the measles.
“Aye; it’s a nasty disease.”
“Oh. Not very common where I’m from.”
“Really?” he leaned towards her, noting that she’d shoved her hair back behind her ear, exposing the slightly pointed tip.
“Later,” she said, “we talk about me later. So, go on.”
“There was only a year between Mark and me, and now that he’s dead, Joan is closest to me in age, and then there’s Luke, bastard that he is.” He snuck her a look, distracted from his story by the way a few tendrils of her curling hair lifted in the evening breeze. “I found them in bed,” he abbreviated, deciding he didn’t want to tell this strange woman everything. “I rode in late an April afternoon meaning to surprise Margaret, my wife, and I did, but she surprised me even more.”
He gave her a very brief description of events, from the moment he threw his gloves and hat on the kitchen bench to when he entered his bedchamber to find his wife naked with his own brother.
“I swear, had I had my sword at hand I would have gutted him there and then. Instead I just stood there, like a gaping fool, and she…well, she…” he broke off. Margaret had laughed, told him she no longer needed or wanted him – not now that her Luke was back.
“So what did you do?”
He gave her a black look; what did she think he’d done? “I dragged my brother naked from my bed and I didn’t let her get properly dressed before I threw them out in the yard. And when she stood there in the dusk, with her body shamelessly exposed, she asked me to bring down her son, telling me he wasn’t mine, because Luke had fathered Ian, not me.”
Alex moved close enough to pat him on his arm. He flinched and scooted away, uncomfortable with the compassion he saw in her eyes.
“Four weeks later a company of soldiers rode into my yard, and I was arrested for treason and tied like a common criminal before they threw me onto my horse.”
“Had you? Committed treason, I mean.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek, considering how much to tell her.
“I’m for the Commonwealth,” he said. “I don’t hold with kings and the like, but believe all men to be equal in the eyes of our Lord.”
“Oh my, a Founding Father.”
“A what?”
“Never mind,” she said, waving for him to continue.
He looked up at the darkening August sky and sighed. “In this specific case I was tried for treason against the Commonwealth, for supporting the king and partaking in the Glencairn rising. I did no such thing, but Luke did, and yet he stood in the witness stand, a solemn look on his face as he damned me to hell with his detailed descriptions of what I’d done. They called me a spy, a turncoat, and I was none of those, for I have only ever fought for the one side, the side of free men ranged against a despot king.”
“But…” she gasped. “How could he do that to you? First your wife, then your freedom; this Luke character needs someone to give him a big fat kick up his arse!”
“Oh, aye,” Matthew said. “I wouldn’t mind doing it myself – or worse.”
“And anyway, why did they believe him? You wouldn’t have told him about your treasonous activities, would you? Not unless he was on your side.”
“They believed him because they wanted to. And I was sentenced to five years in gaol because the judges decided to be lenient and not hang me – on account of my years in the army.” And thanks to wee Simon, his lawyer and brother-in-law, his manor was still his, safe from Luke’s grasping hands.
She stared at him. “And you escaped after three, which makes you a fugitive, an outlaw.”
Matthew shrugged and looked away, disturbed by her blunt statement. “I’ll be safe, here in Scotland.”
“How? Scotland’s part of the Commonwealth too. Didn’t Cromwell make it a Protectorate, under him?”
”Aye, but he’s ailing, we heard it in prison, how he’s been ill with the ague most summer.” He stared off at nothing for a while.
“Aye; it’s a nasty disease.”
“Oh. Not very common where I’m from.”
“Really?” he leaned towards her, noting that she’d shoved her hair back behind her ear, exposing the slightly pointed tip.
“Later,” she said, “we talk about me later. So, go on.”
“There was only a year between Mark and me, and now that he’s dead, Joan is closest to me in age, and then there’s Luke, bastard that he is.” He snuck her a look, distracted from his story by the way a few tendrils of her curling hair lifted in the evening breeze. “I found them in bed,” he abbreviated, deciding he didn’t want to tell this strange woman everything. “I rode in late an April afternoon meaning to surprise Margaret, my wife, and I did, but she surprised me even more.”
He gave her a very brief description of events, from the moment he threw his gloves and hat on the kitchen bench to when he entered his bedchamber to find his wife naked with his own brother.
“I swear, had I had my sword at hand I would have gutted him there and then. Instead I just stood there, like a gaping fool, and she…well, she…” he broke off. Margaret had laughed, told him she no longer needed or wanted him – not now that her Luke was back.
“So what did you do?”
He gave her a black look; what did she think he’d done? “I dragged my brother naked from my bed and I didn’t let her get properly dressed before I threw them out in the yard. And when she stood there in the dusk, with her body shamelessly exposed, she asked me to bring down her son, telling me he wasn’t mine, because Luke had fathered Ian, not me.”
Alex moved close enough to pat him on his arm. He flinched and scooted away, uncomfortable with the compassion he saw in her eyes.
“Four weeks later a company of soldiers rode into my yard, and I was arrested for treason and tied like a common criminal before they threw me onto my horse.”
“Had you? Committed treason, I mean.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek, considering how much to tell her.
“I’m for the Commonwealth,” he said. “I don’t hold with kings and the like, but believe all men to be equal in the eyes of our Lord.”
“Oh my, a Founding Father.”
“A what?”
“Never mind,” she said, waving for him to continue.
He looked up at the darkening August sky and sighed. “In this specific case I was tried for treason against the Commonwealth, for supporting the king and partaking in the Glencairn rising. I did no such thing, but Luke did, and yet he stood in the witness stand, a solemn look on his face as he damned me to hell with his detailed descriptions of what I’d done. They called me a spy, a turncoat, and I was none of those, for I have only ever fought for the one side, the side of free men ranged against a despot king.”
“But…” she gasped. “How could he do that to you? First your wife, then your freedom; this Luke character needs someone to give him a big fat kick up his arse!”
“Oh, aye,” Matthew said. “I wouldn’t mind doing it myself – or worse.”
“And anyway, why did they believe him? You wouldn’t have told him about your treasonous activities, would you? Not unless he was on your side.”
“They believed him because they wanted to. And I was sentenced to five years in gaol because the judges decided to be lenient and not hang me – on account of my years in the army.” And thanks to wee Simon, his lawyer and brother-in-law, his manor was still his, safe from Luke’s grasping hands.
She stared at him. “And you escaped after three, which makes you a fugitive, an outlaw.”
Matthew shrugged and looked away, disturbed by her blunt statement. “I’ll be safe, here in Scotland.”
“How? Scotland’s part of the Commonwealth too. Didn’t Cromwell make it a Protectorate, under him?”
”Aye, but he’s ailing, we heard it in prison, how he’s been ill with the ague most summer.” He stared off at nothing for a while.
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