The Silver Cup by Constance Leeds Page B

knife.”
    â€œHere. Father, there’s another thing.”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œWorse than anything is the smell of Martin’s feet. You say nothing, but you must be glad when Martin leaves. If Martin removes his shoes, our whole house goes sour. I’ve seen his cracked toes: his nails are thick and yellow, and the skin of his soles is peeling away. It must be painful. But the smell takes my breath away.”
    â€œNow, there you have a just complaint. Yesterday it was so bad, that we both had to laugh, and your cousin’s face turned red.”
    Gunther laughed, and Anna looked at him. He never laughs, and here he is, laughing at Martin . For a moment, winter melted.
    Anna continued. “He’s not one to laugh at himself, but no one is quicker to laugh at others. Remember how he was with Thomas?”
    â€œMartin worked harder than anyone to teach that child to walk,” said Gunther.
    â€œYes. I remember that. And he used to try to get Thomas to say words. But not at the end.”
    â€œThomas was never going to learn. That was hard for Martin.”
    â€œHe was awful to Thomas.”
    â€œMartin’s proud, like Agnes. Their standards are high.”
    â€œToo high, I think. Now he says he’ll be a soldier in the holy war. A knight someday.”
    â€œMartin?” Gunther shook his head.
    â€œHe’s mean enough!”
    Anna saw her father frown and knew that she had gone too far.
    â€œEnough, Anna! You have cause to complain of his feet. I’ll talk to his mother. She is as skilled at healing as cooking.”
    After Gunther spoke to Agnes, she gave Martin dried marigold flowers and horsetail grass. Each evening, he soaked his feet in scalding water with some petals and grasses. He began to keep dried thyme leaves in his shoes. Soon, everyone was more comfortable, and they began to enjoy Martin’s tales of the knights who were gathering to fight the Pope’s holy war.
    As the month ended, the sun finally began to warm, and the wind softened. There were still snowy nights, and some mornings Anna would wake to find fresh, new snow to fill the buckets with and melt for water. By night the fallen snow lay gray with ash, soiled by passing animals and all that was tossed from the houses. But those mornings, she would have good clean water that she did not have to carry far. Their cow had calved toward the end of January, and there was milk. Sometimes she made a custard of the milk and egg yolks, and once, Gunther even said that Anna’s custard was as fine as the one her mother used to make. Often, he and Uncle Karl would hunt in the forest. Anna always prayed that they would have luck, for then they would have fresh meat.
    After one very good day, Gunther returned, his wind-chapped face brightened, and he gave Anna the skins from two large hares. Anna could make herself a warm shawl of the soft fur. When her father was lucky in the forest, it was easier to see how lucky they were.
    â€œHey cousin, I hope you saved the blood of those hares,” said Martin one evening after a hunt.
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œI’ve heard that a coating of hare’s blood will fade freckles. You should try it.”
    â€œToo bad hare’s blood can’t fix your rotten nature!” replied Anna furiously.

11
    NOBLE COUSINS
    March 5, 1096
    Â 
A discouraging sleet prickled the thatch, glazing the house and spoiling the hope of spring. Anna was using the hearth light to darn her stocking yet again, when Martin returned with a damp sack slung over his shoulder. His head and face were slick from the cold rain, and as he rubbed his red hands over the fire, stomping his feet and shaking his wet curls, he said to Anna, “That’s bad luck, Cousin.”
    â€œWhat is?”
    â€œYou should never sew anything while a person is wearing it.”
    â€œWell, I’m sure I stepped out of bed on my left foot this morning. I killed a spider yesterday. So