Saraband for Two Sisters

“Then don’t question these matters. They are ... because they are. We are made as we are and for some of us our natural impulses are too great to be resisted. Mine, his, and yours. If I marry you there will be no recrimination. From the day we have taken our vows, this child of mine will be yours and you will think of it as such. Do not think I am not conscious of what you are doing. I love you for it, Luke. I promise you I will be a good and faithful wife and I will give you a son of your own ... though you must not mind too much if it should be a daughter... .”

“I want to marry you,” lie said. “It shall be as you say. The marriage must take place soon because of the child.”

“Secretly?” I said.

“Without delay. It must be thought that we are already married. I shall have to tell Ella, but she will think the child is mine.”

“Not only will you marry me but you will tell lies for my sake?»

“Yes,” he said, “I will do this. There has come to me that which I longed for and I must not complain of the manner in which it has come.

I held out my hand to him. “You will be a good husband to me, Luke,” I said, “and I will do my best to be a good wife to you, I swear it.”

It was a simple ceremony in the small parlor of the farmhouse. Ella was a little shocked, for she believed we had forestalled our marriage vows, but the thought of a child was such a delight to her that she was ready to waive her disapproval and I think she was secretly pleased to have another woman in the household, particularly as she knew I was not of the kind to interfere with the management of it. After the ceremony I rode back to Far Flamstead. It was two days before Christmas.

“I have something to say to you,” I told Angelet. “I am married.”

She stared at me in disbelief.

“To Luke Longridge,” I went on.

She could not believe it. “You’re joking. You? Married to a Puritan?»

“Yes, why not? Puritans are good people. I think they make good husbands. However, we shall see.”

“When?” she demanded.

“Well, I am already with child.”

“So you married secretly! Why did you not go and live at the farm? Your husband was there and you were here. I don’t believe it.”

“Don’t ask too many questions,” I said. “I am with child so the marriage must have taken place some time ago.”

“A child... . When?”

“August perhaps.”

“Bersaba!”

“Well, our mother always said I was unpredictable, didn’t she?”

“What will Richard say?”

It was my turn to flush. What would he say? I felt floods of misery rushing over me. It was over-that wonderful adventure such as I had never before experienced and never would again.

“It is not his affair,” I said coldly.

“He was fond of you. He looked upon himself as a sort of protector. And you married without the consent of our parents ... or telling us,»

“It is done. No one can undo it. And I am going to have a child.” ‘That will be wonderful.” The cloud lifted from her face and she went on. “You will be near me. We shall not be parted. I shall ride over to the farm every day or you will come here. I shall be with you when the baby is born. I shall help you care for it.”

“Yes, Angelet,” I said, “yes.”

Then she embraced and kissed me. “But Luke Longridge ... the Puritan! Richard won’t like it.”

“Perhaps not.”

“He dislikes the Longridges. He says the Puritans are making trouble in the country. There are too many of them in Parliament and they are always writing those absurd pamphlets. And then they nearly fought that duel.”

“What a mercy they didn’t, for if they had, one of us might have been without a husband.”

“But Richard likes you, Bersaba. I know he does.”

“Yes, I think you are right.”

“He’ll miss talking to you. He loved those battles and the chess and all that. You’re so much cleverer at it than I… But you must come here ... often.»

“I shall have to be with my husband, and we mustn’t forget the animosity between yours and mine.”

“It will make no difference to us.”

“None whatever,” I said.

Then she kissed me again and talked about the baby.

And I told Phoebe to pack my belongings, for we were going to live at Longridge.

What a strange Christmas day that was. Angelet came to the farm to spend it there. We attended prayers in the morning, when the whole of the household assembled and we all knelt while Luke prayed for our souls.

How different it was from those Christmases celebrated at Trystan and Castle Paling.

Here Christmas was not a day for frivolity; we were celebrating the birth of the Lord and simply that; constant references were made to his death, so there was no real rejoicing in his birth.