The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [204]
“The people of the town would object.”
Aliena felt sure he was using public opinion as an excuse, but it was probably true all the same. “I suppose we’d better seek out a rich Christian, then,” she said.
“It’s worth a try,” the goldsmith said doubtfully. “Let me tell you something candidly. A wise man would not employ you as a servant. You’re used to giving orders, and you would find it very hard to be on the receiving end.” Aliena opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand to stop her. “Oh, I know you’re willing. But all your life others have served you, and even now you feel in your heart of hearts that things should be arranged to please you. High-born people make poor servants. They are disobedient, resentful, thoughtless, touchy, and they think they’re working hard even though they do less than everyone else—so they cause trouble among the rest of the staff.” He shrugged. “This is my experience.”
Aliena forgot that she had been offended by his distaste for her religion. He was the first kindly person she had met since she left the castle. She said: “But what can we do?”
“I can only tell you what a Jew would do. He would find something to sell. When I came to this city I began by buying jewelry from people who needed cash, then melting the silver and selling it to the coiners.”
“But where did you get the money to buy the jewelry?”
“I borrowed from my uncle—and paid him interest, by the way.”
“But nobody will lend to us!”
He looked thoughtful. “What would I have done if I had no uncle? I think I would have gone into the forest and collected nuts, then brought them into the town and sold them to the housewives who do not have the time to go to the forest and cannot grow trees in their backyards because the yards are so full of refuse and filth.”
“It’s the wrong time of year,” Aliena said. “There’s nothing growing now.”
The goldsmith smiled. “The impatience of youth,” he said. “Wait a while.”
“All right.” There was no point in explaining about Father. The goldsmith had done his best to be helpful. “Thank you for your advice.”
“Farewell.” The goldsmith returned to the back of the house and closed the massive ironbound door.
Aliena and Richard went out. The goldsmith had been kind but nevertheless they had spent half a day being turned away from places, and Aliena could not help feeling dejected. Not knowing where to go next, they wandered through the Jewry and emerged in the High Street again. Aliena was beginning to feel hungry—it was dinnertime—and she knew that if she was hungry, Richard would be ravenous. They walked aimlessly along the High Street, envying the well-fed rats that swarmed in the refuse, until they came to the old royal palace. There they stopped, as all out-of-towners did, to look through the bars at the coiners manufacturing money. Aliena stared at the stacks of silver pennies, thinking that she wanted only one of those, and she could not get it.
After a while she noticed a girl of about her own age standing nearby, smiling at Richard. The girl looked friendly. Aliena hesitated, saw her smile again, and spoke to her. “Do you live here?”
“Yes,” the girl said. It was Richard she was interested in, not Aliena.
Aliena blurted out: “Our father’s in the jailhouse, and we’re trying to find some way to make a living and get some money to bribe the jailer. Do you know what we might do?”
The girl turned her attention from Richard back to Aliena. “You’re penniless, and you want to know how to make some money?”
“That’s right. We’re willing to work hard. We’ll do anything. Can you think of something?”
The girl gave Aliena a long, assessing look. “Yes, I can,” she said at last. “I know someone who might help you.”
Aliena was thrilled: this was the first person to say Yes to her all day. “When can we see him?” she said eagerly.
“Her.”
“What?”
“It’s a woman. And you can probably see her right