“Alda!”

Lady Imme scurried to catch up with the older woman.

Alda sighed vexedly. Opportunistic and a rumor-monger, Lady Imme was a threat to everyone around her.

“What is it child?” Alda asked.

The young woman pouted at being called child. “I wanted to congratulate you on the talent of your gardener. It’s so nice for him to come by everyday, especially with your husband away on business.”

Alda feigned an calm that she did not feel. “Really, you spend far too much time listening to rumor and not enough caring for your own household.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If you are always looking outward, you never look inward. Suffice to say that you’ll find your boor of a husband at the bank, being denied yet another loan. I’m fraid that your ship has come and gone. No matter how high you toss a sow into the air, it’ll end up where it started- in the mud.”

Lady Imme gasped, hands clutching folds of dress over her heart. Alda felt a surge of satisfaction. It was about time the stupid twit learned her place.