She forced a laugh, as if she tried to see a good joke in the remark, and they went silently indoors.
‘A miserable hole!’ said Roger, looking round the room.
‘Nay, but ’tis very pretty!’
‘Not after what I’ve seen. Did he marry ’ee at church in orderly fashion?’
‘He did sure—at our church at Havenpool.’
‘But in a privy way?’
‘Ay—because of his friends—it was at night-time.’
‘Ede, ye fond one—for all that he’s not thy husband! Th’ ‘rt not his wife; and the child is a bastard. He hath a wife and children of his own rank, and bearing his name; and that’s Sir John Horseleigh, of Clyfton Horseleigh, and not plain Jack, as you think him, and your lawful husband. The sacrament of marriage is no safeguard nowadays. The King’s new-made headship of the Church hath led men to practise these tricks lightly.’
She had turned white. ‘That’s not true, Roger!’ she said. ‘You are in liquor, my brother, and you know not what you say! Your seafaring years have taught ’ee bad things!’
‘Edith—I’ve seen them; wife and family—all. How canst—’