The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien

Author:Anne O’Brien [O’Brien, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2021-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Elizabeth Paston Poynings

Southwark: late November 1459

Was I happy? Margaret wrote to ask me, the only one of my family to do so.

I was surprised that she could find the time to write at all since she had acquired a castle of her own. Yet in spite of all the issues over that inheritance which trickled my way in local gossip, Margaret asked and I was much gratified.

I considered the reply I might make as wife of Sir Robert Poynings, a man with a reputation for honesty and fairness in the counties of Kent and Sussex where he held his manors. How could I not be content? I had no need for a castle as grand as Caister. My marriage had given me my own household: a dozen manor houses and a smart town house in Southwark where we spent most of our days. I now had a baronial family forsooth, with servants to undertake my every need. As I learned to enjoy the leisure appropriate to Dame Poynings, the shade of Mistress Agnes Paston faded from my existence. I would never again have to answer to her for my failures. A quietness engulfed me. Eventually I stopped thinking that I might be punished for some unacceptable sin of which I had not been aware.

Not that I was not quick to exert my authority. I knew full well how a household should be efficient and peaceful, obedient to the wishes of the lady of the house. What I had not learned from my mother, I had seen in the hands of a skilful Margaret. I would never have her confidence, but I knew the pattern to follow. Engage the loyalty of Perching, my Steward, win over the goodwill of the cook, allow no partiality in all dealings with the servants, keep an accurate accounting of outgoings and, most important of all, keep one’s husband content.

When I quickened with a child, Robert’s joy lit a flame to a candle in my own heart. This was not the love of the troubadours; my heart did not shiver on every occasion that I set my eye on him. Nor, I think, did his when I walked into a room. But he smiled at me and we lived well together. We were, I supposed, compatible, at ease in each other’s company. We did not argue. Sometimes he held my hand, or drew it through his arm to walk in the garden that he had given to me for the planting of herbs and sweet-scented flowers. I had not been raised to complain and demand. I suppose that I was the perfect wife. And this child would be the most loved.

I learned to smile, too.

Yes, I am happy, I replied to Margaret. Yes, I am content. How could I not believe in my good fortune? I hoped that she would not become too grand to reply.

Yet I was aware of ripples below the surface of my new life, even an impending gloom. Robert might not

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.