The Truth-Teller's Tale (7 page)

“Oh, for goodness' sake, we all know Roger is just some boy you're flirting with to flout your father,” I said crisply. “Tell us more about Wodenderry.”

Roelynn scowled for a moment, then allowed herself to forget my last unflattering remark. She recited the rest of her tale, and spoke in great detail about one of the attractive young noblemen who seemed to have spent the majority of his time at the ball telling her how beautiful she was. In fact, this enterprising young man had succeeded in stripping away one of her very expensive gloves so that he could kiss her on her bare wrist, and then he had insisted on keeping the glove as a memento of their encounter.

“He said he will write me every day,” she concluded rather dreamily. “I've told him that I can't possibly write back so often, but he said he will live for the one or two letters I manage to get off to him without my father's knowledge.”

I couldn't bring myself to look at Adele. I knew she would be smiling. “And I suppose you've brought one of those letters with you today?” my sister asked. “So that we can post it for you?”

“Yes!” Roelynn replied. “I knew you wouldn't mind.”

“But what about the prince?” I asked impatiently. Clearly it was pointless to ask again after Roger. “Melinda says you didn't meet him. Did you form any impression of him by what other people said? Did you spend any time thinking what it might be like to live at the palace?”

“Oh—the prince,” Roelynn said, waving a hand. “I don't think I have to worry about him for a while yet. He wasn't even
there
during my visit. And the queen scarcely mentioned his name to me. I don't really think she's looking for a bride for her son yet. I could tell my father was very happy about how the visit went, but I don't think they came to any kind of arrangement, or he would have been crowing about it the whole way back in the carriage. And he didn't. He just sat there and looked greedy and pleased.”

“So then,” Adele said, “tell us more about this handsome young nobleman you met at the ball.”

CHAPTER FIVE

It wasn't quite the end of Roger, though. Proximity proved to be more compelling than penmanship, and as the weeks passed and the notes from the young nobleman grew less frequent, Roger began to seem more appealing again to Roelynn. We heard about their assignations only sporadically, for we were back in school and much of our home time was claimed by chores, so we were not often free to meet with Roelynn, even when she could sneak away to look for us. Still, there were a number of whispered conversations late at night under the kirrenberry tree. Thus we learned how Roger had summoned the nerve to hold Roelynn's hand, the courage to kiss her, the temerity to touch her breast through the fine cotton of her dress. I was a little shocked at his forward behavior, but Adele, who was never shocked, merely recommended that Roelynn think very, very carefully before she allowed Roger to take any more liberties.

“You're a smart girl, and you know what can happen if you continue along this way,” Adele said. “Do you really want to explain to your father that you're carrying the groom's baby? I don't think you'll like your life much if that's what happens next.”

Roelynn was inclined to be indignant. “As if I would do something like that!”

Adele shrugged. “You're wild enough,” she said calmly. “Don't do something stupid and then pretend you had no idea what the consequences might be.”

Shortly after that exchange, Roelynn stormed away. I gave my sister an appraising glance. “For a moment there, you sounded like a Truth-Teller,” I said. “I'm not used to hearing you talk like that.”

“Well, it would be hard to keep the secret if she really did become pregnant by him,” Adele said dryly. “A little plain-speaking now might save years of future heartaches.”

We didn't see Roelynn for more than a week after that conversation, and when we did, it was rather an adventure. We had headed to the dressmaker's shop to pick up our new wool dresses. Autumn was well on the way, and we had outgrown last year's good winter clothes. As we entered the shop, I idly noticed a tall, broad-shouldered groom loitering outside, holding the bridle of a lady's horse. Adele saw him, too—Adele noticed everything—but she put it together more quickly than I did.

“Roelynn must be here,” she whispered. And sure enough, Roelynn was the first person we saw as we stepped through the door. Only then did I realize that the handsome groom must be the beloved Roger.

