It was another warm, spring morning. Eileen and Daniel sat on a set of stone steps in the castle of Christus.
Eileen had long, curly, dirty blond hair. Her eyes were mostly green, but if you looked close enough you could see specks of brown in them. She wore a dark-red dress with a long skirt that came flowing around her feet.
Her friend, Daniel, had light brown hair, which was cut in the popular style of the time, just above the shoulders. His eyes were a beautiful, rich shade of dark brown, and he wore a dark green tunic.
“What do you want to do? It will soon be time for school,” said Eileen. “We could take turns pushing each other on the swing,” Eileen recommended.
“Too bad it’s still too cool to swim,” wished Daniel.
“I’ve got it! How about we . . .”
Her thoughts were interrupted by Sir Mark calling Daniel to his lessons and Eileen to hers. Sir Mark taught the boys reading, writing and arithmetic. Eileen’s mother taught some of the girls most of the same things except she added stitchery, dancing and other female necessities. Eileen and Daniel slowly trudged up the stairs. Queen Anne was very kind and wanted all of the children in the castle to have an education. But Eileen didn’t enjoy it very much, though she didn’t mind the sewing and dancing. That was fun. She just couldn’t understand how she would ever need that other stuff. The first class was Bible. They were studying Jesus’ death. Eileen didn’t understand why someone would die to save people who were not worthy, but she was sure glad that he did.
That afternoon when school was over she and some of the other children went out to play.
Out in the woods surrounding the castle they were having so much fun playing various games that they failed to notice the strange rustle of leaves and the breaking of twigs behind them.
