Saraband for Two Sisters

“Emmy Cherry!” I thought. It suited her-so rotund, so eager to serve, and yet with a glint of something in her eyes which made her of interest to me. “So,” I said, “you will let me have the cure?”

“I’ve been thinking, Mistress Bersaba. The cure is for toothache. You don’t need a cure for toothache when you ain’t got it, now do you? I’ve got a little something here which is made mostly of poppy juice and fresh green leaves to give it taste and a spot of juniper to give it a tang. That’s not all. But a little nip of this would ensure a good night’s rest, I reckon, and do no harm. I’ll give it to you.” She went to a cupboard and I followed her. It was like a small room, that cupboard, and I imagined it was an almost exact replica of the one which contained the coats. This cupboard was lined with shelves, and in it was an array of bottles, neatly labeled.

There was no extra door.

She took one of the bottles and gave it to me.

“Here you are, Mistress Bersaba. She’ll sleep well on this. Just the one dose will do it. But don’t let her take too much. There’s always a fear that you’ll take a dose, get sleepy, and take another without knowing it. It’s been done more than once. Now that’s something I wouldn’t like to speak for.”

“You can trust me, Mrs. Cherry,” I said. “I shall see that she only takes it when it is absolutely necessary and I’ll keep it in my room.”

I took the bottle to my room and put it into a cupboard. When I saw Angelet I told her what I had done.

‘Where is it?” she asked.

“I’m keeping it,” I told her. ‘When I think you really need to be put off to sleep, I shall use Mrs. Cherry’s soother.”

“Let me have it, Bersaba.”

“No,” I said firmly; and she laughed and was happy in my care for her. I couldn’t wait to explore that part of the grounds around the kitchens, for I wanted to discover if there was a door there which could be the one in the cupboard. It was dusk, and no one about when I strolled out in my cloak, for it was chilly.

I made my way around the house.

This was where the kitchens would be. There was the window which I knew was there, but I could not find a door. I wondered whether there had been one once and it had been blocked up. If so, there should be some sign of it, but there was nothing.

I looked behind me. The wall of the mock castle was very close and the discovery

 I did make was that this was its nearest distance from the house. “If it is a ruin, which might crumble at any moment, is it safe to allow it to remain so near the house?” I wondered.

Clearly I could discover nothing there so I went back to my room. But I kept thinking about it.

How long the evening seemed! Angelet sat idly, for she could not see to embroider by the candlelight and I fancied that when Richard was not there she did not feel the need to be busy.

We talked of old times and Trystan Priory and wondered what our mother was doing at that moment. Then, when we mentioned Castle Paling, I was reminded of my exploration that afternoon, and said, “When I went down to the kitchen to speak to Mrs. Cherry I noticed a cupboard I had not seen before. I looked inside and there was a door which was bolted. Where does it lead?”

“I’ve no idea,” replied Angelet.

“You’re the mistress of the house. It shouldn’t hold any secrets from you.”

“I never interfere in the kitchen.”

“It’s not interfering ... just to find out why there should be a door in a cupboard.”

“Did you ask Mrs. Cherry?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Well, if you’re curious you could ask her.”

“Why don’t we go down and see?”

“To ask them, you mean.”

“I don’t want to ask them. I want to find out for ourselves. It’s rather mysterious, I fancy.”

“Mysterious? How? Why?”

“How? That’s what we have to find out. And why. Well, something tells me it is.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Explore.”

Her eyes shone. It was almost as though we were children again and I knew that that was what she was thinking. Hadn’t I always been the one to lead the way when we did something wild and extraordinary?

‘Well,” she said, “what do you suggest?”

‘We’ll wait until they’re in bed and then well go down to the kitchens and see what’s behind the door. ... If there is anything.”

‘What if we’re discovered?”

“My dear Angelet, what if we are? Are you or are you not the mistress of this house? If you wish to explore your kitchen in the dead of night what right has anyone to stop you?”

She began to laugh.

“You haven’t grown up at all,” she said accusingly.

“In some ways I may have retained my childishness,” I admitted. The evening passed slowly; we went to our rooms and to our beds because I had said that neither Meg nor Phoebe should suspect anything. This was our adventure. It was just past midnight when we wrapped our robes about us and took a candle and made our way to the kitchens.