Black Lady had been a favorite, a big, rangy horse, with the longest neck and the deepest chest anyone had ever seen on a mare. In fact, for two years she'd made a fine showing against the stallions at the races in Passau.
Usually the animals were put to pasture together and breeding got accomplished in the course of things, but this mare, fleet as a storm cloud, was possessed of a fury. She ran, she bit and fought and finally she'd kicked her stallion in the head and blinded him in one eye. To complete the disaster it soon became clear that she hadn't been successfully bred.
"I knew what a devil she was." The Landrat reproached himself endlessly. "You warned me, Longnecker. A man's a fool who doesn't listen to his Horse Master." He damned himself. He cursed the mare.
The stallion Black Lady had blinded was too good to destroy, but even for breeding the poor fellow was at a disadvantage now, so any mares he was to service were tied in a box stall
The next time Black Lady looked ready to breed, the Landrat had her harnessed, her feet tied to rings in the floor in a big box stall. Then he'd had Longnecker bring a stallion to serve her. It was done several days in a row.
"That she-devil will throw a foal this time."
Cat had happened upon it, the grooms joking as the stallion leapt. Face burning, she'd slunk away, out of the barn. How terrible to see this brave female creature bound and forced.
Now, sooner or later, one way or another, just like Black Lady, Caterina herself would be bred. The thought produced a violent shudder.
Her husband, his arm around her, noticed. "What's the matter, sweetie?"
He made as if to draw her close, to give one of those warm, cousinly squeezes he'd been giving her, but the endearment was too much. Caterina yanked her arm out of his and then pelted away towards the house as fast as she could go.
Chapter Seven
Christoph's estate had the same name as the looming mountain upon whose shoulders it sat: Heldenberg. The surroundings were wild and the nearest town, the tiny village of Heldenruhe, was about seven miles away.
As the time of Cat's departure grew closer, Lady van Velsen seemed increasingly apprehensive. She fussed and fussed over her daughter, insisting that she spend her days overlooking housekeeping in every detail, from kitchen to the linen closet.
"A quick course?" Christoph teased when he discovered them at it. He leaned across a gleaming table and lifted a fat, ripe greengage from a basket in the center. After biting into it, he sent a nod of approval towards his mother-in-law. Inside the thin green and purple skin was a juicy golden center.
"Herr Graf," said Lady von Velsen, drawing herself up very straight, "I have always done my best to instruct Caterina in the duties she would be expected to perform as a gentleman's wife. I have tried persuasion and I have tried whippings. Both, as you probably know, to little avail." She looked so distressed that Cat felt she should say something.
"It's not Mama's fault, Graf von Hagen. It's just as she says."
For the first time she could see her mother's point of view. In a few days she would be mistress of a large household and she knew next to nothing about how to manage it.
"Housekeeping just wasn't as interesting to me as horses."
A ferocious look from her mother interrupted.
"No apologies, please, from either of you ladies." von Hagen said smiled. "Especially from Lady Albertine who has been trying to sow grain on stony ground. I have a capable staff in residence. They shall, I'm sure, continue to manage as they have in the past. When my wife becomes interested, as I'm sure she will, she can assert her own notions about housekeeping."
He finished the small fruit and dropped the pit upon a plate set beside the basket. It was awful to Cat to see her proud and capable mother standing there, apparently so embarrassed on account of her.
"Until she has notions, though," Christoph said with a sudden grin, catching one of Caterina's long red braids and tugging, "she can climb trees and play with Star all day and still an adequate dinner will find its way onto the table."
"Oh, Caterina," her Mama exclaimed after Christoph, a fresh greengage in hand, had taken his leave. "How on earth are you ever going to manage?"
No servants from home would come along. Christoph had insisted upon that, had been quite adamant that his own people could adequately attend them.
This had upset Lady von Velsen. She'd wanted to send one of the older servants along to advise Caterina. Of course, though none of them would have dared argue with their mistress, not one of them wanted to be exiled to far away Heldenberg either. When the word about Graf von Hagen's decision went out, there was much muted rejoicing in the servant's quarters.
