He nodded. “I’ll give you a couple of shillings on the day,” he promised. “Ten.”

“I’d be grateful,” she said smoothly. “Thank you, Uncle.”

She did not look at her mother, nor did Alinor raise her eyes from her work. “We’ll both be grateful,” Alinor added. “To tell truth: we’ve had to promise more than we can find.”

“It’s a handsome farm,” he conceded. “They’re bound to want a good payment. When’s the wedding to be?”

“After Easter,” Alinor said.

“Perhaps earlier,” Alys added. “If we can get the money earlier. Perhaps Twelfth Night. I should love a Twelfth Night wedding.”

Her uncle shook his head. “There’s no Twelfth Night in the Bible,” he said. “And no call for one in a godly church.”

“And that’s too soon!” Alinor protested. “We’ll never get anything like the money in that time.”

Alys shrugged. “A later day in January then. Or February. A day without a name.”

“Then you’ll have to spin faster,” Ned told her. “Or spin gold, like the lass in the story.”

“What’s the hurry?” Alinor asked her. “In bad weather and dark afternoons? Why not wait for spring?”

The pretty girl showed her most mischievous smile. “Because I want a warm bed in bad weather and dark afternoons.”

Alinor gave a little frown and a nod towards the girl’s uncle to remind her to mind her tongue.

“Marriage is a serious contract, to be taken in hand for the glory of God,” Ned said solemnly. “Not at the whim of the lusts of the young. You’d do better to be the Lord’s handmaiden, ask in your prayers, till He says the time is right.”

“Yes,” Alys agreed, her pretty face grave. “But how long would you have me wait, Uncle Ned? For there you are on your own, and there is Ma all alone here. I know we’re a family as cool-blooded as fish, but even so . . .”

Despite himself her uncle laughed and bent to pat his dog on the head.

“We’ll never get the dowry in time, if you bring the wedding forward,” Alinor warned her.

“We will,” Alys said confidently. “Because Richard’s going to make it up for me.”

“What?” Ned demanded. “The bridegroom pay the dowry to himself?”

Alys glowed with pride. “He loves me so much,” she said. “He doesn’t want me to worry.”

“Has he got his own savings?” Alinor asked. “Has he got that sort of fortune?”

“From his grandfather Stoney. Willed to him. It’s all his. And he’ll give it to me. He’s promised to make up, if we’re short.”

Alinor moved her shoulders as if a weight of anxiety had slid away. “Thank God,” she said. “I’ve been so—”

“I told you it would come out all right.”

“You’re very sure of yourself,” Ned remarked.

Alys peeped up at him. “I’m sure about this,” she said.