Chapter six
“Take this gift away from me.”“No.”
“You have been selected by me, Delia, to be the mistress. Your election will follow.”
“No.” There was no hesitation, no doubt, in her. This was not for her. “No, mistress. I am aware of what this means. You know I am aware. But I cannot.”
The mistress placed a plain square of yellow linen to her mouth. Her coughs were tiny scrabblings, as of nestlings.
“How can you refuse?”
“I do not know how. I know only that I must.”
One narrow hand, doubled over, ridged and veined blue, crept onto the desk top. That hand trembled.
“Delia—”
“I cannot — I feel pain, and shame, and dishonor — all foolish feelings, I know. But take this gift away from me.”
The mistress said: “Once I had a husband. He was all the world to me. But he died. Once I had c
