The Treatment of the Lower Orders

The Treatment of the Lower Orders 12

The Treatment of the Lower Orders. Part 12.

Elias leaned her cheek against the shutter frame and looked out over the darkened yard, not seeing the night shapes, only the empty void of her future.

She stroked the wooden sill absently till a calloused finger tip touched the small leather pouch.

Thomas had gone to find Gisborne, as ordered by the Lady Marian. He found him at Locksley about to go to the castle. Sir Guy had given him the purse of money then told him to take Elias to Gainsborough, and to leave her at the house of one Josiah Hubbard, a merchant of the town.

The purse sat squat and lumpen. It was filled with silver coin, enough to keep her in luxury unknown to her.

It was his dismissal of her, with this payment. And she would not take it.

The day of his failed wedding, when he had kissed her and taken her to his bed, that day she knew this would happen. She knew he would give her tastes of his sweetness and then deprive her.

And now he paid her off like the whore he thought her.

She stood abruptly, the thoughts rushing in to her head. She would not be hustled off by him or Lady Marian. She, Elias Renouf would make her own way to York. She could get work and live by her own hand, respectably.

She put her precious needles, threads, pins, and the tiny silver thimble and scissors that had been her mother's, into the small bundle of her clothes and the pile of coins she had earned honestly. All these things were her life, tied in a bundle small enough to carry.

The plan growing in her head was to go to Locksley and return Sir Guy's money. Place it in his bed chamber. He would know that she had returned it. Thence, on to York and a new life.

The walk from Knighton to Locksley was not a hard one. It was only four miles and the cart track was dry from the late summer sun, though deeply rutted from use. No travellers were about at this hour, and the presence of Robin Hood in the area assured that the real brigands kept their distance.

Locksley was abed. Only a dim light in the servant's quarters glowed in the darkness. House was bigger than Knighton, with several out buildings and it's separate kitchen was large. Sir Guy was rightly proud of it.

Elias hid her belongings behind a bale of hay in the stables. Horses snickered and swayed gently at her non-threatening presence. She steeled herself and approached the house stealthily .The guard at the door slept, hunched, standing up at his post, and she slipped easily past him into the hall. On the landing she faltered. Which was his chamber? With great care she opened and closed doors till she came upon a room that contained a table strewn with maps and an ink pot. Deeper, she saw a large curtained bed.

Closing the door behind her, Elias retrieved the purse from it hiding place in her bodice and placed it on the map of Nottingham. The notion came to her of leaving a note, so there should be no mistake but that she had left the silver. Finding a sheet of coarse paper, she began to write.

The sounds of jangling harnesses, snorting horses and the rough voices of men, stopped her, the note unfinished. She glanced through the gaps in the closed window shutters, her fears confirmed; he had returned.

There was no means of escape. Already, there were voices in the hall and the window was too high for exit that way.

Booted and spurred feet ascended the stairs hurriedly. Elias wrenched open the linen box and tugged out a pile of folded sheets. Holding them high, to shield her face from view. She turned her back to the door and breathed deeply, her throat constricting.

Sir Guy shouted orders from outside the chamber and the door crashed open. She heard something clatter to the floor.

"What are you doing here?"And without waiting for an answer, "Get out"

She took a chance and bobbed a curtsy, giving him wide berth, stepped past

Relief turned to horror as a large powerful hand shot out and seized her upper arm.

"Wait." He drew her back, breathing her in; a slow smile crossed his face. "You came."

She was undone!

"I…" What could she say, nothing.

Guy pulled her round to face him. In the gloom, it was not possible to see if he were angry or happy at her presence.

"You should be on your way to Gainsborough by now. Crowe was supposed to take you. Did he run off? Did he give you the purse?"

"No…No, he did not run off. He gave me the purse." Her eyes flicked to where it sat by the unfinished note. He caught the look, frowned and lit a candle.

Taking her with him he stepped to the offending pouch, picking it up.

"Why? What?" His eyes lighted on the paper, her careful script, still had a schoolroom precision.

He pushed her to the bed and she sat heavily, still looking for an escape route.

"What's this?" He read the words. "'I am not a whore.' What foolishness is this? 'My body you took, my heart I gave freely.' You little fool." He screwed the paper and tossed it on to the table. "The money was to feed you, keep you safe." He held the light high, looking at her hungrily, but confused.

"I cannot take it…it is payment. I am no strumpet, no whore." It was the first time she had ever spoken to him with such passion.

He turned away, stretching his throat and clenching his teeth, containing his irritation.

"So you slid in here to return the silver, then what? Return to the castle and Vaisey? Knighton, perhaps, and the scant protection Marian now offers? Or is Hood to spirit you away, was that the plan?"

For once Elias was angry.

"My plan was to leave under my own power. Gain my own freedom, my own life, not to be chained to you, my lord, or the sheriff!"

"You speak of your heart?" He gestured to the note. His eyes burned her, his voice, low and husky, but questioning.

She could not deny it. She loved him. The truth was stupid. The thought occurred to her that she knew in her heart he would find her here, she wanted him to find her, and she wanted it thus.

"I cannot help what I feel, and I want not your scorn for it. I will go. Like Annie, I will fade, and you will find another maiden to torture."

"Annie was a pretty, silly wench, who would have been impressed by my sergeant." He dismissed Annie with a click of his fingers. Standing above her, looking down at her bent head, he wanted to be twined with her, to take her to his bed again.

She was not like Annie!