01 Tidelands by Philippa Gregory

Author:Philippa Gregory [Gregory, Philippa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The two women waved good-bye to the Stoney family, and walked together in silence up the road to Chichester. Alinor felt a gripping pain in her belly, which she thought was fear, and had the taste of sickness in her mouth, which she knew was dread.

The farm was half a mile behind them and out of sight before Alys spoke. “Say something. Please say something.”

“Are you mad, Alys?”

“I know! I know! I must be!”

They walked a few more steps in silence, then Alinor felt Alys’s cold hand creep into her own.

“Help me, Ma.”

“How can I? This is a hanging offense. This is theft.”

“I know. I know.”

“It’s Jane Miller’s dowry, isn’t it? In her mother’s red leather purse?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“What’re you going to do?”

“Put the purse back. I just had to show it. I’m not going to steal it. I’ll earn what I need for my wedding day. I’d never steal for it.”

“It’s only six months away! We’ll never earn enough. We wouldn’t earn enough in six years. And if Mrs. Miller goes to her hiding place and finds Jane’s dowry missing, she’ll turn the mill upside down and accuse everyone. You and me first. Alys, how could you!”

“I’ll get it back in hiding before she misses it. But I have to marry him.”

“Because you’re lovers already?”

The girl gave a little gasp, which was a confession in itself. “Because I love him so much. I’d rather be hanged as a thief at Easter than lose him now.”

“I would not!” Alinor cried out. “I’ve spent my life trying to keep you safe and now you’ve lain with a man before marriage, and stolen—” She cut off her cry and dropped into a whisper though they were alone under the wide sky, and the empty track stretched north ahead of them.

“I haven’t stolen. I’ve borrowed. He loves me. And she won’t catch me. It is worth the risk.”

“You think that now . . . you’ll think differently later.”

“I do think this now. So I acted now.”

“You’ll change. You’ll look back and this’ll seem like madness to you. And you’ll think I was mad not to stop you. I was wrong not to stop you. I should’ve taken the purse off you, the moment you brought it out.” Alinor choked on the rising bile in her mouth. “I thought it was my purse! My red leather purse filled with nothing but my little coins! I thought I was going mad.”

“Then I would have lost him. You heard them.”

“Even so. Better to lose him than—”

“I knew you wouldn’t go against me, Ma. I knew you’d never let me down.”

“I shouldn’t have gone along with you. This is a hanging matter, Alys. If you’re caught with that purse on you, they’ll hang you for a thief.”

“They won’t catch me. I’ll put it back. But I swear to you, that if I can’t marry him, I will die. If you forbid me, I’ll run away. If he were to leave me, I’d drown myself in the millpond.”

Alinor

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