at the husband, whom he caught eyeing the child rather wistfully. "He looks to be a healthy lad. He could be a support in your old age. . . ."
The scowl returned. "I'll not raise another man's brat, Lord, with all the village laughing at me."
"If you'd not made a fuss," Galeran pointed out, "no one would have known."
That was a choice he would have welcomed.
"She told me in public, Lord Galeran! That she were with child. It were a shock."
Galeran turned to the woman. "Agnes, why did you do that?" When she remained silent, he said, "Speak, or I will have you whipped."
She flashed him a resentful look, but muttered, "I never thought he'd admit his failing, Lord."
"Ah. So you thought shame would keep him silent so you could keep both husband and lover."
Betraying color rose in her round cheeks.
A merry coil indeed, but Galeran felt some sympathy for a young woman tied to an old and impotent husband. "Edric, why marry a young, lusty wife if you've no interest in swiving her?"
"Oh, I've interest, Lord," said the old man, raising a laugh from the bystanders. "I thought a young 'un 'd spark me up, like."
Galeran turned to Agnes. "And why did you marry Edric? Were you forced?"
When she hesitated, a burly man stepped forward. "She was not, Lord Galeran. I'm her father, for my sins, and it was her will entirely to marry Edric."
Galeran waved him back. "Well, Agnes?"
She was still scowling, but he thought her lips trembled. Despite her sturdy build, she was surely younger than Aline. "He's a well-to-do man, Lord. I didn't know about his problem. He should have said something."
"True enough. And, as the priest has told you, if you want to complain of your husband's inability, it could be grounds for breaking the marriage so you could marry the father of your child."
She stared straight at him. "Nay, Lord. I'd not want that!"
"Why not?"
Her eyes slid around, perhaps hesitating for a moment on a florid, black- haired young man who seemed to be finding this inquiry amusing. "I don't like him," she muttered at last.
"Then why lie with him?"
"He's lusty and I itched for a man."
Galeran was distracted by the notion that such a simple itch might explain Jehanne's behavior. But no. She had at least as much willpower as he.
Perhaps more.
"So," he asked the woman. "What's going to happen next time you itch?"
She sniffed. "I don't know, Lord. I plan to be a better wife, but I do miss the swiving."
It would be nice, thought Galeran, if England had a version of the Arab harem but with one woman having a number of husbands. Agnes could have a husband to support her and help her raise her children, and a lover to ease her itch and conceive them with her. As it stood, there was no neat solution.
"Perhaps I can give your husband a few suggestions that might help matters a little," he said. Both husband and wife looked at him with cautious hope but then scowled at each other with resentment.
"Well, Edric?" Galeran said to the sour-faced old man. "You deserve a penalty for making a foolish marriage. Will you take her back, babe and all?"
"If I take her back, I'll have a rod to her first. A man has his pride!"
Galeran saw Agnes stick out her tongue at her husband, and was tempted to kick her under the table to try to make her behave. He felt less like a lord in judgment than like a nurse trying to govern two unruly children.
"That's between you and her," he said.
"Nay, Lord, it ain't," protested Edric, "for she's stronger than me, and faster too. I can't catch her!"
Galeran was hard pressed not to join in the laughter of the crowd. "Well, Agnes? Will you stand still long enough to be beaten?"
He thought she'd refuse, but her round face twisted in thought. "He's to beat me only the once?"
"He'll get my help to do it only the once."
She looked up at her husband. "Will you always be on at me about it? Will you be nasty to the child?"
"Nay," said Edric grudgingly. "I'll forget. And I'll not take it out on the child. It's true enough that a healthy son'll be a good thing to have. You shouldn't have spoke it out in front of the village, Agnes. You should have given me time to think about it."
She sighed. "Aye, I reckon that's true. For that I deserve the beating." She stood, dumped