The young man stepped closer to the wall, glanced upward, and squeezed his eyes shut as if in rapt concentration. Although the glover could have been praying for protection against possible flying objects, he might have been thanking God as well, for the two women seemed to have quickly forgotten his presence.
"A duty in which you must be quite conversant, Mother," replied Alys. Her voice projected a determined gentleness, but the clenched fist she pressed to her breast hinted that her meaning was less than docile. "Sadly my grandparents died before my birth, but I must assume, from your certainty in this, that you did marry as your parents demanded." She breathed in deeply as if taking in courage, then asked: "Can you claim to have been happy in your obedience?"
Bernard nervously cleared his throat. If he meant to remind them that another was in the room, someone who should not hear this quarrel, his effort was wasted.
"You choose to remember your father only when he was…" Jhone closed her eyes and sucked in her lips if willing some unwelcome thought away. "Your father may have been ill-tempered from time to time." Her voice quivered. "The strain of running a successful business is hard on a man." This, she spoke with firmness.
Alys gave her a look that was both disbelieving and disdainful.
"Yet he was a worthy man, provided well for us, and loved you as much as I, even though you have now willfully decided to forget that." The mother's mouth trembled with suppressed emotion, and she absently brushed one thin hand over her abdomen. "Cruel daughter that you are, I am still grateful that God allowed at least one of the children your father gave me to live."
With sympathetic courtesy Bernard nodded, a gesture that the elder woman noted and acknowledged with a distracted smile.
Alys was also now gazing on the glover, but her look was not disinterested. Instead, it had a particular warmth to it, the meaning of which did not much please Jhone.
The widow loudly cleared her throat.
"Well and good, Mother, if that is what you believe," the daughter said, tearing her eyes away from the young glover with evident regret. "A child does owe obedience to her parent, but surely our obligation to God ranks higher? If you will not allow me to marry as my heart wishes, please permit me to join this Order of Fontevraud. Although I am sure Master Herbert is a most honorable man, I regretfully find marriage with him somewhat less than agreeable. I would rather leave the world and spend my life praying for your soul-and that of my father." The girl folded her arms. A soldier could not have had a straighter back.
"Surely there is a third way…" The young man reached out as if pleading for at least one of the women to listen.
Alys waved at him to remain silent. "I would not be the first in the family to ask this, Mother. You have told me that your parents were willing to let your elder sister take holy vows instead of entering a marriage she did not want." Certain that she had presented an unassailable argument, she smiled with satisfaction.
Jhone's eyes widened with horror. "Need I remind you, however, that my sister never took those vows but instead wed Wulfstan, a man of whom they most heartily disapproved? Had they been stricter, she would have vowed herself to a successful merchant and led a comfortable life instead of what she has suffered!" Her eyes glazed briefly, and she spoke the next words with a sweet but pleading tone. "Is it so wrong to want you settled into a prosperous marriage? May I not look forward to grandchildren? These wishes are not sins."
"I would agree, but only if I become Bernard's wife." Alys' face flushed as she looked back at her beloved whose face quickly matched her rosy color. "Why do you object to our marriage? We adore each other so."
Jhone's pale face turned a rough and angry red. "This is a matter for private discussion!" she growled, staring at the glover as if he had just walked in on this conversation unbidden.
Master Bernard bowed with nervous grace. "I will take my leave most willingly…"
"Nay, you shall not!" Alys barked, then beamed at him with love. She turned to her mother. "I can think of no reason why he and I should not marry. Since he has asked most courteously for my hand, he has the right to hear from you in plain speech why his suit is unacceptable and Master Herbert's so persuasive."
"Later might be best. I can return when…" Bernard edged toward the door.
Jhone's back stiffened. Although her lips twisted into a chill smile, disdain burned hot in her dark-rimmed eyes. "My disobedient daughter may have chosen to forget that it was her father's last wish that she marry Master Herbert, but I have not. Of course I must follow my dead husband's direction. Surely you can understand my obligation as a proper wife in this matter, Master Bernard?"
The glover nodded quickly, then glanced at Alys with silent apology.
She turned her head away as if he had just denounced her.
"Were my husband still alive, Master Glover, he might have explained that your youth and failure to show great success in your own trade were strong arguments against your suit. My dead husband's wool venture was profitable, and my daughter's husband must not only assume this undertaking but build on it. Neither you nor Master Herbert is knowledgeable about wool. That is true, but my husband left a trusted man to help run the business until a sound tradesman can take over the management of it and learn what is needed. This requires a man who has proven he knows how to manage a profitable enterprise. You clearly lack this experience. Master Herbert, on the other hand, has proven his skills in his vintner trade."
"So say you! Bernard is not poor. He has just begun in the business his father left him, but you can see how prosperous he looks." Alys gestured at her plump beloved as if arguing the benefits of buying a fat sheep. As her eyes focused on the man himself, her expression softened with love. "Modest in dress, but…" She blushed.
"This boy makes gloves!” Jhone shouted with evident exasperation. "Master Herbert is a wine merchant with vineyards in Gascony. He has gained respect amongst merchants beyond our shores and could improve on what your father began with the contacts he has made." She waved at the young man as if he were so insubstantial that her gesture would make him disappear.
"What is wrong with gloves?" Alys protested.
"May I explain…" Bernard began.
"Fa!" Jhone spat, doggedly pursuing her argument with this daughter who remained so illogically enamored of something other than a secure living. "A glover and his family will starve the first time crops turn black from drought and no one can buy such pretty trifles. Wine and wool are things we all must have. Not only does Master Herbert have the more secure business and better connections, he is of more mature years." She put her hands on her hips. "Must I remind you that he provided well for the wants and fancies of a prior wife?"
"We can all drink beer and wear homespun cloth if bad times come." The girl's voice dripped with contempt. "I would rather a man whose hands are as soft as his gloves than one with horny, old paws. Marry him yourself, mother, if you like him all that well!"
Jhone leapt forward and slapped her daughter, then stared with horror at the red mark her fingers had left on her only child's cheek.
Bernard put his hand behind him against the wall and moved toward the door. Quickly he looked over his shoulder. The door was shut. He closed his eyes.
Tears streamed out of Alys' eyes, and she fell to her knees in front of her mother. "I beg your forgiveness! Can we not make peace in this matter? I want to be your most dutiful daughter, but I yearn just as much to become Bernard's wife."
Jhone clutched her hands tightly under her breasts, a gesture that might have suggested grace and dignity if the knuckles on her fingers had not been quite so white. "You must obey me, child."
Alys shook her head as she rose to her feet.