The Roof

Exodus 23:6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.

An open carriage came around the corner of the house and Lady Ambrose saw that there were two men in the front of it, the agent and a driver. That is to say that the driver was seated on his seat, and the agent was sitting, looking rather uncomfortable, on the backward-facing seat right behind the driver.

The carriage stopped and a footman opened the little door and brought down the step. Lady Ambrose, followed by Nara, stepped up in the carriage and after everything was closed up and without another word, the carriage started off.

Oh, but this was glorious. It was a rather chill morning but with bright sunlight, the combination making the ride bracing but not freezing. No one said anything for a full five minutes and then the agent tapped the driver, the carriage slowed, and the agent, waving his hands, began the tour.

“These fields to our left are our home fields. This is to say that peasants directly attached to the household work them. We follow the most up-to-date rotation methods, and this year they are planted in wheat.”

He tapped the driver again but kept talking as the carriage sped up. “This next field is in potatoes, but it just graduated from cattle. The most up-to-date journals insist that rotating like that is best for the land. The cattle stir up the land and enrich it, but leaving them too long impoverishes it, so we rotate them in and out frequently.”

The next few fields were all different, although the lecture was the same. Corn, sugar beets, cattle, sheep kept for wool, all of these in rotation according to the very most up-to-date ideas from the very best agricultural journals. It seemed her husband liked to be up to date.

“I can’t imagine my husband reading farm journals,” she said.

Her agent looked very embarrassed. “Certainly, he doesn’t bother himself with that,” he said, after an awkward pause. “He trusts me to do so.”

Hadassah blushed. She should have known better than to make a mistake like that. Her husband had good people, there was no reason why he should have to bother himself with reading farm journals.

She heard thunder and looked anxiously out, but what storm there was, it seemed very small, was quite a distance away, giving them nothing but a bit of cool wind.

“Oh, let’s stop here,” she said when the carriage came up to a series of huts. “I wish to meet the people.”

The driver must have heard her because he pulled over and hopped down to let her out. The agent looked awkward but followed the two girls out of the carriage.

Their arrival seemed to have taken the residents by surprise, with children running to and fro announcing their presence and incredulous housewives coming out of their houses, first to rebuke the children and then to turn, startled, to the agent and the girls, dropping frantic curtseys and calling for their children to line up.

In a minute or so, the entire population were outside. All women and children except for one old man who walked with a cane and didn’t seem to have a very good idea of what was going on.

Lady Ambrose stood a bit awkwardly, with the agent not helping at all, just standing behind her, but finally, she walked up to the housewife that stood closest. “I am… well you know I just married Our Lord, so I thought I would do a tour… go around and see all of his land, and meet everyone.”

“Oh, thank you, My Lady, most kind of you, My Lady,” the lady said, bobbing down again most unhelpfully.

“Can I, umm, can we… is everything good with your house and all?”

“Oh, yes, My Lady, most wonderful, My Lady,” the lady said, and Hadassah despaired.

“Now, Mrs. Jones,” Nara said, from behind her. “Where are your manners? Invite Our Lady in to see your house. I know you have some cordial that she would love.”

“Oh, oh, yes, My Lady,” the housewife said, sounding very relieved, “Come in this way, My Lady.”

Lady Ambrose followed the housewife into her house. It was a one-story dwelling, all made of stone with some sort of mortar and a thatched roof. Lady Hadassah had to duck to go through the door and when she straightened up, she gave a bit of a cough. The entire dwelling consisted of one room, with a fire burning on one side, a table in the middle, and on the opposite side from the fire, two levels of beds built right out of the wall.

The woman went to a cupboard that stood just to the right of the door and took out a small crock, unstoppered it, and, frantically wiping a mug that sat on the table, poured out a small libation for her lady.

Hadassah took a sip and gasped. It was very strong, but… “What fruit is this?” she asked as soon as she could speak. “The flavour is marvelous!”

“Plum and raspberry, My Lady,” the woman said, a huge smile on her face.

“Do you sell it?”

“Oh, yes, My Lady, at the county fair, I set up a booth, me and my oldest daughter. It sells out quickly; it does. Your husband even bought some once.”

“I’m not surprised,” Hadassah said. She certainly wouldn’t drink any more of it; it would give her quite a head. But she was sure her husband would enjoy it. “When you have some ready, send it up to the manor. I will tell the butler I have ordered it for my husband.”

“Oh, thank you, My Lady!”

Hadassah looked around. The building seemed in fair shape, the children roughly dressed but warm enough. What else should she be looking for?

“I think we had best go to the next house now,” she said. “Thank you so much for your hospitality.”

“Oh, no, My Lady, thank you!” the woman said, dropping into a deep curtsey.

The rest of the houses at that stop went about the same, except none of them had cordial. One man did some very fine whittling, and Hadassah commissioned a piece of one of her husband’s horses.

“Well, do you think I did well?” she asked Nara when they had gotten back in the carriage and were well down the lane.

“They will be talking about your visit for weeks,” Nara said. “The men will all be put out that they were working and weren’t there to greet you.”

“The fields to our right are used for horses,” the agent said. “Currently, they hold plough horses, but we rotate the horses around. The most up-to-date journals indicate that that is good for the horses, providing a balanced diet…”

Hadassah let her mind drift away from the most up-to-date information the agent was providing and stared out over the fields… where she didn’t see any horses. This area truly was beautiful. She could imagine her girlfriends telling her that she should be thrilled with her new position as it made her the mistress of all of this beautiful land… all of these beautiful horses that she did see as they came around a bend.

