Wages of Sin Read Online Free PDF Page A

is,’ he spat, indicating Jane with a disgusted wave of a hand towards the bed, where she lay shrinking. Her mother fluttered uselessly in the background, her face twisted as she plucked nervously at her dress and tried to suppress her tears. He stood with his hands on his hips. ‘Well, woman,’ he ordered, ‘be about your work.’
    Jane cringed. He surely wasn’t going to watch? She closed her eyes, her humiliation complete.
    The midwife was made of sterner stuff, however. She stared back at him coolly until he flushed and his eyes fell. With a grunt he strode out, banging the door behind him. Only then did she turn towards Jane.
    â€˜If my lady would raise her shift,’ she said, laying the leather bag on the chest beneath the window, ‘we can begin the examination.’
    Scarlet, Jane did as she was bid, pulling the thin material above her hips. The woman carefully removed her rings, took a pot of sweet butter from her bag and began to oil her hands. When she was finished she approached the bed. Jane clenched her thighs in anticipation of the hated violation.
    â€˜You must part your legs, my lady,’ said the woman briskly. ‘If you resist me it will only make it more painful.’
    Gritting her teeth, Jane reluctantly let her knees fall apart. She stared at the ceiling, trying to wish herself away, wincing as deft hands parted the lips of her vulva and invaded her body. The midwife’s face remained blank as she examined Jane, her questing fingers finding no resistance to their entry, but a small sigh escaped her lips as she withdrew again, shaking her head a little at the pity of it. The fate of a well-born girl who lost her virginity before marriage was not a pleasant one.
    Jane’s mother swayed, her face turning white. Panic lent wings to her feet and she was across the chamber in a heartbeat. ‘Please,’ she begged, tugging at the rings on her hands and thrusting them towards the woman. ‘Please. Who would know? I will give you anything. Anything.’
    The woman shook her head as she continued stolidly washing the sweet butter from her hands. ‘I am sorry, my lady,’ she said in a low voice. ‘If it were found out I should be ruined - or worse. His lordship is not a forgiving man.’ She glanced towards the bed, her expression a mixture of fear for her own plight and sympathy for Jane’s. ‘If I did as you ask, and he found out, who’s to say I wouldn’t meet with an unfortunate “accident” one of these dark nights? Or be raped and robbed and left to die in a ditch?’ She laughed harshly. ‘There are evil men abroad.’
    Lady Agnes let her hands fall to her sides. It was the truth - and one of those men was her husband. Who knew better than she what Sir Thomas was capable of? The man was a devil. She jumped as the door quivered under a barrage of heavy blows.
    â€˜Aren’t you finished yet?’ Sir Thomas demanded.
    â€˜Yes, my lord,’ said the woman. The door burst open and he strode in.
    â€˜Well? Is she still virgin?’ he demanded. She shook her head reluctantly and his lips curled in a snarl. He fumbled at his belt, pulling out a bag of coins which he flung at her viciously. It hit her shoulder and fell to the floor, clinking. ‘Get out,’ he spat, ‘and take your foul baggage with you before I have you burned as a witch.’
    One glance at the rage suffusing his face and even the midwife’s formidable composure broke. Stooping for her wages, she seized her bag and scuttled for the door.
    He stalked over to the bed and Jane cowered back against the pillows. ‘As for you, you little whore,’ he said icily, spitting out each word as if it was poisonous, ‘mark my words, you’ll pay for bringing shame on me. My God, but you’ll pay!’
    He seized her mother’s arm and dragged her towards the door. It banged shut, the key turned with an