The Nursery of Sheriff Hutton

It had rained the day before: a warm, June downpour that brought mists to cling to her skirt tails. My sister and I had been stuck inside all day, with naught to do but read and sit by the fire. It had been a rough year so far: father and our stepmother had been forced to cut their time in Nottingham short, as our half brother Edward had died of consumption. Father had felt it best to send us to our mother's for a time, a mother we had not seen since we were babes.

It was all too much too soon.

I had braced the weather and had come to see how my two children were doing at Sheriff Hutton. It was not the best of places, but for the time, it would have to suit. I had an escort go ahead to inform them of my arrival.