The duke said, “I suppose that’s for the best. I can’t say that I like this business any more now than when we agreed on it in the beginning. I hope that you’ve been able to find a sufficient number of listeners with the requisite decency, discretion, and honor such that the ladies will never suffer by whatever is heard in their homes.”
“Of that I can assure Your Grace. They know of the horrendous punishment that would fall on them should our snooping become common knowledge. But tell me, has anything been learned about the unusual instrumentation we found on their ship?”
“Little, except that it may not be so unusual in their eyes. The Warlock is working on it, but he hasn’t had much to report yet. It is still very early. I’ll keep you informed, Uncle Felix.”
* * *
On the way back from Adam’s place, I asked Roxanna about the two Pelitier women. Were they a mother and daughter or two sisters?
“Sisters, my lord. They are separated by twelve years, so your confusion is understandable. The younger of the two, Agnes, was the wife of the Council Wizard Vintiere, before his untimely death. Before the marriage, Maria had been Vintiere’s lover for many years.”
“To live with two sisters, one for wife, one for girl friend. Very strange,” I managed to say.
“Unusual, but within the law, my lord, and the three of them were happy enough. You see, Vintiere and Maria were of an age, and were lovers before their testing. He was a commoner while she was the child of a baron. This alone would not have stopped their marriage, had he been of but ordinary abilities. However, Vintiere scored at the top of his age group in the testing for the Wizard’s Academy, and thus was required to attend a long and arduous course of instruction. As an undergraduate student, he was forbidden marriage.”
“But didn’t Maria wait for him?”
“No, my lord, it was not permitted. She married a fisherman, following her father’s wishes. Maria had a son by this man. It was only after both father and son died in a boating accident that she was free to cohabit with her first lover.”
“So many questions. Must be patient with me. Baron father felt fisherman good husband for daughter? And wizard not good husband?”
“A student wizard might pass or he might fail, and if he failed he would be in a poor position to support a wife. A fisherman who owns his own boat is counted as wealthy, and an excellent provider.”
“Why baron father not want daughter to marry son of another baron? Would be like that in my country.” I couldn’t figure out how to say “same social class.”
She laughed a bit and said that such a thing would be impossible. When I looked confused, she gestured towards a bench in an alcove set into the wall of the tunnel-road and we sat down, leaving the maid standing and ignored. Adam was right. Servants here were treated like third-class humans.
“First, my lord, such a thing would be impossible because all of the barons are brothers or cousins, grandsons of the present duke’s father or grandfather. You see, a duke is encouraged to have as many children as possible, to ensure the continuation of the line. On the death of a duke, one of his sons is elected by the earls, the duke’s brothers and uncles, to be the next duke. After the election, the other sons, on reaching their majority, will become earls in turn. The son of an earl becomes a baron, one step lower on the ladder of the nobility. The son of a baron becomes a chevalier, although in fact only the duke, the archbishop and the warlock actually have horses. The sons of a chevalier are commoners.”
“Hum. You talk of sons only. What happen to daughters?”
“Why, they mostly get married, I suppose, except for those who feel a calling for the church, and even then, marriage and casual lovers are not forbidden the clergy, as I have heard is done in some of the outsider religions. Oh, I see what you mean. Well, my lord, you must understand that there is only one noble family on the Western Isles, and obviously it would be against the laws of God, man, and good breeding for a woman to marry back into her own family. Therefore, they must marry commoners. Oh, to be sure, they marry the wealthiest of these men if they have a choice, for they are of the best stock and come with good dowries. And of course, many score high in the testing, and marry wizards or clergymen.”
“Again you talk of testing. Explain, please.”
“Very well, my lord, although it is taking a long while to explain that two women are sisters!”
“Patience, please. We get back to sisters later. Talk about testing.”
“As you wish, my lord. At about the age of eighteen, every boy and girl in the isles is given a number of tests. The most important of these are written, and the young are tested for their intelligence, learning and piety. Other tests are physical, as in running, jumping and acrobatics. Among the boys, the best are selected for furthering their education either with the wizards, or with the church. Once they have satisfactorily completed their training, they enter into the ranks of those organizations.”
“And the girls?”
“Those maidens at the top of the lists who are not themselves noble are wed to the nobility, and those below them to the wizards and clergy. The great majority of both sexes are rejected by the tests, and may marry whoever they choose.”
“Best girls are forced to marry nobles and wizards?”
“Yes, although it is equally true that the young nobles and somewhat older wizards and clergymen are forced to marry the maidens. Remember that none of the tests were for beauty.”
I didn’t like the sounds of this system at all.
“In my country, people marry whoever they choose.”
“In your country, you have a population of far greater than our twelve thousand. Your gene pool is large enough to permit such freedoms. Here we are few in number, and the only way that we can assure that genetic drift does not turn our children into crippled imbeciles is with a program of deliberate breeding, and ruthless culling.”
Roxanna’s expression was suddenly hard, but what really shocked me was that this apparently medieval lady was suddenly discussing modern genetics!
“Culling? You mean killed?”
“No, my lord, we are not quite that brutal, except in the rare cases of serious birth defects.” I could she was getting upset with me, but I needed to get at the truth of this business.
“What you mean, then?”
“I’d really rather not discuss it now. Come. We must return home now if we wish to avoid an overcooked supper or a cold one.”
She got up and strode briskly down the tunnel. I was forced to follow her, for fear of getting lost in the maze of caverns under the surface of the island, if for no other reason. After a half hour or so of walking, she seemed to have calmed down, so I said, “So Agnes scored high on test, and wizard Vintiere marries sister of old sweetheart. Very lucky.”
“That a thing is improbable does not make it impossible, my lord. Also, well, sometimes things can be juggled, just a bit. It is illegal, of course, but I’m sure that it occasionally happens.”
“But now poor Vintiere is dead, you say. What happens to two sisters?”
“You would know the answer better than I, my lord, but it seemed to me that your friend Adam was much taken by both of them.”
“And if Adam does not marry one of them?”
“They have money for a year or two, I suppose, during which time they might find husbands or lovers. Barring that there is always the church.”
From her expression, I could see that I was getting far too close to forbidden ground again. I remained silent for the rest of the trip, and spoke only of inanities through supper.
That evening, as I was getting ready for bed, the maid, Felicia, came by to see if I needed anything. I said yes, and told her to sit down. Since it happened that I was sitting on the only chair in the huge, sparsely furnished room, I gestured for her to sit on the bed. She did as asked, but she was suddenly very nervous, sitting bolt upright with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
“What’s wrong? I say something I should not?”
“No, my lord. You are well within your rights. But still, I am a married woman.”
“What does . . . ? Oh golly! Felicia, I’m not think to have sex with you. It is just that on my country, a man does not force a woman standing while he is a friendly conversation with her. They would be not a polite. Understanding?”