* * *
The afternoon before Cat was to leave, a summons came from her mother. When she arrived at Lady von Velsen's room, she found it darkened. Her mother was afflicted occasionally by migraine and the silent, dim room attested to an attack.
"Oh, Mama," Cat whispered, approaching the bed. "I'm sorry. Is it very bad?"
"Rather, my darling. But don't you worry, it will pass." Lady von Hagen was pale, prone, her dress loosened, her stays opened. A maid beside the bed was wringing out a cloth in a basin of cold water.
"Hanna, dear," Lady von Velsen addressed the servant, "please go out now, but don't go far. I'll soon want you again."
As the girl curtsied and retreated, Cat stepped into her place. "May I help, Mama?"
"Yes, please. Do as Hanna was doing while I talk to you. It's a very serious talk too, Caterina, so please attend."
There was a pause, a tinkle of water as Cat wrung out the cloth and applied it to her mother's white brow. Finally her mother said, "There are a few last cautions I want to give you, my angel, especially about your husband the Graf's housekeeping arrangements."
"Yes, Mama." Cat was demure, thinking it was going to be another lecture about lazy servants or counting the hams.
"Caterina, as I believe you are aware, Christoph kept a mistress at Heldenberg for many years."
"Yes, I know," Caterina shifted uncomfortably. "Wili told me."
"This spring when your husband returned to marry, he told your father and me that this lady had married another man, a captain in his regiment, and that she had gone to live in Vienna with her husband and their new baby. But now, from something Uncle Rupert said to your father, I am not so sure this is the case."
"What?" Cat dropped the cloth into the basin and stared at her mother with dismay. "Surely you and Papa don't expect me to live under the same roof with a—a—concubine!"
"Has your husband talked to you about any of this?"
"No."
Lady von Velsen seemed to be waiting for some enlargement, but no more was forthcoming. After the wedding morning, Christoph had politely kept his distance. The most uncomfortable part of every day was when they were left alone together in the bedroom. Every night her husband, docile as a lamb, climbed into bed by himself and went off to sleep. Except for the cousinly kisses and caresses which happened in public, he never offered to touch her.
"Well, Christoph had talked to Wilhelmina about this woman and they'd come to some sort of agreement. I know because she told me a little, but I certainly wasn't entirely happy about it. Wili, of course, was always willing to believe him, even his tale that although the woman stayed on at Heldenberg, he hadn't shared a bed with her in several years."
"Why are you telling me this now? I thought you believed in his miraculous reformation."
"Caterina," her mother hissed, her red brows contracting in a wave of pain. "It's all I can do to talk, so just hush, please, and listen. I'm at my wit's end myself, but perhaps the reason he hasn't spoken about her is that she really is gone. Heaven knows there is no reason to rake up trouble, there's enough as it is. What I particularly want to say is that I don't have the feeling that she's been gone for long. As a result, the servants may resent you, may feel that you have driven her out."
There was a pause while Caterina wrung out another cloth and
applied it to her mother's brow.
"The only advice I can give you, as your husband so unreasonably refuses to let you take an experienced servant of your own along, is to keep your eyes open and your opinions to yourself, at least until you see the lay of the land. Don't trust anyone too quickly. It will take a long time to sort out who your real allies are in the house. And you will need allies, Caterina. A noblewoman, isolated in a place like Heldenberg, is in great need of friends."
Caterina stared at the pale long form of her mother stretched out on the bed. Was it all going to turn out to be a lie, this reformation? And was her husband's reticence based, not upon the impropriety of bedding her so soon after he'd lain with her sister, but upon the fact that his heart still belonged to a mistress?
Lady von Velsen lifted a hand wearily to her forehead. "Perhaps she is gone, but if not this will be the first test of your woman's bravery. You must control your temper, Caterina, at least for awhile until you understand the situation. Don't jump to conclusions. Try to trust your husband, but keep your eyes open. Above all, my angel, remember your duty to your family."
