Brother Cadfael 07: The Sanctuary Sparrow

admonished but feeling themselves delivered. A Daniel eased of all fear that the eye of the law was turned ominously upon him would sit still where a hand could be laid on him at any moment.
    'It's over,' Margery assured him, fast in his arms, and surprisingly contented there, considering all things. 'I'm sure you need not trouble any more. No one believes you ever harmed the man. I'll stand with you, and we have nothing to fear.'
    'Oh, Margery, what should I have done without you?' He was drifting blissfully towards sleep, after extreme fear and the release of correspondingly great pleasure. Never before had he felt such devotional fervour, even to his mistresses. This might have been said to be his true wedding night. 'You're a good girl, loyal and true ...'
    'I'm your wife, who loves you,' she said, and more than half believed it, to her own mild surprise. 'And loyal you'll find me, whenever you call upon me. I shall not fail you. But you must also stand by me, for as your wife I have rights.' It was well to have him so complacent, but not to let him fall asleep, not yet. She took steps to rouse him; she had learned a great deal in one unsatisfactory week. While he was still glowing, she pursued very softly and sweetly: 'I am your wife now - wife to the heir, there's a status belongs to me. How can I live in a house and have no place, no duties that are mine by right?'
    'Surely you have your place,' he protested tenderly. 'The place of honour, mistress of the house. What else? We all bear with my grandmother, she's old and set in her ways, but she doesn't meddle with the housekeeping.'
    'No, I don't complain of her, of course we must reverence the elders. But your wife should be granted her due in responsibilities as well as privilege. If your mother still lived it would be different. But Dame Juliana has given up her direction of the household, being so old, to our generation. I am sure your sister has done her duty nobly by you all all these years ...'
    Daniel hugged her close, his thick curls against her brow. 'Yes, so she has, and you can keep your hands white and take your ease, and be the lady of the house, why should you not?'
    'That is not what I want,' said Margery firmly, gazing up into the dark with wide-open eyes. 'You're a man, you don't understand. Susanna works hard, no one could complain of her, she keeps a good table without waste, and all the linen and goods and provisions in fine order, I know. I give her all credit. But that is the wife's work, Daniel. Your mother, if she had lived. Your wife, now you have a wife.'
    'Love, why should you not work together? Half the load is lighter to bear, and I don't want my wife worn out with cares,' he murmured smugly into the tangle of her hair. And thought himself very cunning, no doubt, wanting peace as men always want it, far before justice or propriety; but she would not let him get away with that sop.
    'She won't give up any part of the load, she has had her place so long, she stands off any approach. Only on Monday I offered to fetch in the washing for her, and she cut me off sharply, that she would do herself. Trust me, my love, there cannot be two mistresses in one house, it never prospers. She has the keys at her girdle, she sees the store-bins kept supplied, and the linen mended and replaced, she gives the orders to the maid, she chooses the meats and sees them cooked as she wishes. She comes forth as hostess when visitors appear. All my rights, Daniel, and I want them. It is not fitting that the wife should be so put aside. What will our neighbours say of us?'
    'Whatever you want,' he said with sleepy fervour, 'you shall have. I do see that my sister ought now to give up her office to you, and should have done so willingly, of her own accord. But she has held the reins here so long, she has not yet considered that I'm now a married man. Susanna is a sensible woman, she'll see reason.'
    'It is not easy for a woman to give up her place,' Margery pointed out sternly. 'I shall need your support, for it's your status as well as mine in question. Promise me you will stand with me to get my rights.'
    He promised readily, as he would have promised her anything that night. Of the two of them, she had certainly been the greater gainer from the day's crises and recoveries. She fell asleep knowing it, and already marshalling her skills to build on it.
    Chapter Nine
    Thursday: from morning to late evening
    Dame Juliana tapped her way down the broad wooden