Free The Weeping Ash by Joan Aiken

enjoyed the notion of a friendly spirit, the guardian of the place, keeping watch on behalf of its absent mistress. Perhaps, she thought fancifully, perhaps the house spirit dwells in the ash tree; how lucky it is that Thomas was prevented from cutting the tree down, or some terrible punishment might have been visited on his head…
    She smiled and said, “No, I am not in the least frightened, Kate, thank you, only a little tired with being indoors all morning. I think I will find Miss Bet or Miss Martha and see if they would like to take a stroll in the garden.”
    â€œYes, you do that, ma’am. Only wrap up warm, for you look particular pale, all of a sudden.”
    Martha, now heartily bored by indoor occupations, was pleased enough to leave them and explore the garden with her young stepmother, and little Patty was likewise encouraged to put on a pelisse and come out to bowl her hoop. However she rapidly tired of the hoop and demanded of Jem the bootboy where he had put her kite—she must have her kite! At last, after much search, the kite was forthcoming, it having been accidentally deposited in the barn, which was large enough to serve as both stable and garden shed.
    Patty’s stepmother and sister soon had cause to wish that the kite never had been found, for its owner was far from expert in the handling of it, and it frequently became entangled in the boughs of various fruit trees; Jem had to be summoned each time to release it. Finally, after much tugging and ill-use, the string broke, and the truant kite soared away up the lane leading to the town.
    â€œOh, quick, quick ! Let us go after it!” cried Patty, tugging at her sister’s hand. Martha was willing enough to go, but Fanny had scruples.
    â€œYour papa does not wish us to go into the town, Patty. We had better not go up the lane, or he will be displeased.”
    â€œBut the kite will be lost! Some other child will find it!” whined Patty. “It is not far—I believe I saw it come down just around the bend in the lane.”
    â€œWe had best send Jem to look for it.”
    But Jem had gone off to buy saddle soap and boot blacking, and the other servants were all occupied on tasks too important to leave for this trifling quest.
    â€œ I will take Patty up the lane; there can be no harm in going just as far as the street, after all,” proposed Martha, regarding her stepmother with some scorn. “If you are so frightened of Papa’s displeasure, Fanny, you had best stay here.”
    Stung by this taunt—although it was true, and she was frightened—Fanny at last said that if Martha and Patty went she had better accompany them; she had better not let them go unescorted; but in any event, none of them must proceed farther than the end of the lane.
    As they walked past the gate leading into the walled kitchen garden Fanny glanced through, wondering if Talgarth was at work picking the apples; but he was not visible, either there or in a small glasshouse beside the barn.
    â€œOh, there is my kite!” Patty shouted joyfully, running up the rutted track to where the kite could now be seen, perched in a holly bush.
    Next moment she had slipped and fallen on the muddy, uneven ground and was letting out loud uncontrolled shrieks and wails.
    â€œOh, oh, oh, my knee, my knee !”
    â€œHush, Patty!” said her sister with great impatience. “Do not be making such a coil about nothing. It is nothing of a scrape! You always go on as if you had half killed yourself.”
    â€œIt hurts, it hurts dreadfully!” sobbed Patty, hoisted to her feet by the unsympathetic Martha. Her face, hands, and knees were mud-covered, and a small bead of blood had started out on her leg. “Look, it is bleeding! Oh, oh, oh!”
    â€œDear, dear, here’s a sad commotion!” observed a cheerful voice over the heads of Martha and Fanny, who were both trying to set Patty to rights and stanch her