They would have her focus on the land, the buildings, the food… all that money could buy. Her household allowance alone was probably more than some of her friends’ husbands made.

Indeed they would probably argue that having her husband gone made it better. Was she not free to do whatever she wanted? She could curl up in a corner and read or go for walks. She could invite people over… not for great parties, obviously, but she could have all of the small parties that she wanted. The staff would probably be glad to…

She turned her attention back to the wagon as it was slowing down, coming to another small collection of houses. She saw a small boy pelting off toward the houses, yelling, and soon, women and children were all coming out and lining up.

“Good morning,” she said when she had gotten down and doing her best to address the whole crowd at once, which included two young men who had axes over their shoulders. “As you know, I am the new wife of Our Lord, and I am driving around…”

She felt much better about that speech and, by the third house, was almost comfortable. No one had anything like the cordial she had ordered, but she was still able to find things to praise in each house. At the second house, it was the sheer number of children!

But when she entered the last house on the left side of the street, she stared, not knowing what to say. There was a hole in the corner of the roof! She could see the sky through it. And the woman of the house looked terribly embarrassed.

Not knowing what else to do, she walked out and waved the agent over to her, away from the crowd. “Why is there a hole in that roof?” she asked, willing her voice to remain calm.

“We had a wind storm a few weeks ago and…”

“I’m not asking how it got a hole it in. Why isn’t it fixed?”

“I have applied to Our Lord for funds to…”

“Aren’t you the agent? Isn’t it your job?”

His face grew a bit tight. “For ordinary matters, yes. But this is a rather large expense and in this particular case…”

“But they can’t live like this! Fix it!”

“As I say, My Lady, your husband has not agreed to the expenditure and…”

“Well, then, charge it to me. I am sure that my allowance will cover it?”

“I… I am not familiar with how much Our Lord allows you, My Lady, but yes, I am sure that it would cover an expense such as this. It might mean you have to economise in the matter of dresses or the like. But…”

“Well, what do I care for that? I have plenty of dresses.”

She turned and walked back to the house, the agent following with his face still set to grim, and Nara grinning.

“Well, my good woman,” Lady Hadassah said when she got back to the house. “I have spoken to My Lord’s agent, and we will get men out here to fix your roof as soon as it can be arranged. Now, are these your children?”

Back in the carriage, Hadassah sat, stewing, for a few minutes and then burst out with, “So, why wasn’t it fixed?”

There was a bit of a pause. “I believe that your husband was reluctant to release funds to pay for that particular repair because the man of the house is, well, he has a bit of a problem with drinking and so doesn’t do the work he is contracted to do.”

“Well, surely his wife and children shouldn’t have to pay for that?”

“As you say, My Lady,” he replied, and Hadassah realised the position she had put him in.

“Let them know… through some back channel… that Our Lord is very displeased with the husband and would not have released the funds. Let it out that I am a flighty young thing who will no doubt be punished severely by my husband when he returns. Perhaps then the husband will think better of his ways, but the wife and children will still get a roof over their heads. How anyone could live in that…”

“Very well, My Lady. I think perhaps Nara would be a good one to pass that message on?”

Hadassah looked at Nara, who was grinning. “I don’t even have to lie,” she said. “I can pass this conversation on word for word, and everyone will understand the position. It would be foolish of him to count on this happening again. Indeed, his neighbours might take a bit of a hand, worried that Our Lady will be rebuked by Our Lord… which they will not wish since she is so popular. Are you hungry at all, My Lady?” she asked, making to take out the basket.

“Oh, yes, I am rather. Is there a good place to stop?”

“Indeed, My Lady, there is a public house with outdoor tables in just a few hundred yards. You can order drinks with your meal.”

“Our meal, I’m sure,” Hadassah said then, seeing his look, “That is, we can provide you some of it, and you can eat inside?”

“That would be appropriate, My Lady,” he said, looking relieved.

They stopped as advertised, and Lady Ambrose looked around as she descended. It seemed strange; there were only three buildings there. One was obviously a blacksmith, with loud clangings and thick smoke, one seemed to be a residence, and the third, which stood between the other two, was the public house. It was two stories, large if crude front windows, three tables outside, and a large, rather well-done sign proclaiming it the ‘Hammer and Smoke’ which, she felt, was rather appropriate.

She and Nara sat down at one of the tables, the one farthest away from the blacksmith, and Lady Ambrose looked out over the countryside. Truly it was beautiful. Fields stretching away into hills, with sheep dotted all over them. What a painting it would make.

Thank you for coming round Arthur’s Substack. I hope and pray it will be a blessing to you.

Arthur publishes with Wise Path Books and includes the children’s/YA books:

The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.

The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…

The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.

and

No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.

As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations. The book is a series of essays on how modern politics has gotten the wrong prescription for the wrong diagnosis.

Quite a few chapters of the Bobtails and No Ordinary School are here on this substack as audio.

I also write as Von, and I encourage you to check out that substack. There is a lot of theology and politics there, as well as quotes, poems, other articles, and links to other Science Fiction. But ‘Von’ also is publishing some serial books and stories. Much more adult and serious books than here, for the most part. Some of them.