The Witch's Tale (Sister Frevisse Medieval Mysteries)
“Margery paused under a tree to smile over a cuckoo-pint, bold and blithe before the cuckoo itself was heard this spring. Farther along the hedge a chaffinch was challenging the world, sparrows were squabbling with more vigor than they had had for months, and a muted flash of red among the bare branches showed where a robin was about his business. As she should be about hers, she reminded herself.
She had set out early to glean sticks along the hedgerows but there was not much deadwood left so... near the village by this end of winter; her sling of sacking was barely a quarter full, and all of it was wet and would need drying before it was any use. But she must go home. Jack would be coming for his dinner and then Dame Claire at the priory was expecting her.
Though she and Jack were among the village's several free souls and not villeins, Margery's one pride was that she worked with Dame Claire, St. Frideswide's infirmarian. They had met not long after Margery had married Jack and come to live in Priors Byfield. In the untended garden behind the cottage she had found a plant she could not identify despite the herb lore she had had from her mother and grandmother. With her curiosity stronger than her fear, she had gone hesitantly to ask at the nunnery gates if there were a nun who knew herbs. In a while a small woman neatly dressed and veiled in Benedictine black and white had come out to her and kindly looked at the cutting she had brought.MoreLess
She had set out early to glean sticks along the hedgerows but there was not much deadwood left so... near the village by this end of winter; her sling of sacking was barely a quarter full, and all of it was wet and would need drying before it was any use. But she must go home. Jack would be coming for his dinner and then Dame Claire at the priory was expecting her.
Though she and Jack were among the village's several free souls and not villeins, Margery's one pride was that she worked with Dame Claire, St. Frideswide's infirmarian. They had met not long after Margery had married Jack and come to live in Priors Byfield. In the untended garden behind the cottage she had found a plant she could not identify despite the herb lore she had had from her mother and grandmother. With her curiosity stronger than her fear, she had gone hesitantly to ask at the nunnery gates if there were a nun who knew herbs. In a while a small woman neatly dressed and veiled in Benedictine black and white had come out to her and kindly looked at the cutting she had brought.MoreLess
Read book The Witch's Tale (Sister Frevisse Medieval Mysteries) for free
Write Review:
Guest
Read Also
9 / 10
User Reviews: