As soon as the sun peeked it’s first rays over the horizon, Ellen’s distant cries fell silent. It was as if she was mourning…or herself or others no one will ever know. I slipped out of my bed and lifted the curtain hanging across the window. The sunrise was golden-orange and held a translucent beauty. I sighed. Maybe my life would never be peaceful again. I thought of Andrew and wondered again where he had gone…and with Ellen outside to haunt the gardens and grounds. I was petrified to leave the house since she had come; and I had few visitors. Rumors were flying all over the surrounding countryside and villages. Parents were keeping their children in at night and all travelers were warned about continuing their journeys in the darkness. Everyone blamed me for putting her out, but I could not live with such a woman under my roof. She was a danger to the servants and to me.
And only I knew the secret of her insanity.
I was saddened that I had lost my childhood friend- the girl who had always held my confidence, all my secrets and loves. But we had not been friends for years. She had broken my trust. Turned her back on me and my feelings. I had been ecstatic when I learned that my beloved Daddy had asked her to come with us when we moved to Swallow Head Grange, but not long after we arrived Ellen and I met a fellow named Edward…
He was a dashing, handsome man of twenty-five. Dark haired, tanned from the military, and with the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. Of course both of us had just reached seventeen, but that made us the more susceptible to the flirtation of men and boys. We had really no knowledge of the real world, and when one of them “stooped as low as to flirt with two love-sick children,” as my daddy put it, we would have torn our hearts out and presented it too them with flowers and kisses. So when we met Edward, we were infatuated and thrilled. But then the jealousy and suspicion came into play. If one of us would accuse the other of monopolizing his attention or his “love” as we called it in private. The poor dear hadn’t known what he was getting into.
