by Igor
 
 

A region set in Britain's Western land,
Contained within its borders long ago,
A village, Ravensthorpe its name,
A place so fair that all who came to see,
Did wish to make their dwelling there,
Secured by forest to the North and
To the West by sea.

A merry man, a smith lived there,
With sturdy wife as big as he.
Six sons he had, four married now,
All well provided for, in good employment each.
Their sibling, though, too young to leave his home,
Was still at school and free from work all day.

The village kept its good men all in work,
No crime nor misdemeanour soiled its name,
And all the folk who lived there kept the peace,
The village council ruled the tranquil land,
And settled all disputes with even hand,
Nor wealth nor social state could change their view,
Of justice, right and what was best to do.

But further East there loomed a castle dark,
A haunt of brigands and of evil men.
Red Eric owned that dreadful doom-filled place,
And ghastly tales of deeds men told by night,
Struck fear in every one of those who heard,
The fate of all who boldly ventured there.

So hearken now to this, the tale I tell,
Of how Smith's youngest son and sharpest mind,
Did conquer rogues and overcame,
By courage, brains and well-planned strategy,
The fate that otherwise would doom,
His life to be a bachelor alone.
 

In a large village, named Ravensthorpe, in the west of the country, there
lived a smith. He was a giant of a man, with arms as thick as most men's
legs. He was of a pleasant disposition, rarely annoyed, but when anything
did make him angry, his rage was awesome to behold. Things that did upset
him were any kind of injustice, but in this village such things were very
rare occurrences. He was often asked to be part of the council which ruled
the neighbourhood, but always refused, saying that there were others far
better read and qualified than he was, though in the evenings he often
sang the old folk songs his father had taught him many years ago, to the
sound of his wife's playing of an old piano.

She was a large lady, well proportioned and almost as much stronger than
the other ladies of the area as the smith was of the menfolk. She had been
in her younger days the most beautiful girl for many miles around and many
were the suitors she had turned away in favour of Giles the Smith.  When
he had been an apprentice to his father he had saved his earnings for
years until he was able to go to the council and buy a house. He asked the
father of his intended wife for permission to court his beauty of a
daughter Elspeth, and received the blessing of both her parents without
any demur. Elspeth had been in love with him for four years before she had
the slightest idea that he was interested in her, because he kept his
passionate feelings hidden until he felt that he had enough wealth to
keep her in the fashion she had been used to with her parents.  Her father
had been head of the council for several years after they had been married
and was respected by almost everybody that lived there.
 

He was not exceptionally wealthy, but was never short of the things that
made for living rather more elegantly than the rest of the villagers. He
owned land and employed men from the village to work it. He traded village
produce with a neighbouring town and paid some of the profits into the
village fund.

Elspeth's mother was a slight, rather sharp-tongued lady, never unwilling
to express her opinion of the conduct of others, but never giving cause for to
anyone to be too crtical of her. She was respected rather than liked, but
was a very good mother to Elspeth and wife to the mayor. She had brought up
Elspeth as a lady and was a little disappointed at her daughter's choice of
a husband, thinking that she  might have been married into one of the
aristocratic families in the area, but once the decision had been made,
helped the young pair in every way  she could.

Every nine years, the mayor was re-elected. The rules stated that once a
mayor had taken office, he was not eligible to stand for election again, so
the mayor of the village now was not Elspeth's father. He was a slight man,
balding and stout and none of the young girls of the village could stand
being close to him. He was rather pompous and his wife, whom he had married
when he was very much younger, loved his position as mayor and was aways
ready to praise him. She was a plump matron, very protective of their only
daughter, Karen.

This daugher was a very pretty girl who had the promise of growing into a
most beautiful woman.  She was very wayward and selfish, but her parents
thought that nothing she did or said was anything but perfect.

They, like their predecessor in office, were comparatively wealthy, so that
whenever she wanted anything, her father or mother gave it to her. Her
looks brought her many a fine young suitor, but for some reason, she found fault with all of them. Any attempt the lads made to kiss her, she rejected
violently. Most of the village lads had felt her fists or had burning
cheeks when she had smacked their faces, sometimes for nothing more than a look which had lasted too long. They knew that any attempt to retaliate would be punished by trouble for their fathers.

Some of them muttered amongst each other that they would get their own
back, but the stranglehold that the mayor held on all the men in the village
prevented any of these threats being carried out.

Real crime in Ravensthorpe was unknown. All who lived there knew each other
and the only shadow on their lives was thrown by the proximity of the
black castle of the Count Loris.

For years, the villagers had fought the fellows from the castle, who raided
from beyond the Alcaster Forest and the Yate River ten miles to the East.
An uneasy truce had been declared some years before this story begins, and a
wall had been built between the two factions, beyond which neither party
was supposed to go. It is true, occasionally, a girl might disappear from the
village and men could hear at such times, as they patrolled, sounds of
merriment from the other side. The girls never returned.

The people of the village assumed that they were either dead or lost beyond
recall. No sallies past the wall ever revealed the truth and only resulted
in the death of good men that the village could never replace. Sometimes,
capture of a mailed soldier from the other side would occur, but the fellow
always died rather than reveal any of the secrets of the castle, such was
the fear of their master, the evil Count Red Eric Loris.  The smith had
been on one of the expeditions on the other side of the wall. He told
Elspeth of the gloomy appearance of the place and how men fell without any
apparent attack being made on them.

He called it witchcraft, but the description tallied more with the effect
of poison applied to thorny bushes grown around the castle with the
intention of repelling attack, rather than witchcraft.

He, himself, had captured two of the castle's defenders and had carried
their inert bodies out of the walled area, back to the village, and had
seen how the poor criminals had died before speaking to the enquiring
officer.

Times were happier now, though. The smith and his wife had been able to
bring up their family of six boys without the fear of losing them in
punitive operations against the Count. Their only worry was what they could
do with their younger son. The five older sons were fine fellows, like
younger replicas of their father, strong and well-behaved. Four of them
were married and were bringing up children of their own. The other one was
courting a girl from the next village and was expecting to marry her soon.

The youngest boy was different. Roland was a weakly boy in his early teens
and never seemed to have energy to play the games the other boys in his
school enjoyed. He could use a sling-shot expertly, but that was about the
limit of his physical ativities. He was, however, exceptional in his school
work.

On his sixteenth birthday, his teacher said to him, "My boy, there is
nothing more that I can teach you. You already know more than I do. You
must go somewhere else to gain further knowledge."

He spoke to the smith and told him, "Your boy Roland, is a very bright
young man. He will do well in any career which demands brain power. There is
really no point in sending him to me any longer. He needs a far better
equipped teacher than I am."

That night, Roland heard his parents discussing him.  "What shall we do
with Roland? Although we have plenty of money for our own needs here in the
village, we could never be able to send him to a higher school in the city.
He is nowhere near strong enough to help here  in the smithy and there are
no jobs left in the village", his father  was saying. "The mayor was saying
only the other day that a couple  of the men would have to leave here to
look for work."   "I don't know what he could do!" said his mother," He has
a marvellous head for figures. Remember how he has straightened up your
accounts. Perhaps one of the shop-keepers could take him on."

Roland thought to himself, 'Not if I can help it! I can't sit here and
sponge on my parents. I'll go to the town and try my luck there.'

Roland worshipped the mayor's daughter. For some reason, she did not drive
him away like the others. He had never tried to touch her, but often, he
had carried her books to school and sometimes had given her little presents,
never anything valuable, perhaps some flowers he had gathered or some fruit
from the forest. She did not throw these away, like the golden ring a chap
from the neighbouring town had presented her with, in a ceremony at the
town hall. She had hurled the ring into the river and said that if he were the
last fellow on earth, she would have done the same. Her parents were
embarrassed, for the young man was the son of one of the nobility of the
county and their finances would depend to some extent on their patronage.
Karen did not care. She was quite happy to stay with her parents and had no
wish to be bound in marriage to anyone.
 

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A few days after his birthday, Roland had decided that the day had come
when he must make a break from Ravensthorpe. He left home after breakfast and called for Karen to take her books to school. He told her he was leaving
Ravensthorpe, but that he would never forget her and that when he had got
himself a place in the town, he would come back for visits and would be
sure to see her again. She was sorry that he was going to go away, but her
happy-go-lucky nature would not let her be very much affected  for long.

She waved cheerfully to him as he set off for the town, looking back at her
every few paces until a bend in the road hid her from his view. She was in
his mind every step and as he went along, he made up his mind that one day
he would have her to live with him. He was too young to think of her as his
wife yet, but that must already have been at the back of his mind.

He had been walking for about an hour, when he heard a commotion in the
road in front of him. He came round a bend and saw two thugs attacking an older man. His sling-shot came into action.The first stone felled one of the
thugs immediately and the other was too intent on trying to rob the old man that he did not notice. The second stone struck him in the temple and killed him
instantly whilst the other sat up dazedly. When he saw the body of his
fellow robber, he did not stop to see any more, but staggered off, to fall
in the ditch by the side of the road and broke his ankle. Roland helped the
old man up. He was shaken, but not badly hurt. He thanked Roland for his
help and when he saw the slight figure and rather feeble-looking boy in front of
him, admired his courage in attacking the thugs, who would have killed him
if they had been given a chance.

He asked Roland where he was going and what he intended to do. Roland told
him of his plan to seek work in the town and the old man said that he was a
banker there and would be willing to employ him himself if Roland wished.
He thought to himself that he owed his money, if not his life to Roland and
that he could always dispose of his services if he did not turn out to be a
useful employee.

As they walked together, the banker became impressed with Roland's general
quickness of mind and his grasp of ideas. He realised that Roland's
experience was very limited, but thought that it might be his lucky day, in
that the boy might turn out to be a real asset to his business when he had
been trained. He offered to take Roland into his firm as an apprentice
without the usual requirement of a premium. Roland accepted gratefully and
from that day began to gain knowledge and experience of handling money.

Now this banking firm was not like the others in the town. Customers of
this bank were not cheated out of their lands and properties. Deposits were safe and were always available to their owners. Interest was not oppressive and when customers fell on hard times, the bank did not take away their homes
to repay their debts. The bank, therefore, was not the most successful in that
town, but it had a core of customers that kept it going steadily despite
the efforts of the other bankers in the town to try to run it out of business.
Roland learned how things were run over the first year and determined to
devote himself to learning more about the banking business every day. His
skill with figures enabled him in quite a short time to discover things to
enable him to show his employer where money was being stolen from the firm
and where more custom might be obtained. The banker realised that he had
indeed made the right decision to employ this bright young man and decided
that not to further his education would be a severe waste of talent, and so
sent him to school for two days each week.

His money was not wasted. Roland made great strides and would soon have
aroused resentment from his colleagues at the bank if it had not been for
his sunny disposition and helpful nature. He made friends easily amongst
people of his own age and was treated indulgently by his elders. Even some
customers, who did not usually like bank staff, had occasionally asked for
Roland to serve them when they came in. One day, though, he was beaten up
by some louts in an alley near the place where he had found lodgings. He had
heard at the academy where he studied two days a week, of a self-defence
course in the town, so that after the experience of lying in bed recovering
from numerous cut and bruises, he determined that he would never suffer
like that again.

Every night, after work, he went to the class and studied the art of
unarmed self-protection and when he had mastered that, he also took to sword-play, finding himself adept at this form of fighting. His weakly physique
improved enormously day by day, so that when he had been in the town for three years, he was no longer the slight, rather thin boy that had started, but had grown into a broad-shouldered young man.

He had made the long journey home twice a year and each time, his parents
were glad to see how well he was doing. Each time, too, he had been to see
Karen, who had been secretly delighted to welcome him, but had hidden her
pleasure and had treated him more like she had treated her other admirers.
She acted cool, but inside, she felt pleased and excited each time he
called. He always brought something for her, sometimes a book, sometimes
sweetmeats,  sometimes something to wear, like a necklace or brooch. Each
time, the gifts  were more valuable, as Roland's finances improved and he
was able to buy better things. She always acknowledged his gifts with cool
pleasure and always said she was pleased to see him, but she never allowed
herself to show much outward sign of affection, though as time went on, her
feelings for him changed as she grew into a woman.

On some of these visits, he asked the mayor to allow him to take his
daughter out for a walk. Neither he nor the girl ever refused and a few
times they had been for a picnic in the woods. She had never allowed him to
get intimate, though, and on the one occasion he had tried to kiss her, she
had given him the round-arm slap that had greeted so many of the lads of
the village.

Roland was not, however discouraged. He knew by now, that this was the only
girl that he would ever make a permanent arrangement with. He had affairs,
like any of the young fellows in that town but these were always transient,
with little real love being felt by any party. Roland did not deny himself
of the many pleasures of the town. He often went to one of the theatres
there and became interested in it to the extent of becoming one of its
patrons. He bought some shares in the theatre company and often went
back-stage and got to know several of the actors and actresses of the
permanent company there.

Nor did he neglect the local affairs of the area. Not much went on that he
did not find out about. He belonged to a club, to which several prominent
members of the city council belonged, and he dined there often, making
himself well-known. On several occasions he had been asked if he was
thinking of getting married, but he always said that he had never felt the
need. He used to say that he had all he wanted, without the need to have a
mill-stone round his neck.

