Ethelwyn gives his word

“Wyn?” Hetty called.

Ethelwyn bowed. “Yes, Your Grace?”

“Hetty!” she corrected. “Only Hetty!”

“My lady,” he said, bowing again. “That is the best I can do.”

“Oh, Wyn,” she sighed. “We used to be such friends.”

“I hope we still are, insofar as I may presume. But even when you were ‘only’ Lady Hedwige, you will recall I did not call you by your Christian name.”

“You are too much a gentleman at times, I think. But, Wyn, I need you to be a gentleman tonight. Will you be, for me?”

“I shall be anything you ask, my lady.”

“If I ask you to be… a rooster?” She smiled playfully, in a flare of that gentle humor he so loved in her. Indeed, he supposed she thought it rather a racy joke.

“Then I shall crow,” he said solemnly.

She laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh, that would be too funny! Perhaps later I shall remember you said that and ask you to crow for me. But first I only need you to be a gentleman. Will you?”

“I hope I am at all times.”

“Yes, I think so, but this requires a special delicacy. I wish you to watch over Lady Wynflaed’s sister and make certain that she is having a pleasant time, whether with the other ladies and gentlemen, or, failing that, with your self. Will you?”

“Certainly, if you wish it. But I fail to see why a special delicacy is required for that.”

“Well, you see, Lady Wynflaed’s mother was the daughter of the old Lord Hamelan and of the daughter of the old-​old Lord Windhlith… but she was born on the wrong side of the sheets,” she added in a whisper.

“I see,” he said gravely, though amused by her concern. “But I don’t think we need to hold the girl responsible for what her grandmother might have done. After all, if we go far back enough, I think we might all have a few such stories in our families.”

“I suppose it’s possible…” she said dubiously.

“I’m certain you don’t…”

“Oh, no. If everyone does, then I am certain I do, too. But it is no matter, after all, as you say.”

“It is certainly no matter to me,” he assured her. “And I have found Lady Wynflaed to be very ladylike indeed, so I am certain her sister will be quite the same.”

“Oh, Mouse is not quite the same…”

“Mouse?”

“She likes to be called Mouse,” Hetty giggled. “No one knows her real name except her family. I am not certain Sigefrith knows. Is it not cute?”

“Quite cute.”

“And she is quite funny, and she sings so prettily. If you wish to crow, you might ask her to sing along,” she teased. “So, will you do this for me?”

“I shall do it for you, with pleasure, though I would be obliged to you if we were to omit the crowing,” he smiled.

“Agreed. And do not let her know that you are only pretending for my sake.”

“I certainly shall not! For your sake, my lady, I shall be so attentive to her that if she does not believe me in love with her by the end of the evening, I shall consider myself to have failed.”

“Just so long as she doesn’t fall in love with you, naughty boy,” she scolded.

“I have never been able to help that,” he winked.