Several times, my mother directed Wallen’s attention to my sister, and how straight-backed Varille sat or how delicate was her appetite. Varille glanced back with shy smiles and did not speak much. I occupied myself by trying to arrange peas into different letters. No one seemed to notice me.
The second course was much livelier, as most had taken at least a serving of wine. Laughter and talk faded into the background as Varille noticed what I was doing with my peas, and began spelling words back and forth to me. We began a game of Hanged-Man, until Sir Heindereck accidentally jostled the table while leaning forward for seconds. This shook the plates enough that our game was lost to earthquake. It also caused the adults to laugh, and seemed to lighten the mood even more.
Wallen, emboldene
