Maid Marian Read Free Page A

slipped and skated and patted the snow and soon were joined by a group of boys.
    These boys played rough, and in one frenzied moment a handful of snow went down my neck. I turned to see who my attacker was but only caught sight of fleeing dark hose and a green tunic. Filling my mittens with a great wad of snow, I dashed after him as fast as I could, chasing his tunic around bends and hills. I was faster than most of the girls, but I had a hard race to catch this rascal, for he seemed intent on getting away.
    Finally he dropped over a snow-topped hill, and I dropped too, catching him clean on the neck with my snowball as I fell. I laughed aloud at my revenge, but when he stood I ceased all laughter. My attacker was Hugh, and when he rose, breathing hard, his face contorted to a shade and look I had never seen on a person before. His features seemed twisted with some great emotion, dark and hideous, almost as if he might cry, though I did not think he would.
    In another second he bent over me and slapped my face with the back of his hand.
    “Hugh!” I cried, clasping the stung cheek. “Why . . . ?”
    “You should know better, wife.” He said the last word with vicious scorn and kicked a pile of snow on my skirt. “You are to obey me, don’t you know that? I am your husband, and I can do with you what I please.”
    With that he dragged me to my feet and pulled me, slipping and sliding, around a second bend to where a group of tall boys were building a wall out of snow.
    “Look what I found,” he cried, casting me down at their feet. I bit my lip and felt the rusty taste of blood.
    “A girl! What do you want with her, Hugh?”
    “Who is she, Hugh?”
    “She’s my wife,” he said, proudly this time. “She’s got to obey me. Isn’t that right, Marian?” He kicked me hard, and I muffled a cry. “See? She’s been disobedient this afternoon, and I propose we show her what happens to girls who spite their masters. What do you say to that, lads?”
    They all cheered at this, and I began to cry. I had no idea what boys of this age might want to do with me, but I was quite certain I would not like it. More than anything I wished for one of my comrades to come, to save me, but they would never venture this far from the castle. I thought perhaps my life was ending.
    Hugh yanked me up by my hair and ordered me to hoist my skirts so his scruffy friends might see a lady’s legs for themselves. I wore thick hose and so was not afraid for the cold, but the very fact that they wanted to see made me frightened to show. Had we been but four years younger I might have taken off all my clothes, but suddenly this smaller act had a depth of meaning I did not care for. Perhaps it was the sneer on Hugh’s face or the way the boys looked at me, so silent and so desperate.
    My hands shook as I reached for my skirt, for I saw I had little choice, but at that moment I was saved. Two of the castle servants came near us, dragging a toboggan loaded with wood, and their voices disrupted the group of boys. They fled, falling over one another in their rush to escape, leaving me alone, wet and senseless. I wiped off my tears and went after the servants to travel with them and perhaps get a ride on the back of their sled.

    A FTER THIS I TOOK PAINS to keep a distance between Hugh and me. Nurse spied the bruises on my face and arms and questioned me, but when I explained they had come from Hugh, she could only hold me and shake her head. This, it seemed, was the way things could be between husband and wife, and I learned at that moment that it was a vast deal different from the gentle bonds of brother and sister.
    Nurse did her best to comfort me, suggesting that he might grow to be more even-tempered. Perhaps, she thought, by the time we went to live together, he might know more of life and ladies and would have learned some respect for me. But I saw a dark look in her eye and knew that she did not believe it would happen.
    That Christmas court