Page 147 of The Evening and the Morning
“He loves someone else.”
“Sungifu.”
Blod gave Ragna an enigmatic look but said nothing.
Ragna said: “The one the Vikings killed.”
“Yes, her.” Blod looked anxiously around the square.
“I suppose you’re worried about who might buy you this time.”
“I’m frightened of Dreng.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s not in town. He would have come to see me. He likes to pretend we’re family.” Across the square, Ragna noticed Bishop Wynstan with his bodyguard, Cnebba. “But there are other cruel men.”
“I know.”
“Maybe I should buy you.”
Blod’s face lit up with hope. “Would you?”
Ragna spoke to Stiggy. “How much are you hoping to get for this slave?”
“One pound. She’s fifteen, that’s young.”
“It’s too much. I’ll give you half, though.”
“No, she’s worth more than that.”
“Split the difference?”
Stiggy frowned. “How much would that be?” He knew the phrasesplit the differencebut he could not do the arithmetic.
“One hundred and eighty pence.”
Suddenly Wynstan was there. “Buying a slave, my lady Ragna?” he said. “I thought you high-minded Normans disapproved.”
“Like a high-minded bishop who disapproves of fornication, I find myself doing it anyway.”
“Always the smart answer.” He had been looking with curiosity at Blod, and now he said: “I know you, don’t I?”
Blod said loudly: “You fucked me, if that’s what you mean.”
Wynstan looked embarrassed, which was unusual. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You did it twice. That was before I was pregnant, so you paid Dreng three pence for each go.”
Wynstan made only a nominal pretence of priestly virtue, but all the same he was discomfited by this noisily public accusation ofunchastity. “Rubbish. You’re making it up. You ran away from Dreng, I remember.”
“He murdered by baby boy.”
“Well, who cares? The child of a slave...”
“Perhaps he was your son.”
Wynstan went pale. Clearly he had not thought of that. He struggled to recover his dignity. “You should be flogged for running away.”
Ragna interrupted. “I was in the process of bargaining for this slave, my lord bishop, if you will excuse me from further conversation.”
