guests have already departed without eating. I am most displeased.”
Duff blanched.
“Fortunately, I do not believe they were very hungry. However, I am.”
“Of course, of course.” The cook was a big man, but he bustled into the hall with surprising speed. “What would you like? Boiled fish? Fried eels? Some oatmeal?”
“Bread and boiled ham,” Endredi answered.
“The baker—”
“Must also be found and set to work. I suggest you rekindle the hearth. Then I want the servants to help this girl clean the hall. It is a disgrace.”
“Yes, my lady. At once, my lady.”
The woman Endredi recognized from the shed came inside, adjusting her bodice, her eyes wide with surprise and dismay. “Merilda!” Duff barked, making her jump. “Get to work!”
“I have something here to use in the cooking,” Endredi said, taking the wooden box from Ylla and approaching the cook.
“Oh, my lady?” he replied respectfully, if insincerely.
“Yes.” She placed the box on the ground and opened it. Immediately a wonderful spicy aroma filled the air, and despite himself, Duff moved closer to look inside. The box was filled with a variety of small earthenware jars.
“It was a wedding gift from my grandmother’s husband,” Endredi explained. “He was a trader and these spices and herbs come from all over the known world.” She glanced at Adelar. Surely he would remember Thorston, who had treated the boy so kindly and who had been repaid with thievery.
Duff gazed in awe as she lifted out a jar and gently opened the lid. “This comes from far in the East.” She closed it and brought out another. “This is from Rome.”
Duff looked as if he was being offered costly jewels until she closed the lid of the box. The maidservants no longer even pretended to work, but listened unabashedly. “Do you not intend them to be used, my lady?” he asked.
“Of course they will be used,” she said. “By me, when I help you prepare the meals.”
He regarded her with surprise. “But you are my lord’s wife!”
“I like cooking.”
“For having such a beautiful, accomplished lady who does not seek merely to be waited on, Bayard and the rest of us will be forever thankful,” the gleeman said. Endredi turned to the young man with a small smile, which vanished when she caught Adelar’s eye.
“Naturally I would welcome your help, my lady,” Duff said, scowling at the gleeman, then smiling at Endredi.
Just as naturally she doubted his truthfulness, but she guessed, from the greedy expression in his eyes when he looked at the box, that he would have said anything to get his hands on some of those spices.
“Shall we start with some stew? I think a little of this will help,” she said. She pulled out a jar.
Ordella’s voice interrupted them. “Get to work, you lazy creatures!”
Everyone turned as Ordella stepped daintily toward them, her face wreathed in smiles distinctly at odds with the harsh order she had issued. “Servants can be so slothful,” she explained sympathetically. “You shall have to take care that they fear you enough to obey you.”
“It is a well-known fact that terror inspires loyalty,” Adelar said gravely.
“Thank you for the advice,” Endredi said to Ordella, fighting an urge to look at Adelar. “If I find I have any trouble with them, I shall certainly ask your opinion.”
“What are you doing here?” Ordella asked of Adelar. She also gave Godwin a less than pleased look as the servants hurried to their work.
“Bayard has asked me to escort his bride through the burh today, if she is agreeable,” Adelar replied quietly.
“That will not be necessary,” Ordella said sharply. “I shall show Endredi what she needs to be shown.”
“Of course, that is your privilege,” Adelar responded. “But then I would be disobeying Bayard’s order.”
Endredi glanced at the two uneasily. She had no desire to spend time in Adelar’s company. Indeed, it was a strain even now. Although she tried not to, she kept wondering what he was thinking about her and trying to read his inscrutable dark eyes. It was obvious he had no wish to be near her, either, if he was acting as her escort only on Bayard’s orders.
How much better it would be to spend her time cooking, especially since the food Duff prepared was somewhat plain, if good. Then perhaps she could forget Adelar, Bayard and everyone else in this burh. However, she did not think it wise to go against Bayard’s wishes. And although she did not want to be anywhere near Ordella, it was probably best that she come along.
“I see no reason I should not enjoy the company of you both,” Endredi said at last.
“Bayard told Godwin and me to escort her, Ordella. You must have other things to do,” Adelar said coldly.
“I assure you, Adelar,” Ordella said even more coldly, “some of us earn our keep around here. I do have many things to do. I simply wanted to make Bayard’s wife feel welcome.”
“You have,” Endredi said quickly. “I see that Adelar and Godwin have already broken the fast. Please, Ordella, eat with me. You can tell me of the village while we break bread and before you must go. I am most interested to hear what you can tell me.”
Ordella gave Adelar a triumphant look and moved toward the high table.
“I shall leave the spices here for the present,” Endredi said to Duff. “Use them sparingly. They are quite strong. Please bring us some bread and meat as soon as you can.”
“Bring some ale,” Ordella said to Gleda, who had only just arrived. The maidservant hurried off at once.
Endredi was now nearly alone with Adelar and Godwin. “Godwin, would you be so good as to fetch my warmer cloak from the bower? I feel a slight chill.”
“As you wish, my lady.” He paused a moment, then went on seriously. “Perhaps you should give me a word of passage, lest your servant think I come to ravish her?”
Endredi had to smile at the gleeman’s words. It seemed he understood Helmi rather well. “I think Helmi will not fear you, Godwin, if you smile at her as you do at me.”
The gleeman grinned and hurried out the door.
Endredi turned to Adelar, very aware that Ordella was watching them. “That wasn’t very clever, Adelar,” she said quietly but firmly. “There is no need to treat Ordella as an enemy.”
“And you have no need to make jests with Godwin.” He gazed at her with his penetrating brown eyes. “You know nothing of the people here, especially Ordella and Ranulf. Leave me to handle those two in my own way.”
“There
