The Outcast Dove: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery by Sharan Newman Read Free Book Online

“When her twin brothers arrived creating too much work for her poor mother to do alone!”
    From just inside the house there was the sound of giggling.
    “Fortunately,” Belide continued. “My mother and father are even now looking for a good man to take me away and give me a nice, quiet home of my own.”
    She gave a short laugh at Solomon’s expression. “You needn’t fear, my former donkey. Father has explained that you think I’m far too ugly and useless to attract your attention.”
    “Belide! That’s not what I said!” Solomon sputtered.
    “Never mind.” She patted the hand she was still holding. “I’ve decided that you don’t wish to marry me because your heart has been broken and you are pining away for the love of a high-born woman who can never be yours.”
    Solomon started and dropped her hand.
    “Daughter, stop teasing our guest.” To Solomon’s relief, Bonysach came out to the courtyard. “She listens to those troubadours in the streets and gets such idiotic ideas. What ever happened to the great stories of battles and honor? All the songs today are full of innuendo and adultery.”
    “Papa, you are hopelessly antiquated.” Belide gave him a kiss. “Now that you are here to entertain our guest, I’ll see if Mother needs help with the dinner.”
    Bonysach seated himself on the other side of the table and refilled Solomon’s wine cup before filling his own.
    “I apologize for not being here to meet you,” he said. “We had some trouble dividing the goods we brought back. Yusef insisted that there was a parcel of Flemish wool missing. We finally convinced him that his tally must have been wrong. Japhet’s and mine agreed. But that’s nothing to bore you with. Have you seen your uncle?”
    Solomon nodded. “He’s much more frail than I remember. I would think that after all he’s given to the community in Arles, they could at least feed him.”
    “Oh, didn’t he tell you?” Bonysach offered him some olives. “He left Arles and is now living in Lunel. There are some great scholars there who have allowed him to study with them.”
    “But he can’t possibly have learned enough in two years to understand the subtleties of halakhah. ” This had been troubling Solomon since the discussion that morning.
    Bonysach shrugged. “I don’t know about that. Our scholars certainly respect him. Perhaps someone taught him the secret word of memory.”
    Solomon grimaced. “That’s as much a fireside tale as the ones the jongleurs sing. But it is his health that worries me. He must be made to rest more.”
    “That, my old friend, is more than I can do.” Bonysach offered him some cheese. “Or you, I would guess. He is attempting to touch the mind of the Creator. That’s a noble and terrifying task. Of course it’s wearing to his body. One can’t approach the Throne on a full stomach, which is why I have no ambition to be more than I am.”
    “A good thing, too,” Josta said, as she entered from the house. “If all the men were scholars then we women would have even more work to do and we’d have you underfoot all day while we did it. Come in now, my dears. Your dinner is ready and the poor young man has arrived, bearing sugared almonds for Belide. The twins have already finished them and he looks as though he fears that they’ll start nibbling on him next.”
    “Come, then!” Bonysach laughed. “We’ll see if this man has wit enough to survive marriage to Belide.”
     
     
    As soon as Vespers ended Brother Victor and Brother James went to meet with the men who had been hired to protect them during their journey. One, Berengar, was a native of Toulouse and an old friend of Victor’s. He was the younger son of a local nobleman and had been asked to find other trained knights willing to undertake the assignment.
    “It will certainly be dangerous going into Saracen territory,” Berengar said. He was a burly young man, who had aspirations of an heiress and a castellany of his