Roelynn seemed to have forgotten her pique. She greeted us with smiles and dragged us to a counter where the seamstress had laid out lengths of deep sapphire velvet and contrasting ribbons of palest blue. “Don't you think this will be the most beautiful gown ever? I can wear it at Wintermoon.”

We admired the color and asked about the cut. Lissette handed me my new dress as well as Adele's, and I carried them both to the back room to try mine on. I had just stripped down to my chemise when I heard a commotion out front and the violent sound of a door being wrenched open.

“Roelynn!” a man shouted, and he sounded as if he could not have summoned more rage if he had been falsely accused of treason. “
Roelynn Karro!
Are you in here? Your horse is out front, so you cannot hide from me. Come face me, you shameful, wicked girl!”

It was her father, of course. I clutched my dress and peered out through the crack of the door to see Karro prowling through the rows of fabric. He was a thickly built man, not particularly tall, with dark hair and swarthy skin and heavily marked features. His head always seemed too large for his frame, and when he was angry, he would swing it from side to side in a manner that made me think of a furious bull. At this particular moment, his face was enraged and his big hands were balled into threatening fists.

Roelynn stepped from around a counter and faced him with absolute coolness. “I'm right here, Father,” she said. “I wasn't hiding at all. What's wrong?”

“What's wrong?
What's wrong?”
he bellowed. “You've gone off with that sly, scheming stable boy, haven't you, after I expressly forbade you to see him again! I'll have him horsewhipped out of Merendon, see if I don't—yes, and I might take the whip to your back, too, you wretched girl! Consorting with gutter trash—acting like the most common woman—I raise you like a queen, I treat you like a princess, and this is how you behave the minute my back is turned—”

Roelynn took the verbal abuse—and what looked like the imminent possibility of physical abuse—completely without flinching. “That's not true, Father,” she said, as soon as she had a chance to speak. “I've never consorted with stable boys, as you say. I've never done anything improper. I don't know why you would accuse me of such a thing.”

“Don't lie to me!” he roared. “You're sneaking off to the stables at all hours—you think I'm too dull to see you, but I know what you're doing—hugging and kissing men who ought to be fawning on the ground at your feet—”

She spread her hands. “Father! What are you
talking
about? I go to the stables when I want to ride. I'm friendly to all the servants and grooms at the estate—which is more than I can say about you, with the way you yell at everyone for no reason at all! I'm not—I wouldn't—I'm horrified that you would say such things about me! That you would even think—” And here her voice trembled a little and she pulled out a handkerchief to cover her face.

“Are you telling me—do you mean—but you're off with the grooms every day! And that boy out front—yes, that one outside right now, holding your horse!—every time I go looking for you and you're gone, he's gone as well!”

She lifted her tear-streaked face from her handkerchief. “You
told
me,” she said with great dignity. “You made me promise I would not go off riding alone. I thought you
wanted
me to bring someone with me when I came into town. All the other grooms are too busy to dance attendance on some young girl, but Roger has always been kind enough to come with me when—”

“Ha! Roger! You call him by his name?”

“I call all of them by their names,” she said coldly. “Marcus and Hal and Jim and Roddie. Do
you
know any of their names? Do you ever speak to them at all—except to shout at them when they haven't saddled your horse quickly enough?”

Karro's dark face flushed darker, but he seemed to be losing some of the hot edge of his temper. He wanted to believe her, that was certain. He didn't want to think his only daughter, his jewel, his Roelynn, had been sullying herself with inferior men in the stalls in the back of the barn. “Are you telling me the truth?” he demanded, staring down at her composed face. “Or are you just saying what you think I want to hear?”

Roelynn pointed, and Karro's eyes lifted in the direction she indicated. “Ask Eleda,” she said. “She'll tell you the truth.”

I had to stuff my fingers in my mouth to keep from crying out. Adele stepped forward tranquilly and gave Karro a little curtsy. Lissette and the two other customers in the store did not move or say a word.