Some of the more perceptive questioners perceived that this answer hid a
secret that he was not about to reveal.
 

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One week-end, when he had gone to Ravenbury to visit his parents, on the
Saturday, he arranged to take Karen for a picnic in the woods again. He and
she went riding horses from the village, Karen's being one she owned and
the other one he hired from the village ostler.

They went well into the forest, to where Roland knew of a place, not far
from the wall, which was pleasantly shaded, near a stream and yet dry
enough to sit and eat in comfort by a huge sawn-off tree trunk which would do well to serve as a table. As they came to the place, riding side-by- side,
Roland leaned over to try to kiss her, but she angrily shook him off and
rode madly away.

She did not apparently look where she was going and took her horse at a
full gallop through the gate through the wall, along the path that led to the
Castle Loris. The trees there seemed darker than on the other side. She
slowed down, expecting to hear the sound of Roland's horse following her.

What she did not expect was a rough voice saying, "Look fellows, what we've
got here!" A big, black-bearded man appeared by the side of her horse, sat
on a bigger black. He took the reins from her hands and pulled them to a
stop, taking her by the waist and kicking her horse from under her and
pulling her face down over his saddle.

She screamed, but it made no difference. He carried her to a clearing where
there were several other ruffians gathered round a fire and dumped her down
to one of them.

She struggled and managed to escape, only to be dragged to the ground by
another. "Let's see what we've got."said the man who had first grabbed her
from her horse. "Pick her up, but don't let her go this time!" She was
lifted to face the fellow, and her arms were quickly seized and bound
behind her. "She's covered in dirt, " one of them said.

"Yes, we can't have her wearing dirty clothes, can we? Get them off her!"
the black-haired chief ruffian said, grinning. A small, ginger haired
fellow produced a wicked-looking big knife and slit her skirt from hem to waist,
tearing it away, then introducing it into her neckline and stripping her
bare except for her leather belt. Another fellow threw the shredded
garments into the fire that was burning fiercely there.

In moments, her pretty clothes were reduced to ashes as she watched
fearfully.

The ginger-haired ruffian kicked off her shoes and was about to grab her
breast when the chief told him, "You know what will happen if you go first.
Count Loris always has the first choice. You remember what he did to Hal
the Dragon. He's Satin Hal the Slave now."

"Margot!" the chief called.

"Master", a woman wearing a brown woolen dress and chains on her wrists
answered.

"Take this prisoner to the stream, wash her and make her ready for our
master!" he ordered.

"Yes. Master!" she replied, and after tying Karen's bonds behind her to a
thick rope, dragged her unwillingly to a clear running brook, where she
washed Karen free from the mud and bits of leaves and other debris from the
chase.

"My!" she said, when Karen was cleaned up, "you will have a fine time when
the Master comes. It's not often he gets a prize like you. But you need
more than washing. I'll have to shave you. It can be easy or hard. Will you
submit now, or must I tie you?"

Karen knew she could never fight this strong-looking woman. "Do what you
have to do," she said and lay down on the grassy bank of the brook.

The woman brought shears and a wicked-looking knife which glinted in the
sunlight. She cut and then shaved all of Karen's body hair and then rubbed
a slightly perfumed salve all over her.

"Come now, you must be dressed," she told Karen,"Your wedding gown is
here." and she unrolled a bundle that another woman similarly attired to herself, brought to them.

The bundle clinked as the second woman laid it carefully on the grass and
began to unroll it. There were some chains and what looked like bracelets
and a single garment which appeared to be transparent when she held it up.

The two women got Karen into the dress with little difficulty. She saw the
men watching and knew she had no choice but to obey and wait for any chance
of escape.

When she was dressed, it was plain that the dress was indeed nearly
transparent. It outlined and enhanced her body. It was a kind of trouser
suit, close-fitting at the waist, but loose below. It was held in position
by many small burrs which had been laboriously sewn on patches, holding the
dress on one shoulder and keeping it closed at the waist, wrists and ankles
where lacy ruffs were attached. There were slits at each side, allowing
glimpses of her creamy skin to show as the women moved her about.

Her embarrassment was changed into despair when the women attached locking bracelets to her wrists, joined to each other with a short golden chain and anklets, also joined together by a longer one held to the anklets by small
padlocks.

Finally, they placed round her neck a golden neck-band which fitted closely
about her graceful neck. She lost all hope of escape as this closed about
her with a loud snap.

The women took her arms and brought her to the chief brigand.

