The Midwife's Apprentice
“Visitors « ^ » Jennet was well content with Alyce. The girl didn’t steal food, sneak ale, or dally with the guests. She was strong, willing, undemanding; and she had enough common sense to do what she was bid and ask no questions. So Alyce laid fires and swept floors and carried water all that spring.
She was learning also to overyeast the bread and weight the mugs, so that much of what she served was merely air or iron. She stirred who-knows-what poor wild thing into the stew and called it... beef or rabbit. When important-looking guests arrived and Jennet called to Alyce in a loud voice to put clean sheets on the big bed, Alyce knew she was to do no such thing, but the important-looking guests overheard and were comforted by the thought.
“Thundering toads,” Jennet would say, “I am but a poor woman with this wretched inn and a blind man to care for. I am sure God does not begrudge me my little economies.”
And she got by with it because she was so round and rosy and merry and, with it all, so fair, in that she cheated everyone the same.MoreLess
She was learning also to overyeast the bread and weight the mugs, so that much of what she served was merely air or iron. She stirred who-knows-what poor wild thing into the stew and called it... beef or rabbit. When important-looking guests arrived and Jennet called to Alyce in a loud voice to put clean sheets on the big bed, Alyce knew she was to do no such thing, but the important-looking guests overheard and were comforted by the thought.
“Thundering toads,” Jennet would say, “I am but a poor woman with this wretched inn and a blind man to care for. I am sure God does not begrudge me my little economies.”
And she got by with it because she was so round and rosy and merry and, with it all, so fair, in that she cheated everyone the same.MoreLess
Read book The Midwife's Apprentice for free
Write Review:
Guest
Read Also
8 / 10
8 / 10
9 / 10
User Reviews: