‘Yes!’ The word was immediate and vehement.
‘Why so?’
‘Men are dirty, disgusting animals.’
Fidelma heard the intensity in her voice and wondered what experience had prejudiced the girl.
‘Without them the human race would die out,’ she pointed out softly. ‘Your father was a man.’
‘Then let it die out!’ returned the girl uncompromisingly. ‘My father was a pig.’
The hatred on the girl’s features was something which amazed even Fidelma.
‘I presume that you speak of Febal?’
‘I do.’
An idea began to form in Fidelma’s mind.
‘So it was your father who has coloured your attitude to men?’
‘My father … a red hot stone in his throat! May he die choking!’
The curses were venomous.
‘What did your father do to you to make you hate him so?’
‘It is what he did to my mother. I do not wish to talk about my father.’
Sister Lerben’s face was white and Fidelma noticed that a shiver passed through her slender frame as if of distaste. Fidelma began to realise that there was some deep conflict in the girl.
‘So have you found solace here?’ she passed on hurriedly. ‘And have you found friendship with any of the other sisters?’
The girl shrugged indifferently.
‘Some of them.’
‘Not Sister Berrach, though?’
Lerben shuddered.
‘That cripple! She should have died at birth.’
‘And Sister Brónach?’
‘A stupid old woman. She is always hanging round that feeble Berrach! She has had her time.’
‘Then what of Sister Síomha, the steward? Were you friendly with her?’
Sister Lerben made an ugly face.
‘She fancied herself, that one. She was dirty and disgusting!’
‘Why? Why dirty and disgusting, Lerben?’ demanded Fidelma, watching the young woman’s flushed face.
‘She liked men. She had a lover.’
‘A lover. Do you know whom?’
‘I think it is obvious. These last few weeks, on those nights she has not been attending the watch at the clepsydra, I have seen her returning before dawn from Adnár’s fort. Síomhawould not descend to liaisons with common warriors or servants. So you do not have to hunt far to know with whom she has defiled herself.’
‘Do you mean your uncle? Adnár?’
‘I do not call him such. Síomha was so full of her own importance. Attempting to tell everyone what to do.’
‘She was the
Sister Lerben raised her head defiantly.
‘No. And now I am
‘At seventeen?’ Fidelma smiled indulgently. ‘You still have much to learn about the religious life before you could truly aspire to such office.’
‘Draigen has made me
Fidelma decided not to pursue the matter. There were other things she wanted to follow up first.
‘How well do you know Sisters Comnat and Almu?’
Lerben blinked. Fidelma’s leap from one topic to another seemed to disconcert her.
‘I knew them, yes.’
‘
‘They are gone to Ard Fhearta and have been away for several weeks now. It is natural to think of them as being away.’
‘How well did you know them?’ Fidelma corrected.
‘I saw Comnat only during the services. An old woman. Older than Brónach.’
‘You didn’t have much to do with her?’
‘She spent most of her time in the library and the rest in isolated prayer in her cell.’
‘You were not interested in books?’
‘I have not learned to read or write well. Draigen still teaches me.’
Fidelma was shocked.
‘I thought you were sent away for an education?’
‘My father arranged it. I was sent to a drunken farmer. There is a township not far away called Eadar Ghabhal. It is ten miles east of here. I was sent there to work as a servant. I became no more than a slave.’
‘And you were not taught reading or writing?’
‘No.’
‘Did your father or your mother know what kind of place it was that you had been sent to?’
‘My father knew well. That was why he arranged it. It was the last time my mother ever allowed him to interfere in our lives. He often visited the farmer.’ Lerben’s voice was full of pent-up passion. ‘That is where I learned what pigs men are. The farmer … he violated me. I finally managed to escape from that vile place. My mother found out only after I managed to return to the abbey. My father had kept the truth from her. It was his revenge against her. The farmer arrived here drunk, he had my father with him. They tried to get me to return, pretending that I had robbed the farmer and broken the contract my father had made. Draigen protected me, giving me sanctuary here, and driving them away.’
‘What happened to the farmer?’
‘He was killed when his farm burned down.’
Fidelma examined the girl’s features carefully but there was no expression on them. They were almost vacuous as if she had chased any emotion out of them.
‘Have you seen your father, since?’
‘Only from a distance. My mother had warned him that he would not be long on this earth if he ever tried to harm me again.’
Fidelma sat quietly for a moment, turning the information over in her mind.
‘You say that Draigen has been teaching you to read and write since your return to the abbey?’
‘When she has time.’
‘What about Sister Almu? She was young, wasn’t she?Surely she was not much older than you? She was a good scholar and could have taught you to read and write?’
Was there some hesitation now.
‘I was not friendly with her. She was a year or so older than I was. It was Sister Síomha who was Almu’s friend.’
‘Was Almu a pretty girl?’
‘It depends on what you believe to be pretty.’
Fidelma conceded that it was a good riposte.
‘Did you like her?’
‘I did not really know her. She, too, worked in the library, copying those musty old books. Why are you asking me these questions?’
‘Oh, just to get some background,’ Fidelma rose from her seat. ‘I have finished now.’
‘Then, by your leave, I shall return to my duties.’
Fidelma gave a vague affirmative gesture and began to walk down the aisle towards the door. Then she halted there and glanced back as if in an afterthought.
