< previous page page_185 next page >

Page 185
of a strain this meal was on them. She realized by now that it was the custom of the day not to serve people individually, but for them to be eating from the same trenchers as the soldiers must turn their stomachs.
She turned to go back to the kitchen, only to find Thorn standing there. Had he heard that last exchange? She felt herself redden, as though she had contributed to the insult. She wished she could apologize for their rudeness, to remove the hurt their comments must cause.
If he'd heard, he chose to ignore it. "So, Maitland," he said, "why did Ainsley not accompany you on this expedition?"
"Your friend Sergeant Ainsley was planning to come," Maitland replied, "but I volunteered to allow him to remain at the fort to handle more important matters."
"Then you consider your mission unimportant?" Mariah could have bitten her tongue for taunting him, but she couldn't call the words back.
"Only the objects of it, those who intentionally flaunt the law of this land, are unimportant. Beneath our contempt."
A chair scraped on the wooden floor, and Mariah saw that Francis had risen to his feet, anger written on his formerly mild features. "Only the absurd laws are contemptible," he shouted. "We have been treated with scorn long enough. It is our turn to be respected."
"Then behave in a manner worthy of respect," Maitland said. With a ramble of chairs and feet, he and his soldiers also rose, each with a hand poised over the hilt of his sword. "Do not break the laws, even if you find them as contemptible as we find you."
"Ah, gentlemen." Holly entered the room with two metal pots she gripped by rags about the handles. She was followed by squat René, who balanced a tray covered with an assortment of mugs and earthenware cups. "Tea. I'm sure, I am, that you'll all wish some." She put down the pots on two tables, one of them Maitland's, then took cups from René's tray. With Mariah's and René's help, she put cups at all the places, whirling between people as though cutting the strings between them that had caused them all to remain standing.

 
< previous page page_185 next page >