“Good afternoon, sir,” Adele said in a soft, demure voice. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Are you the Truth-Teller?” he barked. “Or are you that other one?”

“I'm the Truth-Teller,” Adele said.

“Then is my daughter telling me the truth? Has she been spending time with this—this groom when my back is turned? Or is she merely behaving as any good gentle-woman should and making sure she is accompanied any time she rides out?”

Adele managed to make her voice sound both scandalized and respectful. “Spending time with a groom, sir? Roelynn? Oh, no. Absolutely not. Roelynn has never done anything improper, with a groom or with anybody.”

“Hmph. Well. All right. If you say so,” Karro said, appeased and mollified. He patted Roelynn awkwardly on the back and spoke in a gruff voice. “I'm sorry I accused you, then. But you're such a tricky thing. No one can keep track of you.”

“I don't try to be difficult, Father,” Roelynn said, sounding wounded.

“No. I'm sure you don't. It's just that you—but there. We've said enough about this. What do you say to a little treat, hey? Do you see some pretty ribbons you like? A yard of lace, maybe? You pick out something you want, and I'll buy it for you. Don't be angry with your old bear of a father. I just want what's best for you.”

“I know you do, Father,” she said in a quiet voice. “And you don't have to buy me presents.”

“Of course I do! My only daughter! I'll buy you everything in the whole shop if you want it.”

“Well, then—” she said and looked around. “There was this beautiful flowered silk. I saw it when I came in—”

Karro wasn't much interested in shopping, it turned out. He merely motioned Lissette over and stuffed a few coins in her hand, with the admonition to “let me know if this doesn't cover it.” Then, with his characteristic heavy step, he stalked back to the door and out onto the street. I couldn't see well enough to notice if he exchanged a few sharp words with the offending groom or not.

I couldn't scramble into my clothes fast enough. “Roelynn!” I squealed, running back out to the front of the shop and grabbing her hands. “How frightening! What a terrifying man your father is! But you were so calm!” I turned to look at my sister. “And you—”

Adele pursed her lips and nodded at me, clearly enjoining silence. I abruptly shut my mouth. All her good work would go undone if the other women in the shop realized that the wrong twin had proclaimed Roelynn's innocence to her father.

“You were very brave,” I ended lamely.

“I am only glad we were able to reassure him,” Adele said. “But Roelynn—and forgive me, but I must speak the truth—I think it is time your behavior was more circumspect. I know, I know, you have done nothing wrong, but perhaps you should be more careful of the impression you give your father. You don't want to give him additional reasons to suspect your actions. You would hardly want to see such an unpleasant scene reenacted in a more public place.”

“No, you are quite right,” Roelynn said, sounding both more subdued and more sincere than I heard her in quite some time. “I must be better. I
will
be better. I do not want such a thing to happen ever again.”

And that really was the end of Roger. But it was hardly the end of Roelynn's illicit romances with unsuitable men. But then, none of us had really believed it would be.

 

 

As it turned out, Roelynn did have a chance to wear the blue velvet gown over Wintermoon. Most folk celebrated the cold, year-end holiday with traditional bonfires and small family gatherings, but Karro did things up in a much grander style. So he planned a lavish dinner party for Wintermoon night and invited the richest families from Merendon and the neighboring towns.

Adele and I were not on this list, of course, but we were intimately informed of all the details of the event as they were finalized, because Roelynn came by every day or two to fill us in. We knew who had accepted the invitation, who had declined, what the menu would include, and how the house would be decorated. In fact, we helped gather some of the greenery for those decorations on a frosty expedition one winter afternoon. Roelynn and a stablehand (not Roger) came by in a well-sprung cart to pick up Adele and me in front of the inn, and we set out for the wooded acres that could be found a few miles outside the city limits. The three of us sat in the back under a heavy quilt and chatted while the driver made his way down the frozen, rutted lanes to the outskirts of the forest.