Bertrice Small - Besieged

"He won't sell my bond to another," Comfort said smugly. "The master likes me. I see how he looks at me even if you don't."

"Go and polish the furniture in the salon," Fortune snapped. "It is full of dust, and you have been neglecting your duties."

That night as she lay in Kieran's arms she said to him the words he had been longing to hear. "I am with child again, my love."

"Will you give me a son this time?" he asked, as if she could actually guarantee his wish.

"Aye," she said blandly. " 'Tis a lad I carry this time. I know it in my heart. It is not as it was with Aine."

"When he is born," Kieran said, "I shall give you the moon, and the stars, and anything else your heart desires, Fortune mine."

"I should like a down payment on your rash promise," she half-teased him.

"Name your wish, wife," he urged her.

"I want you to sell Comfort's bond to another," Fortune replied.

He was only half surprised by her request. "What has the wench done to displease you, Fortune? I know she is infatuated with me, but she's still just a sixteen-year-old girl, and her life has been so hard. Surely you're not jealous, sweetheart?" He caressed her breasts lovingly.

"There is nothing girlish about Comfort," Fortune said. "She is as old as Eve, and has the cold heart of a whore. Do you know what she had the temerity to say to me today?"

He was almost afraid to ask, but he did, and was somewhat shocked by the answer.

"She has not been doing her housework, and Mrs. Hawkins says she will not help in the kitchen unless absolutely driven to it. She disappears for hours on end, and no one seems to know where she is. She is a discordant note in our home, and I don't want her here, Kieran. I am already affected by the new life growing inside of me. I cannot, I do not, want to cope with the wench."

"It will not be easy to find someone to purchase her bond," he said thoughtfully. "I bought her in Virginia, and the price I paid for her included the cost of her passage. When her term of indenture is up, I must give her fifty acres of land, an ox, a gun, two hoes, a skirt and waist of penistone, shoes, stockings, a blue apron, a linen smock, two linen caps, and three barrels of corn. I don't know if there is anyone here who will have her."

"Then take her back to Virginia, and sell her," Fortune said irritably. "Or better yet, we'll give her a purse, and send her back to England on the Cardiff Rose next time she returns. Who is to know she was transported for theft? She certainly won't tell them else she be thrown back in Newgate. With a purse she can set herself up in a little shop, or find a husband to quell that itch that is consuming her."

"Let me see if I can find someone to purchase her bond from me," Kieran said. "I dislike losing the entire investment, and she has worked off two years of her bond already. I'll not get full price for her, Fortune."

"I don't care if you get nothing for her. If someone can be found to take her, sign her bond over to them gratis. I just want her out of our house!" Fortune said.

"When the harvest is in, I promise you," he said.

The tobacco was cut in September and hung in the curing house to dry. Then it was tied into bundles, and packed into hogsheads for shipment to England on the Cardiff Rose. The O'Malley-Small trading company now had a small investment in tobacco which was to prove highly profitable. The Cardiff Rose would also take barrels of corn to England. The colony was growing more than it needed, and a cash crop was always welcome. The garden crops were gathered in, the root crops and the cabbages stored in the cellar for winter use. The men went hunting for deer and fowls to be hung and kept for winter's meat. The Highlander returned with three milk cows, two team of oxen, two dozen hens, and a rooster.

Around them were signs of the coming winter. The geese were flocking in great cackling groups that filled the waters of the bay. The trees were turning colors. The maples gold and red. The oaks red and russet. The beeches and birches a wonderful rich gold, almost the same color as the dried tobacco. And Fortune began to bloom with the evidence of her coming child as did her serving woman, Rois.

One afternoon as the two women sat outside the house sewing new garments for their children Comfort Rogers came into view. There was an almost slatternly look about her today. There were pine needles in her hair, and she had a look about her that caused Rois to say, "I wonder who she's been lying with, m'lady."

"God's nightshirt!" Fortune swore. "If she gets herself a big belly Kieran will never be able to get rid of her, the little bitch!"

"Is he going to sell her bond?" Rois asked. "I'm glad! You should see her eyeing my Kevin. Rubs up against him every chance she gets. I'd like to scratch her eyes out, but I'd not make a scene and embarrass you, m'lady. I'll not be sorry to see her go! The bondmen gossip to the other men, and 'tis said for a ha'penny, Comfort Rogers will spread her legs without argument."

Fortune closed her eyes, and swore softly to herself. Then opening them she looked directly at Rois and asked, "Why didn't you tell me this before? The girl is, as I suspected, a trull. We have to get rid of her, and the sooner the better!"

"I can't find a buyer to take her bond," Kieran admitted to his wife when pressed about the situation that evening.

"The wench is lying on her back for any and all, Rois tells me," Fortune said angrily.

"I know," he admitted unhappily. "That is why I can't get anyone to take her bond. No decent woman will have the wench in her house. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I only meant to give you servants as you have always had. I didn't want you to be unhappy in Mary's Land."

Shaking her head ruefully Fortune cuddled her husband on her breasts. "What a coil," she said. "Well, there is no other choice. We will have to send her back to England with a purse to keep her. I cannot have her whoring from our home. It will bring us into disrepute if we appear to be allowing it, and how can we stop her short of shackling her?" She paused. "Perhaps we should so she can't run off all the time where we cannot find her. I think we should have her whipped, and put in the stocks. That will show everyone that we do not condone her bad behavior. Then we will shackle her ankles so she cannot roam."

"It's harsh," he said, "but I agree. The Cardiff Rose is back one final time this year. When she sails for England Comfort Rogers will be aboard her, I promise you, Fortune. We can't be bothered with such a wayward wench."

Fortune called her servants together the following morning. "I am well aware," she began, "of the bad behavior of some of you. You are put on notice that I will not tolerate it any longer. I will sell the bond of any whose behavior is not Christian, or proper." She looked sternly at the four bondmen, who, though they professed the Puritan faith, had been as dissolute as anyone else. "Comfort Rogers, you are not to leave the house without my permission. Do you understand me?"

Comfort glared sullenly at her mistress, but was silent.

Fortune did not press the issue. The decision had been made concerning Comfort's fate.

"About time," Mrs. Hawkins said to Dolly, the nursemaid. "I wouldn't be surprised to see her gone, and sooner than later."

"Do you really think mistress will sell her off?" Dolly asked.

"If they can find someone to take the jade," Mrs. Hawkins said. "I'm sick unto death of hearing how master looks at her. The wench needs a good beating, I tells you."

"She probably wouldn't mind if master administered it," Dolly giggled. "Owww!" She rubbed her arm where Mrs. Hawkins had smacked her with a hard wooden spoon. "What was that for?"