The Gisborne Chronicles

CHR8/CH3 - A Secret Revealed, and a Promise Kept

The morning after the last ''gifting' began with torrential rain, so torrential that no one was able to leave the house, though an hour or so later, it eased, and Guy was able to go about his work.

It was a time for many calves to be born, the last of the year, and everyone employed at the farm was fully occupied.

The few remaining sheep were brought into the barn awaiting slaughter, though fresh stock would be bought before St Stephen's day. There was no tup resident at the farm, but Guy had already identified a likely ram for when his prospective flock of ewes came into season.

The favoured tup presently resided on a neighbouring farm, and had proved itself fertile in its endeavours.

Travel to find these ewes was inevitable, but for Guy or Hywell it would mean only a few days away. The local area was known for the quality of its flocks, and there were generally many such available. Guy knew that profit was assured if the stock was managed efficiently.

Total reliance on a stockman was vital at these times, and Hywell was a man who gave his all to any task requested of him. The animal husbandry and healing skills of Glenys his wife, ensured that any beast on the farm was well cared for and healthy.

To see her tending Brutus and Lucifer, the great farm horses, along with the bull Hector, was a joy, she so little that they towered above her, but she never felt or showed fear.

The Gisborne dairy and its products were known for their excellence, and Glenys now had an able assistant recruited from Llanlivet at the last hiring fair. Named Alice, she was a homely girl, industrious and good natured, never shirking a task no matter how arduous.

She had been keen to learn the skills that Glenys had imparted to her, and she could be left unsupervised should Glenys be required to treat an ailing beast.

She was of a large family and liked nothing more than taking care of Glenys' young son and daughter, especially now that Elizabeth, the mother of the two farmhands, had remarried and returned to live in the village with the blacksmith who had stolen her heart.

At fourteen years old, the girl Alice had known sadness in her life, a mother taken with fever before her time, and a father driven to drunkenness by his grief. There were three other children, but their father was so ale sodden that there was no one to see to the care of them.

The eldest, a girl, had been taken to the hiring fair along with Alice, and here whereabouts were presently unknown. The remaining two, including a babe in arms, had been taken in by a kindly neighbour, in the fervent hope that their father would eventually come to his senses, but this had not yet come to pass.

Upon speaking with her, Auriel had discovered that the girl deeply regretted the loss of her kin, and she set to thinking on a solution. That the girl was wise beyond her years became apparent by the way she had learned the skills of a dairymaid. She was polite, kept herself clean, and would do anything asked of her.

That night as they lay in their bed, Auriel asked Guy if he could make enquiries as the the present whereabouts of Alice's elder sister, and he immediately knew what she was about.

"You think to bring her here," he smiled, " If you wish it, I shall try to make it so. It may mean purchasing any bond held against her, but we have the means, and there is time before this child comes to bring her into your ways."

" I promised you a girl, and this one will do as well as any other. If Glenys is willing, she can bide at the cottage along with her sister, will that suit?"

"You always know what is in my heart," she said, "Perhaps when Aunt Gwyneth is wed, and the new cottage built, the girl may go there when I am well again after the birth."