Read Online Unwept by Laura Hickman Tracy Hickman - Free Book Online

fun.”
    â€œYou really are feeling better this morning.” Jenny began fingering the blue silk dress. Ellis smiled knowing she’d won as Jenny continued, “You really must see Gamin again. Just think, you might remember something! And besides, I want to take you to the Nightbirds House. Here.” She withdrew the invitation from her pocket and waved it in the air. “Alicia has invited us into town to lunch. I just didn’t want to say anything if you weren’t up to it.”
    â€œWhat is the Nightbirds House?” Ellis asked, waves of relief pouring over her at the sight of the small piece of paper. Perhaps I am just an invalid and not a prisoner after all.
    â€œIt’s where the local young people go. The full name is the Nightbirds Literary Society House. Don’t worry; no one will actually make you read anything if you don’t want to.” Jenny smiled.
    â€œWhat do they do there?”
    â€œWe plan outings and play games. We encourage each other in our creative pursuits. We each have—” Jenny stopped speaking and just looked at Ellis, waiting.
    â€œWhat? Have what?” asked Ellis.
    â€œJust come and see, please?” Jenny pleaded.
    Ellis wondered how much of Jenny’s desire was to show her the town and how much was to show off Ellis’s new frocks. It didn’t matter.
    Ellis had tilted her head to one side while listening and allowed Jenny’s words to appear to persuade her. “Why shouldn’t I have a little outing … especially if it brings to mind anything about my life?”
    â€œYes. Let’s go. We’ll both pick something out to wear. I want to wear the blue jumper with the embroidered medallions!”
    Ellis sighed inwardly. It was the one she would have picked. She smiled her agreement and picked out a rust-colored mid-calf-length silk with a deep v in front that was inset by a lacy cream chemisette and had a sailor collar of chocolate brown velvet that ended in tassels at each corner. The close-fitting underskirt matched the collar. It was topped off with a poke bonnet that contained a spray of satin roses.
    In the end, as the girls fussed with each other’s buttons and hair, it was discovered that the blue frock was meant to be worn with an elegantly embroidered and crocheted Castle Cap that Ellis said looked like a sophisticated “Dutch girl’s” hat. It became rapidly apparent that the cap would not fit over Jenny’s hair piled high on her head. Laughing, Jenny surrendered the blue dress and gladly wore the rust-colored one Ellis had chosen.
    Ellis checked her reflection in the glass of the stilled grandfather clock as they went out the door. She saw a smiling girl, ready to meet a new world.
    She wondered who that girl was in the reflection.

7
    GAMIN
    The town of Gamin could be seen just across the waters of the bay from the back porch of Summersend. From that vantage point and from that place Gamin looked to be less than a mile away to the southwest. However, the road wound its way north and west back up the spine of Pearson Point for nearly a mile before it came to High Street. Only then could Ellis and Jenny turn southward again toward town. This more than doubled the distance to Gamin, but the morning sun warmed Ellis’s back as she and Jenny walked together along the road banked with autumn colors. Ellis enjoyed the easy amiability of Jenny’s sometimes peculiar chatter.
    â€œYou’ll love our literary society.” The gait of Jenny’s step struck Ellis as somewhat pained, although Jenny herself did not seem to notice it. “We were so lucky that it didn’t burn down.”
    â€œBurn down?” Ellis asked.
    â€œOh yes.” Jenny had the peculiar habit of revealing the most alarming information at the strangest of times. “It happened about a week ago … or was it two? It was quite devastating to many of the buildings in town, although