"Good! You have done well, You will not have to be flogged tonight."

The two women smiled at each other. "Only locked in your cages." he said
and the smiles of the women vanished.

"Now let's see. We'll put this captive on display like we usually do, so
the master can see her when he comes. Get her up there!", the last to two of
the ruffians.

They grabbed her bound wrists and dragged her to a kind of stage by the
wall separating their territory from the public land of the forest behind it.
Her arms were pulled up over her head by a gantry and her ankle chain
was fastened to a staple in front of her. A gold-coloured metal thing was
forced into her mouth and tied behind her head with a leather strap. "Now
we'll have our midday meal, here, where we can look at her", he continued.
The men sat down on the ground and unpacked food which each of them
carried.

"Woman, go and fetch wine from the castle kitchen." the chief ruffian
shouted.

Both women hurried off to do his bidding.  He took a stool which had been
left there from previous hunting exploits and sat in front of a sawn-off
tree which he used as a table, facing Karen. He grinned, "Bet you wouldn't
mind a bit of this, wouldn't you?" She shook her head. "Well, that's all
right. You weren't going to get any of it anyway!" he laughed.

Suddenly there were shouts, coming from somewhere to her left, back towards
where she had fled from Roland through the wall. All the gang of roughnecks
looked up and started to their feet. Their chief said, "Stay here, boys,
I'll sort things out." and he went towards where the sounds were coming
from.

There was a clash of steel and Roland appeared, brandishing a sword,
reddened with blood. He did not speak, but rushed at the gang, who, seeing
the blood, took to their heels as fast as they could.

One of the women, bringing a small cask of drink, took one look, screamed
and vanished the way she had come.

Roland carefully looked round the place where Karen was secured, bound by
chains to that stage. He did not hurry, but walked round, looking to see
that all the brigands had gone. Karen followed him with her eyes, a frown
of frustration crossing her pretty face. He smiled when he saw it and after
taking another slow turn round that clearing, climbed on to the stage and
lifted her, so that her bracelets were disengaged from the hook on which they had been held.

He bent and uncoupled her ankle-chain from the staple and lifted her down
to the ground. Only then did he unfasten the strap over her mouth, to let her
spit out the metal object that was gagging her. He picked it up and put
away in his pouch.

"About time!" she remarked. "I thought you would never let me go" she said.
"Are you going to unfasten these chains?"

"No," said he, "I don't have the keys. I did take one key from that fellow
I killed back there, but it was only the one I used just now to undo the
chain from that staple. You'll have to wear them until I can take you home. My
father will make short work of them then. But you can't go through the
village like that. We'll stop by where I brought you for our picnic and
have something to eat. My horse is near. Put your arms over my head and I'll
carry you."

She put her handcuffed arms over his head. He put his hands round her
waist, but instead of lifting her, kissed her roundly. She made an attempt to
struggle, but with her arms round the back of his head and her feet
securely bound there was little she could do to resist. After the first kiss,
though, she was much less anxious to avoid another one and after the third, when her breath was almost denied her, she began to respond. He detected the sign of submission and stopped immediately, lifting her and carrying her to his
horse, where, instead of seating her, he threw her face downwards over his
saddle, ignoring her cries.

Returning to the picnic place, he unloaded her, seated her with her back to
a tree stump and began to unpack their meal. It was a fine spread and she
felt hungry. He had placed the food just out of her reach. To get at it,
she would have to get up on her knees, which she tried to do, but was
unable to get herself away from the tree trunk. He watched her trying for some
time and when she gave up, said," I'll help you if you like."

She replied,"Well, help me then!"

He said, "What is the magic word?"

She looked puzzled. "What magic word?"

He said. "Not one you often use - Please!"

The word came reluctantly. None of the young men she had known had ever
attempted to make her do anything like this before -

"Please!"

He took his time, but gently lifted her and placed her, kneeling, near to
the dainty cloth on which he had put the food. He passed her dishes and
they ate, both enjoying the delicacies that he had brought from the town for
this special day.

She never saw the bag of coins he had left on the stool that the "chief
brigand" had sat on, nor did she know that the outrageous dress and the
jewel-studded restraints she was wearing had cost him a fortune. The
"brigand" cleaned his clothes from the animal blood that covered his chest
and walked back to the black Castle Loris that Roland now owned, collected
his things together and went back to the theatre were he worked, in time
for the evening performance.

