1349 – Day 4 – Pelham Townhome
While the earl’s family is mourning his loss and Maud is preparing Philippa for what is to come – namely, her marriage, although it will be in name only for quite a few years – life continues elsewhere in Praaven. As he promised his son Bertrand, Peter Pelham has taken custody of his two young grandsons, Roger and Emil. There is no one else to properly look after them – save Geneviève Stirling, all their maternal family is dead, and she is hardly more than a child herself, married or not. There is Catherine de Bellefaye, he supposes, the widow of Elisaria Chevalier’s nephew, but that woman has her hands full with her own children.
Frankly, Peter is glad to have charge of the boys. His wife Maria, the boys’ grandmother, passed away during the plague, and Betrand was their only child. Caring for his grandsons gives him purpose.
Peter Pelham has led an indolent life, supported by his father’s well-paid position with the earl and the generous dowry his mother (Edith Crawley) brought into the marriage. He studied law at Oxford for a time, but since his return to Praaven, he has done little with the learning he acquired. Now that his grandson, who served as the earl’s steward, is gone, he has taken up that position, but a worse time for that one couldn’t imagine.
Comforting his grandsons is easier. They still haven’t quite accepted the death of their father – how could they, at seven and six? They’re terribly young to have lost both of their parents. Watcher knows what would have become of them had the plague taken Peter as well.
Roger especially is angry and distant, but as long as the boy isn’t disrespectful, Peter lets him be. Children at that age are often sullen, and Roger has more reason for his irritability than most. Emil, though, clings to him, always asking for attention and stories. Peter even takes to reading to him in the evenings. It distracts him from how empty the house feels, and if he can do the boy a kindness at the same time, all the better.
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