They slept on hard boards they fasted they followed strict laws of poverty and it was their duty to forget their own needs and devote their time to the care of the sick and the poor. They moved about the convent like grey silent ghosts for if they wished to speak to each other they must first receive permission to do so from the Abbess. The Abbess had told her that the Poor Clares lived only to serve. Mary liked the nuns she liked the convent the atmosphere fascinated her. If it was good, little would be said, for it was implied that they expected it to be good if it was carelessly done or betrayed an ignorance of the subjects set there would be a gentle reproof which strangely enough hurt her more than anger and contempt would have done. Presently one of them would come and look at her work. The thought made her feel slightly uneasy and she was more than ever aware how pleasant it was to be in the convent among the gentle nuns. It was almost as though they were planning something. She must do as she was told by those of superior knowledge and that naturally meant an elder sister.īrooding now over those days as she sat within the peaceful walls of the convent her books lying neglected before her, she was thinking of all that had happened since her father's death and the attitude of Eleanor and her husband towards her. She was much older, Eleanor had pointed out, and Mary was only a child. Eleanor had always made her a^vare of it, even before their father's death. When she asked this, she was sharply told by Eleanor not to be foolish and she was subdued for she had always been very conscious of Eleanor's seniority.
What difference did it make to them? she wondered. Thus Eleanor, wife of royal Thomas, and ten-year-old Mary became the richest heiresses in England.Įleanor was delighted about that so was Thomas Mary ^vas amazed at their excitement.
#Books like love stargirl full
Then everything had changed because her father-Humphrey de Bohun to give him his full title-had died and his ast fortune was to be divided between his two daughters for there was no male heir. Wealth that the marriage had been approved by the royal family, the de Bohuns had been well aware of the honour done to them. Her father had been alive then and there had been great rejoicing at the castle, for it was a brilliant match for the de Bohuns, even though Humphrey de Bohun was a very rich man owning as well as Pleshy Castle those of Monmouth and Leicester and a mansion in the City of London and, although it was because of his immense Mary could remember when he and Eleanor were married. Thomas of Woodstock, as people called him because of the place where he was born, was in fact the Earl of Buckingham and the youngest son of King Edward the Third and Queen Philippa. She was constantly reminding her little sister that her children would be royal because Thomas was the King's son. He was a very important man, of course and Eleanor was proud to be his wife. Mary had always been a little in awe of Eleanor, her elder sister, and perhaps more so of Thomas, Eleanor's husband. There was a peacefulness here which she found very comforting, the more so because she had become aware of a certain turmoil in the castle. How quiet it was in the convent ! she was thinking.
Close by were the grey walls of Pleshy Castle, the home of the little girl who was seated at the table her lesson book spread out before her. The walls of the convent rose serene and beautiful among the green meadows. This book made available by the Internet Archive.