The Evening and the Morning

Ragna gets her period, which is a relief. Although she is infatuated with Wilf, she does not want to have a baby without being married. Guillaume arrives and is infatuated with her. He is handsome, but he courts her clumsily and is less masculine than Wilf. He gives her a silk shawl as a gift but is surprised when she says making clothes bores her.

Later, Ragna tells her mother that she does not like Guillaume. She might have to become a nun instead. She meets Wynstan, Wilf’s brother. Her maid, Cat, gets some of Wynstan’s history from one of his guards. That night, Hubert tells her that Wynstan is there to deliver a proposal from Wilf. Hubert will listen to the offer and agrees to let Ragna attend.

Wynstan proposes that on Ragna and Wilf’s wedding day, Wilf will give Ragna the Vale of Outhen, a valley of five villages and a thousand peasants. Wynstan suggests 20 pounds of silver for a dowry. Wynstan already has Ethelred’s approval. Ragna knows that Wynstan was married but hears that he is now single. She wonders what happened.

Hubert promises to consider the offer. As her parents talk, Ragna rides with Wynstan. There is a sudden stable fire, but no one except Ragna notices. Guillaume does not help Ragna while the others extinguish the flames. She tells him that he should piss on the fire and calls him an idiot. He becomes the butt of a joke—which is humiliating for him, given that the mockery comes from a woman—and leaves the next morning. Ragna’s parents accept Wynstan’s offer; the marriage will take place on All Saints’ Day, a few weeks later.

Edgar wants to build Dreng a nice boat. His wives and enslaved people hate him, but Edgar sees that Dreng truly loves Cwenburg. This makes Edgar determined to have a better working relationship with Dreng. He designs the boat to be able to ferry carts across, so Dreng can charge more per wheel.

Cuthbert watches them talk on the riverbank. When Edgar is done, he pushes the boat into the water. He tests the boat and poles it across the water. A shepherd named Sam is his first passenger. Dreng lets Sam have sex with Blod as the remainder of the payment, even though she is very pregnant. Afterwards, Blod comes out and sits by Edgar on the bank, where he tells her about Sungifu.

Leaf’s brewhouse collapses during a storm. Edgar suggests a stone brewhouse, and Cuthbert agrees. Edgar can design and build it. He goes to Outhenham at dawn and arrives in the afternoon. He talks to a man named Seric, who directs him to Gab, the quarrymaster. On the way, a big man named Dudda—the headman of the village—stops him. He becomes aggressive and dislikes Edgar’s attitude. Edgar dodges the man’s punch, and Seric takes Dudda away. Edgar then watches Gab work and meets his wife, a woman named Bee.

When Edgar returns home, Blod has a black eye. A petulant Dreng won’t feed Edgar. In the morning, Blod stumbles over Dreng as she starts her chores. Edgar steps between them when Dreng flies into a rage. Dreng is furious at the interference. Edgar goes to church with his mother, who seems more religious than he has ever seen her. Eadbald tells them that Cwenburg is pregnant. Ma hears that Dreng has not fed Edgar and says she will handle it.

Later, Cwenburg says Ma is a witch. Ma refuses to feed Cwenburg more than Edgar gets from Dreng. Dreng relents but says Edgar will regret his mother’s cunning.

Ragna leaves Cherbourg with Cat, her seamstress Agnes, three other maids, and several bodyguards. She wonders if Wilf has changed, and if she will like England. During a huge storm, she worries she will die but they survive the journey. She is so scared that it affects her self-confidence, and she refuses to sail again. It rains for three days as they walk. A baggage pony slips and falls. After they save the pony, Ragna cannot find the box with Wilf’s wedding gift, a belt and buckle. Cat sees it in the river, but a man appears and snatches the box before they can reach it.

Her men chase him, but he escapes. She regrets her choice and decides that she hates England. They reach a ferry where a strong boy poles them across. Agnes flirts with him as he steers the ferry.

Ragna meets Dreng at the alehouse and quickly realizes that she is not happy to be his cousin-in-law. He puts his arm around her, and she removes it. At dinner, Edgar says he and Ragna met five years prior at Cherbourg when he and his father delivered a ship. She remembers that he said she was beautiful, in bad French. He also said he would marry someone like her.

They commiserate about acclimating to England, and Ragna cries. When she tells him about the stolen belt and buckle, the bandit sounds like Ironface to Edgar. Degbert enters and introduces himself. Edgar introduces her to Cuthbert, who shows her an array of jewelry. She chooses an arm band for Wilwulf as a replacement gift for the belt she lost.

When it is time to sleep, Ragna is horrified that there are no beds, except at the nunnery with the lepers. Edgar agrees to take her there. He carries her out of the boat, and she enjoys his touch. A woman named Mother Agatha answers the door and welcomes them. Ragna asks how they came to be on the island. Agatha tells her the love story of Nothgyth and Lord Begmund. When her Lord died, Nothgyth built the nunnery to stay near his grave.

Dreng is cruel, which makes Edgar reflect on how Sungifu dealt with Cyneric. But no matter how much he dislikes Edgar, Dreng cannot get rid of him: Cwenburg is now part of the family, and there are no other shipbuilders who will work for Edgar’s price. Edgar has prepared the stone foundation for the new brewhouse. He thinks of Ragna often.

Shortly after Edgar and Blod discuss baby names, she goes into labor. As Edgar watches the birth, he doesn’t think he could have watched Sungifu in such pain. Dreng leaves, and Edgar takes the spoiled straw outside after the baby is born.

Dreng then takes the baby outside and throws it into the water. Edgar jumps in and tries to find it, coming close to Leper Island. Mother Agatha appears, carrying the dead baby. They baptized him. Agatha gives the body to Edgar, and Edgar weeps.