“I was instructed to tidy the grounds!” Docility remarked manfully. She flexed an ample arm. “Stand aside, lest I rake you up by mistake.”
“I shall be very careful!” Chastity promised, smiling. “But perhaps you could begin by clearing a path to the quinces? There must be a million quinces on the ground, and I can’t get to them. I can make marmalade with them tomorrow.”
“Excellent thinking!” Docility boomed. “Want me to take that load in for you?”
Chastity would love to have her burden taken from her, for her back was already promising to keep her awake all night, but she said, “Oh, I can manage, thank you.” She was just about to resume her journey when
“Sisters! Daughters, I mean!” Acting Mother Superior Virtue came hurrying along the path. Virtue was elderly and petite. Her hair now was as white as her skin, although of course she kept it hidden under her headcloth. She must have been a beauty in her youth, and her face was still striking. At sixtyseven, she was the oldest of the eight, but spry enough that she seemed likely to outlast most of them. During her days as leader, she tolerated no backtalk.
“Mother?” Docility and Chastity spoke in perfect unison. Virtue was perturbed. There were pink splotches on her cheekbones. Curiously, she was clutching a coil of rope.
“A boat is approaching the headland!”
Docility propped her rake against the wall and rubbed her hands. Her eyes gleamed. “Mariners in need of succor, Mother?”
“That would seem to be a logical presumption!” Virtue barely came up to the large woman’s shoulder, but her manner left no doubt that today she was in charge. She had known whose help to enlist when there was trouble, though. Chastity was involved only because she happened to be in Docility’s vicinity.
“It has been many years!” Chastity said. No ships called at Bluerock now.
“That is no reason to delay,” the Mother of the day said. “You may come, also, in case we need to summon more help.” She swept off in a swirl of black cotton robe. Docility followed with long strides.
“But?” Chastity said to the empty air. Rope, yes, but should they not also take blankets and medicines and water bottles? Apparently not, because she was already alone. She would be sent back to fetch them, most likely. She lowered her basket painfully to the ground and hobbled off after the other two.
The cliff path was a morass of treacherous mud. Holding skirts up, the three ladies picked their way down it circumspectly, despite the urgency of their mission.
Chastity could just barely remember the last ship to be wrecked below the Refuge, although such disasters had been common when Bluerock was a busy port. Virtue must have assisted at several rescue efforts in her youth. The danger was Scalpel Rocks. If a vessel struck those, then the.crew had little chance of survival. If it cleared them safely, it would be swept into the bay and run aground on the sand. The odds were better there, especially when the tide was out, as now.
Puffing, the three reached the flat grassy lookout at the point of the headland and stopped to take stock. The wind had dropped, but the sea was still troubled. Dangerous green swells marched shoreward, bursting in white breakers below the lookout, hurling spray skyward. Masses of floating brown kelp testified to the violence of the storm; the air smelled clean and salty.
The boat was a tiny dinghy, half awash. It had already cleared Scalpel Rocks and was being swept around the headland, almost directly under the watchers. It contained a single mariner, sitting on a thwart, clutching the bare mast with both arms and leaning against it. From the look of him, he was alive, but in a weakened condition, barely conscious, perhaps unaware that he was about to be shipwrecked.
Chastity held her breath until she almost choked. Then she glanced sideways at the other two. They did not seem to have noticed what she had noticed.
“Excellent!” Virtue said, as if she had arranged matters herself. She raised a hand to her eyes and stuck her neck out, peering. “Er-isn’t he wearing black? You don’t suppose he could be a priest, do you?”
Neither of the others spoke. A strange flush showed now on Docility’s pale cheeks. So she had noticed!
“We must head for the beach, Daughters.”
“But—’ Chastity said. Her heart was pounding unbearably. “I do hope he doesn’t require medical help,” Virtue continued. “Or one of us is going to have a long walk. Come.”
“Just a moment!” Docility barked. “We had best decide what we are going to do while we can still think clearly.”
