Bella at Midnight Read Online Free

said I would run fetch her from the back of the house, where she was doing the washing. I picked Bella up and carried her with me. I did not like to leave her there with the steward.
    Mother dried her hands upon her apron and brushed off her skirts to look as presentable as might be. I saw from her face that she thought the same as I did—that he had come to take Bella away. She touched the child’s curls most tenderly; then we walked together round the side of the house.
    â€œYour wages,” the steward said, handing her a small purse of coins, just as he always did. That done, he turned to ride off again. We looked at each other in surprise. This was not what we had expected.
    â€œSteward,” Mother called after him. “Please wait a moment! I must know what arrangements have been made for this child.”
    I do not think it was easy for my mother to speak so boldly to such a man. He looked back at her in that haughty way important people do.
    â€œShe has been fostered on you , lady. That is the arrangement.”
    â€œBut sire, she has been weaned these past two months now and is growing fast. Should she not return to her father’s house, to be raised up properly as a gentlewoman?”
    â€œI have been given no such instructions,” said he crossly. “I am to pay your wages—that is all I know.” Then he rode away. Mother stood in the road for some long while, gazing after him with her mouth agape.
    What did it mean, I wondered. That Bella would stay with us for always? That her father did not want her? Had he given his child away to us?
    I was still holding her. She had wrapped her little arms around my neck and leaned her head upon my shoulder. Her damp curls tickled my cheek. She did not know something important had just happened.
    â€œMother?” I said. But she only touched my arm and walked away, shaking her head. She was greatly troubled, I could tell that much. But she said nothing more of the matter that day, nor did she mention it to Father when he came home from the forge. I think she did not wish Bella to hear what she had to say. That is why she waited until night to speak of it, when she thought we were asleep.
    â€œI cannot understand,” I heard her say, “how he could abandon his child in this way and make no sort of proper arrangements for her!”
    â€œAye,” Father said, “though methinks there must be some reason for it. We cannot know the circumstances, Bea. As he is a knight, like as not he has gone to fight in the war.”
    â€œThen he ought to send her to live with his family, if he must go to war—or with the nuns.”
    â€œTrue enough. He chose instead to impose upon us. And by my troth, it galls me that he did not think to ask whether we were willing to raise his child or no.”
    â€œAre you not, Martin?”
    â€œYou know I am, Bea. But he might have asked .”
    They were quiet, then, for a time. I rose up on one elbow and looked over where Bella lay, on her pallet by the fire. Little children in their sleep are nice to look upon, as everybody knows. And Bella, so noisy and active when awake, was all the more sweet at rest. Her breathing was soft and even, her expression innocent and trusting.
    It was not right, I thought, for a child to be shifted about like a sack of barley—dropped upon our doorstep and abandoned there, argued over by my parents, as though they did not want her either. Someone ought to cherish her.
    â€œWhat if he never sends for her?” Mother asked after a while. “What am I to do then? I do not know how to raise a knight’s child!”
    â€œRubbish! Of course you do—look at our Will! Is he not as fine a boy as any in the village?”
    â€œOh, Martin, you know that is not the same! Will is common born, like us. But Bella is of noble estate and must be raised up to live the life she was born to. And I cannot do that—I am ignorant of her world. I