilling her blood.”
    “My lady!”
    “Aye, well...” Lady Elizabeth sighed. “Let us just hope her Englishman follows quickly and
     saves me from my sinful thoughts.” Reaching into her desk, she searched out a skin of
     whiskey as she added in a mutter, “ 'Ere I actually do the deed.”
    Sister Blanche frowned at the sight of the abbess partaking of spirits. “She will not go
     to her betrothed willingly. 'Tis why she is here.”
    “Nay, but he can fetch her out.”
    “Fetch her? But how? 'Tis a house of God. Men are not allowed here.”
    The abbess took a large swig of whiskey, then recapped the skin before commenting dryly,
     “Men often do things they are notallowed to do.”
    “Aye, but the gate is metal and always barred. And the wallHe will not be able to breach”
     “You will unbar it.” “W-what?” Blanche stammered. “When they are spotted coming, you will
     unbar the door.”
    “I? But” Blanche peered at her, at a loss. She simply could not believe what she was
     hearing. “But you promised Lady Seonaid sanctuary. She paid a”
    “She did not pay nearly enough. The coins she gave may have covered what she broke on her
     first day here, but no more.”
    “Surely you exaggerate, my lady,” Blanche argued quickly. “ 'Tis true she overset one or
     two things at first, but that was because her sword knocked them as she passed. Now you
     have taken it away, she has broken hardly a thing.”
    “I would not call Sister Meredith's foot, 'hardly a thing.'”
    Blanche grimaced at the reminder of poor Sister Meredith's foot. “Oh, aye, but Lady
     Seonaid never meant to harm Sister Meredith. It was an accident.”
    “Everythingis an accident with Lady Seonaid.” Lady Elizabeth grimaced her disgust.
    Unfortunately, it was true. Lady Seonaid did seem particularly accident-prone, so Sister
     Blanche tried a different approach. “She has a good heart, Mother.