14. Chapter 14: A Face Like A Rose

Chapter 14: A Face Like A Rose

            "Your mother would be pleased to see that you seem to be working hard on your sewing," said Mary to Hermione.

            Hermione's needle flew in and out of a dark blue piece of cloth. Just because she detested sewing didn't mean couldn't sew well. She was concentrating so hard on finishing a seam that she didn't reply to Mary's casual observation.

            Mary smiled at her mistress. Since midsummer, the girl's spirits had improved. She had stopped losing weight and a bloom had appeared on her cheeks. Mary wondered to herself if the ritual of Feill-Sheathain had anything to do with it, but was too prudent to ask Hermione. Some things, Mary knew, a girl wished to keep in her heart.

            Father Lorenzo too had also been pleased with Hermione's improved attention after Midsummer. The girl was smart, just as he and her father had always known, and had a good grasp of Latin. She could memorize passages with ease these days and hardly missed a single one. Besides that, she had stopped quarreling with him over the bible, and preferred to partake in interested questioning.

            "Father Lorenzo, you said that wives must submit themselves to their husbands in all things, but what does the bible say that Husbands must do on their part? For it seems unfair to me that we wives serve them like animals."

            "Husbands, mistress, must love their wives and be not bitter against them. They are responsible for their happiness and care. So you see, the Christian family is one filled with love."

            "You are right, for it is surely impossible to serve without love. I would rather not marry than have to serve without love. Did we not read in 1 Corinthians 13… et si distribuero in cibos pauperum…"