Having no desire to look upon the stranger she was forced to travel with or to converse with her, Katherine remained silent and also stared out the window as the scenery flew by. She was still trying to come to terms with all that she had learned in the solicitor’s office, especially learning of her father and the fact that Wistmere was to be hers. Well, half hers. She wasn’t as sure about the ‘wealth’ of Wistmere as her companion seemed to be, for that was one subject Miss Belwood happily carried on about. Even while living in Edinburgh Katherine had heard rumors of the estate’s extreme disrepair, of the orramen that, in the absence of a factor, stole grain and fattened their own pockets with the proceeds. It was said that Robert let Wistmere fall to near ruin while he cavorted around the world. And as far as she knew that was the way the estate was left, and she didn’t look forward to handling the results. She wondered if that was why Sir Robert had put her in his will; he passed onto her the skeleton of a manor such as what he had become himself. He couldn’t give to her in life so he gave to her in his death. It was a cold thought, but one that kept returning to her.
* * *
On the last evening of the journey, the coach stopped in a small hamlet. Unlike the previous nights, the two half-sisters were forced to share a room as there was only one available. They stood together viewing their stark accommodations. May-Jewel’s quiet protest quickly vanished as she looked at the old furnishings and the narrow bed that they were expected to share.
“Such wretched lodgings!” She said, moving to enter the room. But as she did, her foot became entangled in some unwoven strands of the threadbare carpet, and she plunged onto the bed.
Katherine laughed and said, “For all your airs of superiority, you’re not very graceful, are you?”
“Ignorant plebeian!” May-Jewel snapped, her face crimson as she rose, “What do you know of grace?”
“I know how to pick up my feet and enter a room without tripping.” Katherine took off her cloak and moved to the far side of the bed, placing her case of toiletries on the dresser. When she had finished laying out all the articles, she looked about for the pitcher of water and wash bowl, and saw with dismay that May- Jewel had already used it all to wash the day’s grime from her hands and face.
“Well, you could have saved some of that water for me so that I might be able to wash too!” Katherine said. “You have no consideration for others!”
“Oh, I am so sorry,” May-Jewel retorted, reaching for the linen towel. “I’ve never had the experience that you so obviously have had of sharing wash water with another person.” She wrinkled her nose up at the stained cloth in which she was to dry her face. As it didn’t smell and it looked clean enough, she used it.
Having to settle for cleansing her face with cream, Katherine fought to control the retaliatory words that formed in her mind. She fumed silently as her half-sister wrapped herself in a rose colored dressing gown.
“She looks like a burnt pheasant!” Katherine declared under her breath. “Who would wear such a gaudy thing?” She knew who, indeed, would wear it. In the course of their interview with the solicitor not much had been revealed about May-Jewel’s life, but her mother’s line of work had been more than hinted at. Could it be, Katherine wondered disparagingly as she removed her dress and shook it free of dust, that the daughter continued where the mother had left off? For the first time since meeting May-Jewel Belwood, Katherine felt a surge of superiority. But looking again at May-Jewel, Katherine thought her half-sister suddenly looked vulnerable and small, a fish out of water, and she also saw the same insecurities and fear that she herself was facing. Suddenly Katherine felt petty and foolish, and not a bit charitable for her thoughts.
Breathing a heavy sigh of repentance, Katherine eyed the blue traveling jacket that May-Jewel had casually tossed on the bed. She admitted to herself that, whatever her half-sister’s faults were, she had exquisite taste in clothing. While May-Jewel’s back was turned, Katherine picked up the jacket and held it in front of her.
“Do you like that?” May-Jewel suddenly asked.
Guilty and embarrassed, like a child who had been caught stealing, Katherine dropped the coat and slipped beneath the covers on the far side of the bed. “No. I was simply looking at the seams,” she lied, not wanting to admit that she had admired it. “I make my own clothing.” Katherine bit her lip as soon as the words were out of her mouth. She cringed, awaiting the