"Yes. Oh, yes! My heifer's duty! To be leapt, swell up and calve!"
"By the Blessed Brigitte!" Her mother, two red patches flaring on her cheeks, raised herself unsteadily on one elbow. "I endured it myself, Caterina. I wasn't much older than you when I was given to Theodor's father, Herman von Ployer. I shall not detail his abuse of my trust and person, his many cruelties, both large and small, but on the day I gave birth to Theo and Valentin—"
Theodor had had a twin, another half brother whose face Cat could not for the life of her remember. Valentin had died sometime during her fifth year and Cat distinctly recollected watching with dry eyed curiosity while Theo and the grown-ups had wept over his not very large coffin.
"—Upon that day," Lady von Velsen was saying, in the flat monotone of someone speaking of things she'd far rather forget, "Herman von Ployer congratulated me by saying that I had turned out to be a better brood mare than I looked. That very night, contented with having sired two sons, he returned to his townhouse in Passau, to the arms of the creature he kept there. From then on, thank The Blessed Mother, I was spared any more of his—attention."
A thrill of horror went through Caterina. She had never heard her mother speak like this, although she'd had a strong sense that Lady Albertine hadn't liked her first husband. As a child Theodor had lived much of every year with his von Ployer grandparents, but that wasn't an unusual occurrence when a widowed noblewoman remarried. In fact, by law, her late husband's family could have taken Theo away.
"Listen to me, Caterina. I want you to go to Heldenberg with Christoph and find out what the truth is. I think that in spite of all his wanderings, he is by nature too warm-hearted and imaginative to be like my brute of a first husband. But—" Lady von Velsen clearly in pain, rubbed her forehead hard and subsided into the bed again, "if your personal honor cannot endure what you find at Heldenberg, ride Star home and I will do whatever I can to protect you."
With those astonishing words, Lady von Velsen collapsed into the pillows. Caterina started to speak, but her mother waved her hand imperiously.
"Open the box by my bed and take out the golden chains. They can be broken apart by hand, and used as money. Utterly astonished, Caterina silently did as her mother directed.
"Good," said Lady Albertine, watching Caterina settle them around her neck. "Now, not a word to anyone. Call Hanna and go out. My head feels as if it's going to shatter."
* * *
"Mama says that she has heard you still have a mistress at Heldenberg."
Her husband paused on his way into bed, raised a dark eyebrow. Clearly he had been taken by surprise. Still on edge from talking with her mother, Cat stepped forward and blurted, "Is it true?"
"No, Caterina, it is not." His denial came without hesitation.
"I will not stay if she's there."
"Caterina, in the first place, I am done with mistresses, as I have already told you. And in the second—do you think I'm out of my mind? You, I think, are going to be quite enough for me to deal with."
As if this settled the matter, Christoph threw off his morning gown and climbed into bed. As he settled in, he said in an encouraging tone, "I know you're going to love Heldenberg, just as I do. It's a horseman's paradise."
His eyes had brightened. "Would you like to ride out there instead of driving? You and Star could both get some exercise."
"Oh, could I?" Cat cried, delighted at the idea.
"You don't think it would be too hard, do you, after all the time you've been kept out of the saddle?"
"Too hard?" Caterina, imagining a splendid summer ride of many days, was well on her way to forgetting how the conversation had begun. "My backside might get sore, but that's nothing to worry—" Her voice died away, apprehending the oncoming joke.
"In spite of the Landrat's attempts to educate you to womanliness, you still prefer astride, don't you?" She was relieved when Christoph avoided the obvious.
"Yes."
"If you've still got a pair of trousers, go ahead and ride that way. I've always thought it stupid to hobble a talented rider with side saddle simply because she's female."
"Papa thinks he cut up all my trousers, but I do have one pair that he doesn't know about."
"Good." She caught the sudden flash of his smile. "I anticipate a splendid ride to Heldenberg with you."
