A Daughter's Love - Book 2 The Frencolian Chronicles (complete)

Chapter Twelve

The baron of Chanoine soon saw that the village and surrounding farmlands had the potential to become very prosperous.

Sir Louis was amazed at his diligent wife's industrious ways. He realized the village functioned as well as it did, due to her hard work and careful management. She rose before dawn, organized the manor house then moved to the village to advise and supervise.

The baron followed his wife around for the first week, after which he sat down with her and made plans to take over the majority of the load she carried. As much as he could, he modified and delegated responsibilities.

The baron appointed new positions. He created new jobs for those who were idle and ordered everyone to increase their productivity by at least fifty percent.

Elissa realized everyone showed themselves to be more positive now her husband was resident in Chanoine and she believed they would all work so much harder.

She was not far from the mark when she declared to him, "This is great, Louis, they people respond to your presence. I believe they will double their output now with their master here to encourage them.

"You'll give reading and writing lessons to Ellie and Jobyna," Louis told his wife one morning before breakfast. "Louis and Marcus need additional tuition; Luke can't read much better than Jobyna; I'm engaging a tutor to take care of the lessons for the boys. When we have the affairs of the family, the manor house, and the village, in order, we'll think about making copies of the Gospel Book. Do you know, there were less than twenty volumes in the whole of Frencolia?"

"I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. How successful do you think Brother Theon has been?" Elissa asked.

"Theon told me that it is not a matter of 'success' as we think of achievement or accomplishment, he quoted from the Book, 'God's Word shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that which God pleases and shall prosper in the thing whereto God sent it.' Theon said that once the Word is sown, like seed in the ground, the effects go on for years and years. If carefully watered and nourished in the lives of our children, the Word will be passed on from generation to generation."

With care and gentleness, Louis opened a Volume of the book of Isaiah, saying, "People need the Word available to them, to hear and apply God's commands. I'm going to make it my life commitment to reproduce accurate copies of the Gospel Book... I've something very exciting to share with you, a project..." He stopped mid-sentence as a small knock came to the door of his office; it opened, and his youngest daughter appeared.

Flinging herself on her father's knee, she kissed him, then ran to hug her mother, her green eyes bright with anticipation.

Climbing back on her father's knee, she exclaimed, "I believe more and more every day that you'll stay home forever!"

She whispered in her father's ear, "Luke hasn't said it again..."

Looking over Jobyna's green hair-ribbon at Elissa, the father said, "We'll continue our conversation later, my love."

He spoke to his daughter, "After breakfast, I'm going to talk with each of you, one by one; then we'll all meet together. Hopefully, we should be finished by midday." Again, he spoke over Jobyna's 'pony-tail.' "Oh yes, and I'd like their mother to be present, for we have some of God's laws to lay down and some training to plan!"

The baron decided to work with the eldest down to the youngest. When Louis Junior entered the office with his mother at his side, it was obvious that the boy was striving to conceal his nervousness. The father had not been speaking for very long, outlining what he had learned from Ru and Emma when his son interrupted.