Sigefrith pays Eadgith a compliment

Eadgith was flustered already by the broad smile of the young guard who had opened the door for her, so she was utterly discomposed when she saw Sigefrith sitting on his throne across the hall. Oh, why hadn’t she come in through the back stairs?

But he looked up at her and smiled.

“Where is everybody?” she gasped, and immediately felt like a fool.

“I sent them all away,” he said simply, closing the book he had been reading.

“Oh, then I shall…” She pointed at the door. She couldn’t remember the word for it just then.

“Just a moment, young lady. Your king has not dismissed you.”

She curtsied automatically, and he laughed. Oh, when had she last seen him laugh?

“Were you reading?” she asked after a desperate search for something to say, and again felt like a fool. What else would he have been doing with the book?

“Is it such a surprise to see me reading?”

“One doesn’t often see you with a book,” she admitted.

“Now, if you mean to hint that I am somewhat lacking in erudition, young lady…”

“Oh, no!” she gasped. “I should never! Why, I don’t know how to read at all!”

“Would you like to learn?”

“Oh—I don’t know. Alred says I should learn so that I can read the poetry that the young men will write me.” Again, a fool. Luckily she thought she could not blush any more brightly than she already was.

He laughed again. “Just so long as Alred doesn’t mean to write any of it himself.”

“Oh, no. He’s quite in love with his wife,” she assured him, and then found she could in fact blush more brightly. Idiot! Idiot!

“Ah, but it would require more poetry and more erudition than either you or I possess, fair lady, to tell how Alred loves his wife. Let’s not try.”

She nodded.

“You might tell the young men to read their poetry to you, in any event. I suspect it would be more pleasing to the ear than to the eye,” he winked.

“Oh! I don’t know…”

“Have you come to see Brit?” he asked.

Eadgith was relieved that he had chosen a safe subject. “I should like to, if she is here. But in truth I came to see my father.”

“Ah,” he said, taking a deep breath and rocking back onto his heels as he did when he was being thoughtful. “Your father is not here.”

“Do you know when he will return?”

“He shall not return until I have summoned him. This shall not be for some time.”

Eadgith hesitated. It sounded more like an affirmation than an observation.

“Your father and your mother have misbehaved, and I sent them home.”

“Home?” Eadgith had been thinking of returning to Raegiming with her father. He had not sent for her at her brother’s house. But it did explain why her mother had been locked up in her room all the morning.

“I don’t know whether either of them arrived, or even where they went. I’m afraid I was too entirely out of patience yesterday to see them off.”

“What did they do?” she asked hesitantly.

“They said things that I hope they will regret.”

She nodded. He did not seem to wish to tell her.

“How do you do it, honey?”

“How do I do what?”

“How do you remain afloat in this tempest-​tossed family of ours?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I suppose I love them all separately.”

He chuckled. “I feel the same way about your parents. I love them both—but separately.”

She smiled.

“I believe you are the only one whose head I have never desired to smack against a wall.”

Eadgith blinked in surprise. “I hope you never will.”

“I certainly shall never do it. You may yet frustrate me to the point of desiring it, but perhaps it will not be through your fault.”

“I hope I shall not.”

“Perhaps you will not,” he said thoughtfully. “You are a remarkably gracious young woman.”

“Thank you.”

“I told your father not long ago that you remind me of no one so much as my mother, and he agreed. I know you never knew her—even I scarcely did—but if you knew how she has long served as the spotless ideal of womanhood to these two fond old men, you would appreciate the compliment we are paying you.”

“My father has told me of her.”

“He knew her better than I. We did not think to see her like again, but perhaps there is one such a woman in a family every second generation.”

“You are very kind to say so.”

“I should have said it long ago. I have seen you with your family, and I believe that you are a bit trampled underfoot at times, when your brother does not remember to stand guard over you.”

“I don’t know…”

“A compliment now and then would do you good, I think. But if I tell you now, it is for a reason. I have been thinking about your father, and I should like to tell you not to underestimate the influence a woman he loves and respects can have on a man, particularly her disapprobation. Do you understand?”

She did not wish to admit she didn’t, but she thought she understood only in part. She nodded hesitantly.

“I have planted the idea in his head. Now it is up to you. When you frown at him, I believe he will have the notion that it is Lady Hwala frowning at him, and you can do a lot with such a frown.”

Eadgith’s blush, which had only begun to fade, returned at once. She did wish he hadn’t put things in quite that way.

“You might think about it. Now, I believe it possible your father only went to Nothelm, so, if I may, I shall send for him there, on your behalf. Meanwhile I would be grateful if you would go up to Brit. She does love you.”

“I love her, too,” she said, “and I shall be glad to see her. But I thought you didn’t want to see my father?”

“I shan’t see him, mind. But between my sulking and your frowning, we may make an impression on him.”