The merchant cancelled her father's debts. Two years later, her parents died and her five-year-old bother was put through a form of marriage ceremony with his seventeen-year-old bride. The merchant was now her guardian and she was an unwanted guest in her former home. Fortunately, her predicament did not go unnoticed. The Abbess of Shaftesbury took Alice under her wing. She went to live with the sisters and received an excellent education.
At the age of nineteen, she contemplated taking holy orders. Again fate intervened. Two requirements had to be met. One was a proven dedication to the life of religious contemplation. The other was a financial contribution to the upkeep of the establishment. Alice was uncertain about the first and knew she lacked the second. With nowhere to go, she remained at the convent but not as a full member.
Like many others living there her role was that of a servant. The lay sisters, as they were called, came from different backgrounds and had different reason for entering a religious house. Often it was the dangers of childbirth. Better to die a virgin than bleed to death in agony. Alice had heard that many times but did not agree. As a younger woman, she'd longed for a child at her breast. Last night that longing was rekindled. She wondered if it was not too late.