The Pride of the Peacock

Начало книги

I was quite young when I realized that there was something mysterious about me, and a sense of not belonging came to me and stayed with me.

I was different from everyone else at the Dower House.

It became a habit of mine to go down to the stream which ran between the Dower House and Oakland Hall, and gaze into its clear waters as though I hoped to find the answer there. That I chose that particular spot was somehow significant. Maddy, who was a general servant and a sort of nurse to me, found me there once and I shall never forget the look of horror in her eyes.

Now why do you want to come here. Miss Jessica? ” she demanded.

“If Miss Miriam knew she’d forbid it Mystery again 1 What was wrong with the pleasant stream and pretty bridge which crossed it? It was especially attractive to me because on the other side of it loomed the magnificent grey walls of Oakland Hall.

“I like it here,” I retorted stubbornly; and as forbidden fruit could never have tasted sweeter to anyone than it did to me, having discovered that there was some reason why I should not go to the stream, I went there all the more.

Читать дальше →