The Silver Cup Read Online Free PDF

wed nasty Margarete to the widowed carpenter.”
    â€œThe one who’s already buried two wives?”
    â€œExactly! He has collected two dowries. Then Mother will turn to you. She’ll have no one left to worry over. Except of course for Thomas, who shall never marry. You come before him, surely. Just ahead of our dog.”
    â€œYou’re so filled with kindness and comfort, dear cousin.”
    â€œAnd little else. I wish you could cook.”
    â€œI’m learning. But with all the cleaning—”
    â€œCleaning? I bet you lie about this house most days. It’s a sorry place, as dirty as that smear of freckles on your face. The only thing I’m ever filled with is lice, dear cousin, thanks to you. You are all whining and no work. You’re nothing but a drappling slug!” said Martin, fiercely scratching his head and his armpit in mock discomfort.
    Anna puffed out her cheeks and batted a blistering chestnut into Martin’s lap. He yelped.
    â€œ You’re as worthless as Thomas,” said Martin storming out of the house.
    I hope I am luckier than Thomas. Poor Thomas , thought Anna sadly, remembering the ruined honey.
    At first, Thomas had seemed like early spring sunshine. He had been a lovely baby, with gold, feathery hair like a new chick and the round face of an angel. For a time, Aunt Agnes’s luck had seemed as perfect as her life, but the weeks and months yielded a different truth. Thomas was sickly, always coughing and sneezing. He grew slowly and did not thrive as her other babies had.
    â€œHe’ll be fine. Just give him time,” Karl would say.
    But time only made it clearer: Thomas was different, late in everything except his smile and his laughter. By his third summer, he was still crawling, and his mother was troubled by him, annoyed both by the things he did and by those he could not do. When he finally learned to walk, Agnes did not celebrate. She complained of his clumsiness. She had the other six children plus Anna to care for, and there was Thomas who still needed to be watched like a much younger child.
    Agnes had no patience for Thomas’s games. Joyfully chasing her chickens, Thomas was delighted by the screeching hens and never understood the mess he created, nor the eggs that were lost. He would tumble over the sow, covering himself in wallow, squealing like an indignant piglet when Agnes grabbed him. He would tease Karl’s favorite dog, Gray, who was named for his coat. Gray tolerated Thomas and would let him roll over his back and even snatch food from his mouth. To most, Gray seemed more wolf than dog, but not to Thomas. Sometimes Thomas would sleep the night curled into Gray’s fur.
    Thomas never learned to speak a word; he just purred when he was happy and cried out when he wanted something or when he was hurt. Anna could see that Uncle Karl loved Thomas. With more than enough sons to help him in the forge, he never worried about what would become of this boy. Thomas loved to sit with his father, humming and rocking, his little head nuzzled into his father’s shoulder, peeking out at his brothers and sisters with his wide smile. But his mother had gone from impatient to angry, for Thomas was in his seventh fall, and Agnes needed to protect him and protect against him.
    Poor Thomas, thought Anna. He’s never had anything but bad luck.

6
    BLOODY NOVEMBER
    November 5, 1095
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Iron bells sounded for mass on the morning of the fifth day of November, and more than the usual number of worshipers gathered in the gray stone church to celebrate the feast day of Saint Elisabeth, the much beloved mother of John the Baptist. Because the feast day of a namesake saint was celebrated instead of a birthday, this was Elisabeth’s day, and after church, Anna expected a wonderful meal at her aunt’s table. She gazed at Agnes, who entered the church clucking and prodding her children, fiercely proud of her large, handsome family,