Midwinter Nightingale by Joan Aiken

Every blessed one. Excepting them that had died already. Went a-capering off with the whole clutch of them following him like—like sheep.”
    “Well, I'll be bothered!” Mrs. Smidge, the daughter of a shepherd, was flabbergasted at this. “Where did they go?”
    “Dear knows. It came on to rain cats and dogs so you couldn't see.”
    “What did
she
say?”
    “Fair dumbstruck, she was. I never see her so took. Went quiet. Quiet as a railing. Didn't say a word all afternoon. All the way to you-know-where.”
    “What happened there?”
    “I wasn't asked in.” Both ladies raised their brows.
    “This one won't last,” foretold Mrs. Smidge. “D'you mind when she was so took with the 'woodman's boy?”
    “Ah. And he wouldn't stop his work to carve her a toy boat.” The ladies wagged their heads at the shocking memory.
    “Well, I'd best go and put away her things.” Nurse Mara drained the last drop of mead. “Is there any company expected? That's the first thing she'll ask—after deciding
not
to stop at you-know-where.”
    Mrs. Smidge shook her head. “Old Sir's fallen out with Lord Scarswood. Boundary troubles. And he was the only neighbor who'd come near the place after Miss Zoe died. As you know.”
    Nurse Mara sighed. “Eh, dear. I wonder what'll happen now, with
him
coming out of pokey. And that gashly boy. He and his dad bought up Fogrum Hall. Imagine!”
    “They did?”
    “They did. Lot said it had been his mum's house; now it was hisn, and he'd turn out all the boys and masters and live as he pleased. That's where she went last night.Sent me to a lodging house. But she didn't get the welcome she was hoping for. Eh, deary me! She was out of there like a pat of butter on a griddle!”
    “You'd never think that boy's mum was Lady A.”
    “No, you would not. She was a sweet lady”
    They shook their heads regretfully.
    “How did Lady A ever come to marry His Majesty? When she was married to
him
already and had a boy by him, even?”
    “Null and void,” said Nurse Mara impressively “That's what His Reverence the archbishop said her first marriage was. On account of Baron Magnus being a you-know-what. Marriages to such as them don't count. His Nibs said.”
    “Just the same,” Mrs. Smidge said doubtfully, “it seems a queer come-out to me. Even more so with King Dick being king. And he was only prince of Wales then.”
    “Ah, but a king can do as he likes. And he
did
like Lady Adelaide. His first missus was dead, remember. It was love at first sight with Lady A. And with her too, bless her loving heart.
Her
first marriage had been none of her choosing; it was her pa and ma done that to her. She'd never have got spliced to that monster.”
    “Was that really why King Jim had him sent to the Tower? To get him out of the road?”
    Nurse Mara shook her head vigorously. “Never! King Jim ud not stoop to such a mean trick as that. He was a gent through and through. And so is King Dick.”
    “They say he's mortal sick now.” Mrs. Smidge sighed.“Say what you like. They can send Miss Jorinda to school. They can teach her ladylike ways, but with such a dad, who's to know how that one is going to turn out? Her and that brother both—'tis a terrible unchancy strain. I'd not wish it passed into
my
family.”
    Nurse Mara nodded. “You'd not believe, even if I told you (which wild horses wouldn't drag it from my lips), the things I heard from my sis about the hard times poor Lady A had with
him
—and her only fifteen years old when her pa and ma married her off to him. Many's the time, my sis told me, she thought the poor lamb would be better off married to a wild wolf. Temper! She never saw aught to equal it. And carryings-on. Like with Miss Zoe. And when in the end Lady A decided to cut and run— oh, my word! When she told him she was leaving …”
    Mrs. Smidge was big-eyed with curiosity
    “What happened? Did he throw a—one of
those?”
    Nurse Mara wagged her head portentously.
    “One was just