Red Magic by Juliette Waldron Page A

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