CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Spring 504
Elaine was driving me mad. She paced constantly, running her hands through her hair, fiddling with her dress, unable to concentrate on her sewing or even sit still for a meal.
She’d been this way all winter. Then, I’d thought it was the effects of being cooped up inside with little to occupy her mind, but now the sun was bright, the breezes cool, and we were supposed to be enjoying simply being alive.
“Dear heart, what troubles you so?” I asked from my blanket beneath a pink dogwood. “Elaine, did you hear me?”
A little ways away, Elaine was picking at her fingernails as though determined to rid them of their cuticles once and for all. She looked at me, perplexed. “What do you mean?”
“This.” I put a hand over hers to stop her from peeling off mo
