Read Online Bitter Harvest by Sheila Connolly - Free Book Online Page B

she was missing anything. Where?” Meg stood on tiptoe but still couldn’t see anything on the lone shelf.
    “Shoved in the back there.” He pointed.
    “I don’t see it. Can you boost me up?”
    Seth offered her his joined hands, and she stepped up, hanging on to his shoulder. He was right: there was something wadded up in the back of the closet. It looked like an old rag, and even from where she perched she could see it was covered with dust. “I think it’s been there quite a while. Can you get any closer?”
    Seth wobbled a foot or so nearer, and Meg stretched out to grab the rag from the back of the closet. Dusty was an understatement: it was covered with a layer of powdery dust that had to be half an inch thick. Meg was obscurely pleased that there had been lousy housekeepers in the house before her.
    “Got it. You can put me down now.” Meg stepped back to the floor with her prize. She shook it, sending a cloud of dust into the room, and they both sneezed. She teased out a couple of corners and stretched it out gingerly. “What the . . . It’s a sampler! Look.”
    “I thought a sampler was one of those things where girls tried out different stitches and made alphabets and the like,” Seth said, trying to decipher the details through the dust.
    “What? No, I think there are different kinds. Oh, look at the flowers, and—is that a house? And tombstones? This is so interesting. And maybe sampler isn’t the right word, but I don’t have a better one.”
    “It looks old. Is it intact?”
    “I think so. Linen, do you think?”
    Seth took it carefully. “Looks like it. And I think the thread is silk. If it had been wool, I’d bet the moths would have gotten to it years ago. Nice. Wonder if it comes from the Warren family?”
    Meg took it back from him, then walked to the window to get more light. “I don’t know. What a lovely thing it is, though. I wonder if there’s anybody who does conservation of this kind of thing around here?” she said, distracted, her eyes on the shabby piece of cloth in her hand. “I think it’s dated—it looked like seventeen-something. Wow.”
    “Do you want to finish our cleanup, or are you itching to get a better look at your discovery?”
    Meg looked up at him and smiled. “What do you think? The dirt will still be here tomorrow, but this is a piece of history I’m holding. Besides, if we don’t look at it now we’ll lose the light. Unless you think we’ll get power back anytime soon?”
    “I won’t put any bets on it. Maybe fifteen minutes from now, maybe tomorrow. But I doubt repair crews are going anywhere fast today.”
    “Then let’s go take a look at this.”
    Downstairs, Meg looked around. “I can’t clear off the dining room table, because I’ll mess up Bree’s system, whatever that is. So I guess that leaves a card table—I was using one for my computer in the room across the hall, but I’m sure it’s too cold in there. I don’t suppose I should wash the sampler?” At the look of horror on Seth’s face, she said quickly, “I didn’t think so. I’ll leave that for a professional. But at least we can take a look at it and figure out what it’s about. You want lunch first? It’d better be cold sandwiches. We can do something hot for dinner.”
    “Good thinking. Can you contain yourself that long?”
    “I think so. But let’s eat fast.”

7
    As they ate their sandwiches, standing in the nowcold kitchen, Seth said, “You know, you’re easily distracted.”
    “I am not!” Meg mumbled through a mouthful of bread. “I’ll admit I don’t like cleaning, but I can be focused when I need to be. This is not an ordinary situation. Aren’t you even curious about what we’ve found?”
    “Of course I am. I’m just pointing out that we left that other project half finished.”
    “And that bothers you? Okay, we can go back to it later. Heck, for all we know this blizzard will go on for days, and we’ll have plenty of time for