Saraband for Two Sisters

“Good day to you,” he said. “It’s long since you called on us.” I looked at him in amazement and he returned my gaze. Then understanding dawned on me.

“You must be mistaking me for my sister. I am Bersaba Landor.”

“Indeed. It is so? Mistress Tolworthy has mentioned that she had a twin sister.”

“I am that twin sister.”

“Then I am happy to make your acquaintance and so will my sister be. Would you care to call on her? Our farmhouse is but half a mile away.”

I was ready for such an adventure on this day of emptiness and I expressed my readiness to meet his sister.

I studied him as we rode while he chatted in a rather reserved manner about the crops and the harvest. I could always be interested in other people’s affairs. It was a quality I had which made up for the lack of that sweetness (of which Angelet had taken the major share) and while she would have expressed polite interest it would have been clear that her mind was wandering off somewhere else. But mine was a genuine desire to learn what people were doing and this was one of the reasons why I sometimes seemed to win people’s admiration, for there is nothing to delight them more than a show of interest for their concerns.

I gathered at once that this man who introduced himself as Luke Longridge was a Puritan. His dress proclaimed him as that and when I met his sister in her plain gray gown I was convinced of this.

The farmhouse was cozy and I was given some of their homemade brew and hotcakes to go with it, which was pleasant, and the sister, Ella, asked after Angelet. I told them of the toothache and they in their turn wished their condolences to be taken to her. I heard from Ella what I had already heard from Angelet, how my sister had ridden over and been taken ill there at the time of her miscarriage. I asked a great deal of questions about the farm and learned that that January had been a very bad time, as the inclement weather had made lambing difficult, and how busy they had been the planting runcival or marrow fat peas. The barley sowing had gone well in March and Ella had had her hands full in April as she always did, sowing flax and hemp and of course the herbs in her own garden. Hops were very profitable and since they had been introduced into the country during the reign of Henry VIII a great many farmers were growing them even though they needed very special attention. Then we went into the difficulties of the hay and the corn harvests, for which of course they required extra labor and had to call in traveling laborers to give a hand.

I sensed though that the real interest of this household was not so much farming as politics and I realized that Luke Longridge had a burning desire to make his opinions known.

He was a reformer. That was obvious. I must compare him with Richard Tolworthy, for I compared all men with him. Richard’s mind ran along the lines it knew it should go. He was a strong man, with firm ideals. Luke Longridge was a rebel against those very conventions which Richard upheld so strongly.

I thought suddenly of what Angelet had told me about a man she had seen in a pillory, his face bloodied because someone, by order of the law, had just deprived him of his ears.

I said, “I suppose one should be careful of making too much comment lest it come to mischievous ears.”

He smiled, and I saw a fanatical light in his eyes. This man would be a martyr if the occasion arose to demand it. I had always thought martyrdom foolish, for what good did it do to die for a cause? Surely it was much better to live and fight for it in secret? I said something of this and I saw an expression in his eyes which I realize I kindled. I was not quite sure what it meant but I was aware of it.

I went on to say that I thought that there was peace with the Scots over the matter of religion, which had been causing a great deal of trouble there, and he answered that the Parliament of Scotland had confirmed the acts of the General Assembly, which was right and fitting, and that they were in communication with some of the leading Puritans in England.

“Of which you are one,” I said.

He looked down at his plain garb and said, “I can see that you are aware of my opinions.”

“They are clear to see.”

“And you come from a Royalist household so you will doubtless not wish to call on us again.”

“I would certainly wish to call on you, to hear your arguments. How can one form an opinion unless one hears from both sides?”

“I doubt the General would wish you to come here to talk politics. He has not forbidden his wife to call, no doubt because my sister was of some use to her when she was ill and he is grateful, but I feel sure he does not wish for regular visits between our families.”