"Oh, Christoph! Thank you." After her long confinement, a five day's ride would be an exciting challenge.
"You are very welcome, little wife. It will be like the old days when we were playmates."
With that, he leaned over to blow out the bedside candle and just as always, Caterina heard him settling down to sleep. In the soft late summer darkness, she stretched out upon that couch that had been her bed for the last five weeks and prepared to do the same.
A few minutes later, she was upright again. She had forgotten to practice with the protector. As she sat there, listening to his steady breathing with the little knife in hand, she felt the stirrings of uneasiness. In her joy at the idea of a long ride, she had completely forgotten the important discussion she'd initiated.
* * *
The journey day dawned clear and the bride went out in a caraco jacket and tricorne. Although her parents looked cross, she also wore the secret pair of leather seated men's breeches.
On the first day her husband was very easy and charming. On the second day of their journey, however, he withdrew. As his big bay paced beside Caterina and Star, he was unusually silent, apparently lost in thought. As they made their way steadily into choppy foothills, Caterina said something about the changes in the land. Christoph emerged from his preoccupation to talk about where they were going. More of that land, he explained, was occupied by pastures and hay, by oak forest and orchard, than by the extensive plantations of grain, vines and root crops that were so characteristic of the warmer, flatter river valley.
"There are longer winters and a far less good soil than our papas have to work with. It's been a tradition in the von Hagen family for this piece to be the eldest son's, before he comes into the valley patrimony. If you can make ends meet up on Heldenberg, you can get the best out of land anywhere."
They were going slowly, the horses picking their way along a precarious cliff fall stretch of road partly washed out. "The first few years didn't go so well, but the secret seems to be, especially for someone who spends as much time away as I do—to get lucky enough to find a good bailiff. We're not doing splendidly, but well enough for me to keep too many horses. The fellow I've got now, Walter, has so far kept me out of trouble. And of course, the mountain forests have some good hunting."
"Too many horses?"
"Yes. I have a bay foursome, Hanoverians that should be taken to the Passau fair. If I don't have to go soldiering next year, I'll do it. With some training, they'll beat everyone all hollow, I'm sure."
"Oh! Are they big? May I drive the
m?"
"Well, the two mares are a perfect match at about fifteen hands. The two geldings are another hand taller, older and better trained. You may certainly drive the geldings, but the mares are young, an uneducated pair of bad girls. I've had them four in hand a few times, although it was rough work."
"Four in hand!"
Her husband smiled at her enthusiasm and reined Brandy closer. "We'll have to go driving often, especially you like it so much."
At the inns every night, they'd lodged in separate rooms. His big brother neutrality, securely in place most of the time was occasionally interrupted by remarks that might have a double meaning.
* * *
After three splendid, long days in the saddle, days in which they arrived hours before their baggage, they reached the foothills of the great gray mountains. The fertile Donau was now behind them.
That afternoon it started to rain. The clouds came suddenly, flowing down from the mountains like a ragged black skirt, trailing lightning and thunder. Inside the first five minutes they were drenched.
"Do you want to go into the carriage?" Christoph had moved Brandy closer to ask the question. Water was dripping in a steady stream from the brim of his three cornered hat.
"No. Why? I'm already soaked to the skin."
"Well, it's still a rough eight miles to the Black Swan. The host is expecting us and it's really the only inn in the area where we don't run the risk of getting lousy."
"Don't worry about me," Cat replied bravely. "I'll ride there. I've been wet before."
Evidently pleased by her resolve, he gave her a watery grin and tipped his hat, dumping collected water before pulling it down again tightly.
"Speak up if it gets to be too much, Grafin."
On and on they'd plodded, through wind and a steady rain. The road was now a mass of mud, the horses splashing and tripping through ruts now brimming with water. As they passed by an inn that didn't, from the outside, look so bad, Caterina's lips began to chatter. The rain was relentless, flowing down her back in an icy river and dripping out the toes of her boots.
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