so , when his mousy , unsmiling wife grew fat with child a child that veig saw as a chain that would hold him a lifelong captive of the gloomy minelands and their dull-witted , coal-dust-retching dwellers he gathered ( that is , stole ) what coin was at hand and fled to the castle , where , after eagerly ( if not enthusiastically ) pleasuring a rich , well-connected widow for an entire month , he was granted rights of residence .