[Roger the Chapman 06] - The Wicked Winter by Kate Sedley Read Free Book Online Page A

Hugh found out that you've a wandering eye?'
    Her daughter-in-law flushed scarlet. 'I don't know what you're talking about, Mother. What has it to do with Sir Hugh, pray? He has a wife of his own to look after.'  
    The older woman sniffed derisively. 'Little Mistress Good and Saintly. Well, he's not likely to have any worries concerning her on that head. But he'd do well to look to his own conduct - and to that of his precious son - if he wants to escape trouble in his household. Jeanette Cederwell's not one to brook misconduct lightly.'
    Contrary to all expectations, I began to feel sorry for Ursula Lynom, so much the victim of her mother-in-law's scathing tongue. I tried to divert the old lady's attention.
    'I didn't think, from what I've been told, that Lady Cederwell is old enough to have a grown son.'
    'Lord bless you, he ain't her child! Jeanette's only two years older than Maurice. No, no! He's the son of Sir Hugh's first wife, who died when he was born.' Dame Judith leaned back in her chair and smiled expansively, delighted with the a chance to gossip. 'We all thought Sir Hugh was going to remain a widower for life - or until such time as he could gain his heart's desire.' Here, she stole a sideways glance at her daughter-in-law, but the widow began to examine my goods with exaggerated care. The dame continued, 'But then, nigh on six years ago, he went up country to visit a cousin of his who lives in the neighbourhood of Gloucester, and came back married to a child young enough to be his daughter; a wool heiress recently orphaned. The old woman's smile broadened into a malicious grin. 'Wealthy, but not so wealthy as Ursula here became when my poor son, Anthony, died two years later.' She threw up her head and gave a high-pitched whinny of mirth.
    I rapidly reassessed my ideas of Sir Hugh Cederwell. I realised now that he must be roughly the same age as Ursula Lynom.
    'That will do now, Mother.' The younger woman turned away abruptly. 'Buy what you want from the chapman and then you must sleep for half an hour before your dinner.'  
    'I'm not a child to be ordered around,' Dame Judith snapped. She added spitefully, 'I was mistress in this house long before you.'
    Ursula Lynom sighed. 'A fact of which you are never tired of reminding me. Nevertheless, you will do well to remember that it is I who am in charge here now.' There was the slightest undertone of menace, and I saw the old lady suddenly wither and withdraw into herself. My sympathies, which had been in a constant state of flux, somersaulted back to her. I should have known, though, that she was fully capable of standing up for herself.
    After only a momentary silence, she counter-attacked with, 'Sir Hugh must have left early this morning. I hadn't expected to see you until noon.'
    Colour once more tinged the widow's cheeks, but she answered calmly, 'We had completed our business. He has advised me against buying the extra land to the south of the eastern pasture.'
    Dame Judith let out a sound like the hoot of an owl.
    'Business, she says! There's only one kind of business you and Hugh Cederwell carry on, and it's got nothing to do with land south, north or west of the eastern pasture!' And while her daughter-in-law struggled to find her breath, the older woman continued, 'A pretty hash the pair of you have made of your lives between you. When he and Anthony went a-courting you, twenty-odd years and more ago, you chose my lad, even though it was plain to everyone but yourself that you were in love with Hugh. And as for him, he's as big a fool as you are. Having lost his own wife after only a year of marriage, he waits fifteen more in the hope that you might one day be free, only to shackle himself to a child almost young enough to be his daughter, a mere twenty-two months before Anthony succumbs to a putrid fever. Bunglers, both of you!'
    The widow's face was by now scarlet with rage, and I couldn't altogether blame her. Dame Judith should not have aired the