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At sixteen, he had been betrothed to eleven-year-old Judith Knowles The ed to be of suitable age and Harald had finished his studies at Oxford Another two passed before she beca for a son and heir because twenty-year-old Harald had been slow in taking up his conjugal rights Others went so far as to claim that his fourteen-year-old brother, Guy, had been called upon to perform the service
Judith died in childbirth and Harald still felt pangs of guilt over her death He'd confessed to a feeling of relief when he received news of her passing and had done penance for it He'd never liked the girl It wasn't just her silly, childish ways She was vain and headstrong He'd tried to teach her to read but Judith had no ti She did, however, have time for Guy In his darkest hts returned to Alice She had nothing in common with the female members of his family His e of the world was confined to the petty jealousies of the shire Alice was gentle and caring She spoke Latin and French and was conversant with the writings of the saints and the authors of antiquity They had talked together for a long ti watch over Williaain when William's stitches needed to be removed He wondered what other excuses he could find
Alice changed into her own and took her place at the head of the table She said grace, broke bread and tried to concentrate on what she was doing Her e, a man had entered her life She had blushed when he'd called her an angel and turned away lest he see her confusion
The Gascoignes lived in a place called Wolf Wood Sir Willianers in the ith France and had a reputation for brutality Alice had assumed that the entire fa It was like picking up a coin and finding a demon on one side and a saint on the other Harald was a cultured, sensitive ht have been if their families had been better acquainted
Her aristocratic parents borrowed large sums of money to buy land It was an unwise move and her father had to find a way out His solution was to prohter of a rich irl Conjugal bliss didn't come into it One family needed to stave off bankruptcy and the other wanted to join the land-owning aristocracy