Kunigunde

the second day of May, at Vespers

My knees ache from the cold water today, but we finished the shift. Peter counted out exactly four groschen for each of us. Juliana wept again, but tears do not wash the silver any faster.

• 
  Juliana

  I was only thinking of my mother in Kolin. I am sorry I slowed the work.

the Wednesday after Easter, at None

Alice took Grete's tin plate to settle an old score. Theft is a sin, even if Grete was selfish to take Standa's dry spot in the wagon last autumn. You must answer for your own deeds, not someone else's.

• 
  Grete

  I was freezing in that wagon. Standa offered the spot to me!

• 
  Alice

  She took what wasn't hers, so I took what wasn't hers. It is only fair.

Nota scribaeShe pointed her finger at the bench as if the girl were sitting right there.

the eve of Palm Sunday, at Prime

There is talk of more soldiers on the roads. I pray they do not levy us to boil their tunics again. The last time brought us nothing but grief and a dead carter, and some of us still refuse to admit their part in it.

• 
  Joan

  The marker was fallen! I did not steer the cart into the ditch on purpose.

• 
  Kunigunde

  You were too lazy to walk the longer way, Joan. Standa paid for your sloth.

the feast of Saint Gregory, at Sext

Milena and Else are whispering in corners again instead of stoking the fire. If the hearth goes cold, the widow will throw us out into the street. I will not let this house become a ruin just because they wish to gossip.

• 
  Milena

  We were only discussing the price of cabbage. It has gone up again.

Nota scribaeShe delivered this complaint in a flat, stern voice.

Candlemas, at Compline

I collected the rent pennies from the girls tonight. Isabel tried to short me by a halfpenny, but I count everything twice. We must pay our way in this world, for God gives nothing for free and neither does the widow.

• 
  Isabel

  I merely miscounted my purse in the dark. There is no need to make a sermon of it.