The House of Beardsley

Chapter Sixteen

Before I knew it, October arrived and it was the night before our day off, and the day we were going to Ravensborough's Monthly Market.

"Shuyan," Beth said, tapping me on the shoulder after dinner, as we headed back to our rooms. "You've been looking a bit sad recently. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I tried a smile. "It's good that we can go tomorrow. I'm really excited."

Me and Clo had grown distant since the night I told her about Eugene, but no one had noticed. For nearly a month I had no glimpse of Eugene, either.

"That's not the face of someone excited," Rhiannon said. I wondered if I really was that easy to read.

Clo didn't join in the conversation, pretending to be occupied with undressing herself.

"Shuyan, what exactly is it? You've been looking like you want to cry the last few days." When we went into our room, Beth closed the door behind us. "Is it Phillip? I will go and talk to him right now—"

"No, no, no!" I said, waving my hands. "I swear, it's not Phillip!"

"Mister Kupka then!"

"No! Beth!" I groaned. "It's nothing, really."

"Well, we cant have you going to town like that tomorrow." Beth suddenly went over to her trunk. "And tomorrow we can finally wake up later than usual, so let's play something tonight."

"Play?" Clo frowned. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm not playing," Rhiannon said, untying her apron. "I'd rather read a book."

"No!" Beth was suddenly insistent. "We will cheer up Shuyan and have a cozy girls' talk as we play this." She held a deck of cards above her head.

"Trumps?" Clo raised an eyebrow.

"Oh! This brings back memories," I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. "It was forbidden for the children to play cards because it counted as gambling, but we always sneaked a pack to play after lights-out in the orphanage."

They looked at me.

"I've never seen you so worked up about anything," Clo said. "Fine, we can play a bit. What about you?" She turned to Rhiannon. She shrugged, which we had learned was her way of agreeing.

"But we don't have a table," Beth said, "so let's bath and change into our sleeping gowns and play on my bed! Doesn't that feel cozy, too, like something sisters would do?" She giggled in excitement.

"Yes, like what I used to do with my younger siblings," Clo said.

After we bathed and changed, we all sat on Beth's bed. Beth pulled her blanket over herself, Rhiannon wrapped her white shawl over her crisp nightgown, and I let down my hair. Immediately Beth dealt out cards for Old Maid.

As we played, we also, without saying it out loud, started asking each other questions we wanted for a long time.

"I always wanted to ask you, Shuyan, do you not remember your parents at all?" Beth asked as she picked a card from my hand. I shook my head.