Roland and Karen sat, side by side in that pleasant clearing. Roland lifted
her and laid her on the grassy slope below the tree stump. he sood up and
taking his dagger took her hands back over her head and pinned the
bracelets to the tree stump.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she enquired nervously. He said nothing until he
produced a key and unfastened the padlocks holding the chain between her
anklets.

"I thought you had no key for those!" she cried.

"Well, I found it after I put you on my horse." he countered and sat down
next to her. "When a knight rescues a maiden from a fate worse then death,
what do you think his reward should be?" he asked her.

"Well, in all the stories I have read, a kiss, I suppose," she replied.
"but I''ve never read of the maiden being tied down by the hero like I am."

"That's the difference between fiction and real life." he said and bent
over her to begin an afternoon of love-making. The advantage of that dress that she was wearing was that the burrs holding it togther were easy to
unfasten.

It was growing cooler in the forest where they were and eventually that
fact became obvious to both of them. He pulled out the dagger from the tree
stump and helped her to re-arrange her dress. She made no objection now, when he put his hands on her, in a way that would have earned him a thumping the day before.

He picked up the golden chain. "It would be a pity to leave that for the
brigands." he said.

He emphasised his ownership of her by unlocking one of her bracelets and
re-fastening it to the other behind her.

She submitted quietly. She said,"Oh, Roland!" and there was silence for a
few minutes whilst Roland further emphasised his position, then she said,"I
couldn't go through the village like this, What shall we do?"

He suggested, "You know that everyone goes for dinner at the time when the
town hall bell rings. Well, if I hurry, I can get you to the village and
we'll go through then, when everyone is at dinner, Your father has seen to
it that everyone must stop work at the sound of the bell. If we're quick,
no-one will see us."

They made their way quietly to the boundary of the village and hid in some
bushes where they could see what was gong on. At the sound of the bell, the
noise of the village changed from the clang of the smith's hammer and the
buzz of the carpenter's saw, to that of hurrying feet, as all and sundry
hurried home for dinner. It was frowned on to be on the street between six
and seven o'clock, so soon there was no sign of life anywhere.

Roland tied his horse to a tree and they walked as quickly and
unobtrusively as possible to Roland's parents' home, where Roland handed Karen over to his mother, whilst he went to talk to his father.

"It looks as though you've got your wife at last!" his father said. "When
is the wedding?"

"She doesn't know yet, but it's tomorrow. I'll ask her on the way home. No,
I mean I'll tell her".

Karen entered the room. She was now dressed in a dress Roland's mother had
made a few weeks earlier for a party that was to be held in the next
village the next week. She had altered it to fit Karen and to put it on her without removing the manacles. Shoes had been found for her too, so that she did not look too unusual, except that she was a most unusually pretty girl.

The bracelets made her look more vulnerable and even more desirable and
Roland's chest filled with pride to see his wife to be. Roland took her
home and on the way said, "We're getting married in the morning."

"Oh we are, are we?" she said.

"Either I take you home as my fiancee, or I'll take you to my home as my
slave." he threatened.

She blushed."You can do both!" she said and they went to the town hall to
her parents to give them their glad news. He made to remove her manacles.

"Not yet" she said" Let them see how you forced me into marriage." and she
smiled as she said it.

The next day, an announcement was posted on the notice board outside the
town hall and the church bell began to ring at eleven o'clock. The couple
had a feast prepared for them and for anyone in the village who turned up
to wish them luck. They left on two horses side by side. As they left the
village to the cheers of many of the villagers, he leant over and kissed
her publicly. As the passed out of the sight of the village, he took her hands
and fastened them behind her with the golden manacles, held the reins of
her horse and said," 'Start as you mean to go on!', was good advice from my
father, and I mean to keep to it!".

She smiled and said "Yes sir!", but reserved a thought in her mind, that
she would see to it that his desires would coincide with hers."

It was some years later that she noticed that, although they had often been
to the various theatres in the town, they had never attended one particular
one and it was that one that he always subscribed to, whenever there was an
appeal for funds. She asked him about it and he told her,"The plays they
put on there are not suitable. I wouldn't want to take you there!"

She pressed him from time to time and he relented. He had seen that for one
week  a travelling company was playing there instead of the permanent
players, so that she would not see the 'chief brigand' of the day before
their wedding. The play being shown was one that she heartily disliked and
he breathed again when she told him, "That was disgusting! I never want to
go there again!"

He kept her manacled for half the next day as a punishment for nagging him
into taking her and then saying she had not enjoyed it, so she never again
questioned his judgement.

That was the foundation for a very happy marriage for many, many years.

END

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