Free Saraband for Two Sisters by Philippa Carr

my father’s absences so that did not affect us so much—but the house without her seemed somehow bereft.
    After we had bade them farewell in the courtyard, Bersaba and I climbed to the turrets and watched them from there until they had disappeared from sight.
    ‘When I am married I shall be just like our mother,’ I told Bersaba.
    ‘You will not,’ answered my sister, ‘because you are not like our mother.’
    ‘I mean I shall have a husband who thinks I am as young and beautiful after thirty years of marriage as I was on the day he first saw me.’
    ‘You are not going to marry a blind man?’
    ‘You know what I mean. Father thinks that of our mother.’
    ‘There are not many like them.’
    Sadly, I agreed with her.
    ‘Mind you, it would be dull if they were. I want my marriage to be different from that. Theirs is hardly exciting.’
    ‘I don’t think anyone could ever have a more exciting moment than our mother when she hears his ship is sighted.’
    ‘It would greatly depend on what excitement meant to you,’ Bersaba pointed out.
    ‘Oh, you can never accept things as they are. You always have to probe and dig about and spoil them.’
    ‘I like to know the truth,’ observed my sister. ‘I wonder what’s happening at Castle Paling?’
    ‘It’s odd that we haven’t heard.’
    ‘Do you think they will be asked here?’
    ‘Not until Father goes. He clearly didn’t like Senara. She tried to stop his marrying our mother. She was jealous … She didn’t want anything to come between her and our mother. She loved her so.’
    ‘I’ll suggest that she wanted to be the one to marry first.’
    ‘It must have been exciting then. I wish we could read our mother’s journal. It will be all about Senara and her mother and Grandfather when he was young. Have you started writing, Bersaba?’
    ‘No,’ said Bersaba shortly.
    ‘Are you going to?’
    ‘When I’ve something that’s exciting enough to put down.’
    ‘Well, don’t you reckon Senara’s return with Carlotta is?’
    ‘It remains to be seen.’ She hesitated. Then she said: ‘I’ll tell you something. I swear someone from Paling will be over soon.’
    ‘Who’s coming over from Castle Paling then?’
    She smiled secretly. ‘Bastian perhaps,’ she said.
    It was not Bastian who came. It was Senara and her daughter. I wondered if they knew that my father was absent.
    Senara cried: ‘So your mother is not here—’
    We told her she had gone with our father to Plymouth.
    ‘Who is in charge?’ asked Senara.
    ‘My brother Fennimore,’ I answered. ‘And Bersaba and I are the hostesses.’
    ‘It’s nice of you to welcome us,’ said Carlotta with a sly smile, reminding us that we had done nothing of the sort.
    Bersaba told them that Fennimore was out on the estate and we hastily ordered the grooms to take the horses while we brought them into the hall.
    ‘It’s a lovely old place,’ said Serena. ‘I always thought so. The castle is so much grimmer.’
    ‘But grander,’ added Carlotta.
    ‘Our mother will be so sorry not to be here,’ said Bersaba.
    I could not imagine my mother’s being in the least sorry while she was with my father. In fact, I thought she would be rather pleased not to be here, since he would not want these visitors.
    ‘We’ll have a room made ready,’ I said, and went away to give orders.
    When I came back Bersaba was taking the visitors into the intimate parlour, and one of the maids had brought the wine and cakes with which we always refreshed travellers on their arrival.
    ‘I was surprised,’ Senara was saying, ‘that your mother did not insist on our coming before.’
    ‘It was because our father was home,’ Bersaba was explaining. ‘When he comes they have so much to talk of because he has been away so long. They just have to be together. It has always been like that.’
    ‘Your mother fell in love with him when she was nothing but a girl … younger than you are,’ said Senara.
    ‘And she has