The King’s Concubine: A Novel Of Alice Perrers - Plot & Excerpts
When I achieved it, it was not by my own instigation. It came as a lightning bolt from heaven.“Put this on. And this. Take this. Be at the Abbey gate in half an hour.”The garments were thrust into my arms by Sister Matilda, Mother Abbess’s chaplain.“Why, Sister?”“Do as you’re told!”I had been given a thin woolen kirtle, its color unrecognizable from much washing, and a long sleeveless overgown in a dense brown, reminiscent of the sludge that collected on the riverbank after stormy weather. It too had seen better days on someone else’s back, and was far too short, exhibiting, as I had feared, my ankles. As I scratched indelicately, a more immediate fear bloomed. I had inherited the fleas as well as the garments. A hood of an indeterminate gray completed the whole.But why? Was I being sent on an errand? Anticipation shivered over my skin. Even if it was for only an hour, I felt the excitement of escape. The days of my transformation from novice to nun loomed, like the noxious, overflowing contents of the town drain after heavy rainfall.“Where am I going?”
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