Chastity did not think she was thinking very clearly at all. Her head was spinning, her knees trembled. If a mere glimpse at this distance could upset her like this, then what would happen at close quarters?
“What?” Virtue turned to peer in surprise at the big woman. ”He is a mainlander!”
The Mother Superior said, “Oh, damn!”
The three stared at one another in appalled silence. The boat had passed the headland and was into the bay.
“What can we do?” Verity wrung her hands.
A strange gleam shone in Docility’s silver eyes. “It will be all right! No other men ever come here! With the bridge down, we shall probably never have visitors ever again!” She glanced defiantly from Virtue to Chastity and back, as if daring them to disagree.
“But our vows!” Virtue whimpered.
“It is not a sin!” As always in emergencies, the big woman had taken command. “The Church recognizes the impossibility of resisting the curse. Or are you ordering us to let the man drown, Mother?”
“No, of course not! But what of ourselves? I mean . . . Well, we shall quarrel! Fight, even! It will be awful!”
Chastity shivered, having a momentary nightmare of Sister Docility wielding her rake against all seven of her sisters. There were butcher cleavers in the kitchen. The possibilities were appalling!
Docility drew herself up to her full height. Cotton seemed to strain over her ample bosom in a way Chastity had never noticed it doing before. “We are not mad children! We are mature women. Holy ladies! It will be a test of our commitment, of course, but we have all lived together in harmony for many years. Surely we can agree on, er . . .”
Even Docility could not quite put it into words. “Share him, you mean?” Chastity whispered.
“We shall have to. Just as we share the leadership.”
“Really!” Virtue protested.
“Well . . .” she added.
“Indeed!” she concluded triumphantly. “You are perfectly right, Daughter. We cannot let him drown, and we cannot escape the consequences. The two, er, duties will have to go together, and today I am Mother.” She beamed excitedly.
“No, Mother!” Docility said firmly. “Duty and, er, pleasure . . .” She cleared her throat harshly. “I mean, one cannot supervise the work schedules and-ahem!-tend the visitor at the same time. We must establish some other rule.”
Virtue’s eyes flashed. “I think it is my prerogative to settle this matter, as I am Mother Superior at the moment.”
“Your responsibility is a grave trial, Mother,” Docility said with what seemed to be a severe effort. “But would it not make more sense if we assigned the, er, hospitality duty to another day? Fewer distractions?”
“The following day!” Chastity exclaimed. “The day after being Mother. A reward!.”
“Reward?” Her companions. turned shocked stares on her. “Well, er . . . Well, yes! Why not be honest about it?” Chastity was astonished to find herself arguing with them like this, but her heart had not thumped so ferociously in years. She thought she might burst into tears if they refused her now. “I suppose that does make sense,” Virtue admitted, wringing her hands. “I mean, tomorrow is not so very long to wait.”
“Six days?” Docility moaned. “I shall be the last!”
“A real test of your commitment!” Chastity snapped. ”Indeed!” Docility bit her lip. “Of course, if he is young and hale . . . and strong . . .”
“Muscular, you mean?” The strange visions floating up from Chastity’s imagination were probably cause for a three-day contrition.
“Not necessarily, although I hope, I mean, some men can, are capable of, like to . . . One a day is not necessarily the limit.”
Docility’s flush darkened as the other two eyed her with open suspicion.
As long as he plays no favorites!” Virtue conceded. “Exactly what I was trying to say,” Docility agreed with relief. “After all we must consider our, er, guest’s wishes, also. If we explain the problem, he may be able to satisfy-” Her eyes widened.
The other two spun around and then uttered shrieks of alarm. The dinghy was very close to the beach already. “No, wait!” Docility’s big hand settled on her Superior’s shoulder. “The surf is not extreme. Perhaps Sister Chastity can handle . . . I mean, she will not require assistance. You and I, Mother, should go and warn the others of what we, you that is, have decided.”