Mistress of the Sea Read Online Free

himself even to try.’
    The gown was raised with a sweep, the black sleeves fastened in place. Lettie held it before her like a robe for the condemned.
    ‘But maybe these sleeves will taunt him as well?’
    Ellyn snatched the gown away.
    ‘I doubt it, since he will not see them.’
    ‘I don’t know how you can be so sure. Every time you come back from church, Master Doonan seems to be waiting.’ Lettie darted to Ellyn’s side, lifting the gown at the shoulders while Ellyn inserted her arms. ‘There’s another maid in this house who’d swoon at his feet for one of his smiles.
Jane
is looking forward to your walk out today.’
    What relationships had been developing without Ellyn being aware? A sudden concern caused her to respond.
    ‘I trust he’s not been troubling her?’
    ‘Marry, no!’ Lettie giggled, and that did not calm Ellyn at all. ‘But while he’s gazing at you, we maids are deciding who’ll be his real choice.’
    Ellyn was shocked.
    ‘How can you?’
    ‘Because we women have ways of making up a man’s mind without him even guessing he’s not done so himself.’
    Ellyn did not care to imagine what ploys Jane might stoop to use. But had she been encouraged? The question was vexing, though Ellyn had already decided to walk along the cliffs, rather than visit the chapel, precisely with the object of keeping clear of Will Doonan. His comments still rankled from their last encounter – ‘
Fruitful
. . .’, ‘
Mind of a bird
. . .’ – and the conviction that he had insulted her was enough to fix her resolve. She would not think of him and neither should Jane. She might perhaps meet him the next day, but most certainly not in Jane’s company. If she saw Master Doonan, it would be with Nan.
    ‘Jane will be disappointed. I have other plans for this afternoon.’ Ellyn noticed Lettie’s quick smile; then her mind reeled before the onslaught of a more alarming thought.
    ‘
You
would not consider him?’
    Lettie answered primly while bending to arrange the gown.
    ‘’Twould be only natural for him to wed a maid such as me.’ She straightened and cast Ellyn a defiant look, but without the pluck to keep it sustained.
    Ellyn stared back, and the effect was like cooling on freshly risen dough.
    Lettie retreated to the dressing table with another coy remark: ‘He brought me a present this morning.’
    ‘What present?’ Ellyn was appalled; she knew she should not have been, but the feeling could not be helped.
    ‘A sweet pear. And one for you, too, Mistress,’ Lettie added, with the sort of haste that left Ellyn certain she was meant to be appeased. Lettie returned with a comb. ‘He said you were to have the best, and the remainder were “for the other fair maidens of the Cooksley house”, a droll gallant he is, and that included Old Nan. “One apiece”, he said. There was a pear for everyone.’
    Ellyn sat. Did Will Doonan suppose he could win her with fruit, while at the same time pandering to all the household maids? She pulled hard against Lettie’s grooming.
    ‘He is overbold.’
    ‘I think he has a good heart. Nan had no mind to tell you, so do not say I did—’
    What new revelation was this? Ellyn’s anger was rising even before Lettie had finished.
    ‘—she means to poach yours in wine with some of his cloves so you might enjoy his gift in all innocence.’
    ‘Pah!’ Enjoy it, she would not. Ellyn shuddered to think of the servants observing and winking, assuming they knew more than she did herself.
    ‘Jane says she will eat her pear raw and let the juice run round her mouth, thinking of his lips when she does,’ Lettie continued confidently, as she stitched tight the braid she had made of Ellyn’s hair. Her snickering drew a curt comment from Ellyn.
    ‘Ridiculous!’ Such licentious fancy, thought Ellyn. The girl was depraved. With an image of a pear against wet lips, she pursed her own tight, as if they had been drawn and knotted rather than fulsomely shaped. A