A Company of Rogues by Trudy J. Morgan-Cole

Author:Trudy J. Morgan-Cole [Morgan-Cole, Trudy J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Breakwater Books Ltd
Published: 2023-10-20T20:00:00+00:00

Eighteen A Storm Arises

Harbour Grace, January 1619

Then from the angry North

Cloud-gath’ring Jove a dreadful storm call’d forth…

—Homer’s Odysseys, Book 9, 117–18

“And this word is…monstrous, is that right? Monstrous kindness,” Kathryn read, her finger tracing the lines in the book. “Yes?”

“Indeed, monstrous kindness,” said Governor Hayman, who sat beside her looking at the Homer book. “’Tis a figure of speech that poets use, to say things that sound opposite to one another.”

“Same as to say, that’s some wonderful bad storm out there,” offered Ned as he carried an armload of wood to the hearth.

“Stayed at gate,” Kathryn read on. “And heard within the Goddess elevate, A voice divine, as at her web she wrought, Subtle, and glorious, and past earthly thought.” She paused and sighed with pleasure. “What lovely words. Subtle, and glorious, and past earthly thought.”

It was their second day snowbound at Harbour Grace. The usually slow pace of winter had dropped to a languorous crawl; time seemed to barely move. The house was as full as Kathryn knew her own place at home must be: the Crowders and the serving-men had stayed in the governor’s house, so that everyone could share one hearth while the storm lasted. Apart from preparing food, most tasks were suspended and life had contracted to this single room. Even Elsie and her new baby had been moved from the more comfortable bed in the upper chamber to a mattress set up near the fire. Everyone else slept on benches or on the floor near the hearth, drawing what warmth they could.

With little work left to do in caring for the new mother and baby, Kathryn felt at a loose end. Nancy had joined Sallie Crowder in the practical tasks of feeding and cleaning. The men, deprived of outdoor work, were keeping the older children entertained. When Governor Hayman asked how Kathryn was getting on with her reading, she had leapt at the chance to read some more of Homer with him.

Back at home, she had been making her way through the book of travellers’ tales the governor had loaned her, sharing it with Nicholas who had read some bits aloud to the household. It was informative, but the ancient Greek poem translated into English that the governor had loaned her first was still the most beautiful thing she had ever read. Now that she was perforce in the company of both Hayman and Homer, with little else to do until the storm stilled, she prided herself on how the words came more easily to her tongue than they had done just a few months earlier.

“I know this tale,” she said, a few lines later. “I heard it when I was a little girl—about the witch Circe, and all the men she turned into pigs.”

“Not such a great leap, as some men go,” said Nancy from the hearth, where she was putting a fish pie in to bake.

“God save us!” Ned cried. “Where is that biddable and dutiful wife I was promised? Governor, can you

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.