“She was half drowned. I am nursing her. She is to have a child.”
“Why did you bring her into the castle?”
“She would have quickly died had I left her there.”
He gripped my wrist. “What concern is that of yours?”
“If I see someone dying I would do everything I could to help that man or woman.”
“So you bring her into my castle.”
“It is my home.”
“Forget not that you live here through my clemency.”
“And forget not,” I said, “that the dowry my father gave me has been very useful in maintaining the castle.”
He narrowed his eyes. I knew that he was passionately interested in worldly goods. It must be for this reason that he had become a scavenger; he had married me not only because he had desired me but because I brought a good dowry with me—as good as any girl of the neighbourhood would bring him—doubtless as good as that which came with Melanie Landor. My mother had prevailed on my father to endow me well. It was important, I being in the condition I was, that I should marry the man who had put me in it.
I found it so horribly sordid. He did not. His eyes gleamed now at the prospect of what riches the sea would bring him.
“You are becoming a shrew,” he said.
“And I am beginning to learn something of you.”
“Learn this then,” he said. “It is I who will decide who shall be a guest in my home.”
“What do you propose to do, turn this woman out? She is sick, or will be if she is not cared for. What would become of her?”
“Is that my affair?”
“Perhaps it should be, as you will help yourself to the goods which were being carried by the ship in which she travelled.”
“What should I do? Let the sea swallow them?”
“Perhaps they should be salvaged and returned to their owners.”
That brought out a peal of harsh laughter. “I can see my clever wife should indeed be managing my affairs.” The laughter died out suddenly; his mouth was grim. “On the contrary, I can see I shall have to teach her to manage her own. And that is that she interferes not with what she sees and that if she attempts to she will soon be wishing that she had never done so.”
“What will you do then? Strip me naked to the waist and tie me to the whipping-post as though I were a servant who has misbehaved? Will you wield the whip or is that too menial a task for your noble hands?”
He took a step towards me and lifted his hand. He had done it before, and as before the blow did not come.
“Take care,” he said. “You would find that if I were truly angry with you my wrath would be terrible.”
“I know it,” I said looking him in the eyes.
“Yet you provoke it.”
“I will not be your puppet. I would rather be dead.”
He laughed. There was just a hint of tenderness in his face. He seized me and held me tightly against him. “You are my wife,” he said. “You gave me the best son in the world. I am not displeased with you. But know this. I will not be crossed. My will is law. You have my favour. No woman ever pleased me for so long as you do. Let us keep it so.”
“And what of this woman from the sea? Will you turn her away?”
He was thoughtful for a moment. I could see he was thinking deeply. He was angry because there had been a survivor from the ship and because I had brought her into the castle and may well have preserved her life. He would have preferred her to die, so that there were no witnesses. He could send her away, but what if she lived to tell the tale?
“Not yet,” he said. “Let her stay awhile.”
“She is with child.”
He was silent for a few seconds, then he said: “When is the child due?”
“It is difficult to say. I should think the birth may be some two months away.”
He remained thoughtful and then he said: “She may stay at least until the child is born. Have you spoken to her?”
“She is in no condition to speak. She looks … foreign.”
“A Spaniard,” he said, his lips curling.
“It was a Spanish ship?”
He did not answer that.
“Keep her for a while,” he said. “There is no need to decide yet.”
“I am sure she is of noble birth.”
“Then we will make her work in the kitchens to forget that.”
I thought: At least he will not turn her out until her child is born. Poor woman, where would she go then? There were dismal tales of Spanish sailors who had been wrecked on our coasts at the time of the Armada, but they were men. The idea of a woman turned out in an alien land to beg her bread with a small child to care for made me feel sick with horror.
He said: “You say she has a foreign look. Where is she?”
“In the Red Room.”
“My first wife’s room. The one you think is haunted. Well, perhaps the ghost will drive our visitor away. I’ll look at her. Come with me.”
Together we went into the Red Room. He threw open the door and walked to the bed.
She lay there, looking as though she had been carved out of alabaster. Her hair, now dry, lay about her shoulders. The perfect symmetry of her features was more than ever apparent. Her heavy lashes lay against her skin. I wished that she would open her eyes. I was sure that if she did the effect would be dazzling.
Colum stood staring at her.
“By God,” he said, “what a beautiful woman.”