Charity Mealwrath was described to me as a lady of uncertain temperament. I rather ‘pricked my ears up’ at this. I’ve met such ladies. One minute they are presenting a demure facade to the world, the next they are drinking wine out of tankards and singing songs they learned when their mother left them in the care of the maid (who had previously been assistant cook on a merchant schooner of uncertain reputation and legality). So it behoves a poet to be wary.
But in the case of Charity, frankly she is difficult to describe. […]
