horrid the thought!
'Twas inevitable, but difficult to contemplate. Who could love him as well as Kate?
Edmund had asked her to come to London! How wondrous!
'Twas impossible, but truly tempting.
Kate could not make a decision of such import without first consulting her astrologer, Jutta.
The moment Edmund strode out of sight, whistling a merry but unrecognizable tune, she hurried into town. Her mind was awhirl, her thoughts scattered like a deck of playing cards caught in the wind. She could not latch on to even one for more than a moment.
Worse, her emotions fluctuated between a dispiriting sadness and light-minded excitement. When at last Kate reached the village, she was in a rare state of turmoil.
Jutta, the baker's wife, lived above her husband's shop, where she interpreted the position of the planets for the curious. Loyal patrons, like Kate, customarily purchased a loaf of crusty bread from the stargazer's husband before they departed.
A mass of untamed coarse, wren-brown hair mushroomed from Jutta’s head. Otherwise, the middle-aged astrologer's only notable feature was her receding chin, which sloped into her neck at a rather startling angle.
In the normal course of events, Jutta charted the constellations and counseled Kate once a week. Kate always knew how the alignment of the planets would affect her health and fate.
But nothing had been normal since Edmund's return to Rose Hall. Kate had no choice but to pay a second visit to Jutta.
"London, Jutta! The Earl of Stamford has asked me to travel to London as his aunt's gentlewoman. Why did the stars not reveal this course before?"
"I know not."
"What say they? Do I go or stay?"
But Jutta behaved as if she had not heard the question. The stargazer regarded Kate with mouth agape.
"Your eye is black and blue."
"I walked into a low-hanging bough."
"Aye?" The stargazer hiked a sparse brow.
"Do you see a journey for me in the stars, Jutta?"
Jutta looked down at the parchment chart that lay between them on the crude wooden table, "Your sign is Cancer, a family sign."
"My family is here." At least the family Kate knew.
"But you are a moon child, vulnerable to the changing phases."
"Are you saying I am meant to travel to London? That indeed change is predicted?"
"You shall see the way by the light of this eve's moon."
"No more? They say no more?"
"Your sign rules here." Jutta rubbed her belly. "If you do not take regular meals there will be a disturbance."
Kate felt the disturbance as she headed for home deep in disappointment. A mass of butterflies frolicked in the pit of her stomach.
Kate begged her papa's forbearance and retired early to her small room. But when darkness fell the moon was shrouded by clouds. She spent a ragged night, alternately tossing and turning on her small feather bed, and then staring from her window to wish on any number of stars. Stars hidden in the hazy mist. Kate wished the same over and over: that she might make the correct decision. Jutta had been no help, and nothing was forecast in the midnight sky. Kate was left to weigh the wisdom of such a great change by herself through the long, quiet hours.
The hope of a London goldsmith identifying her ring filled her with an edgy excitement, a prickly anticipation. To discover her true identity would be the answer to her prayers.
Alas, the rubs: first to leave her dear papa and then to live beneath the same roof in London as Edmund. Kate feared the folly of such an arrangement. Instead of becoming closer to him, she should distance herself from the earl's simmering virility and spellbinding eyes.
Still, when might she have another opportunity to search London for her natural mother and father? The moon gave her no sign, the stars did not shine, and the stargazer's chart remained unclear.
By dawn's light Kate had not yet made up her mind.
She sought her papa's advice. Soon after dressing for the day, Kate carried a ripe red apple, a chunk of cheese, and jug of water to
'Twas inevitable, but difficult to contemplate. Who could love him as well as Kate?
Edmund had asked her to come to London! How wondrous!
'Twas impossible, but truly tempting.
Kate could not make a decision of such import without first consulting her astrologer, Jutta.
The moment Edmund strode out of sight, whistling a merry but unrecognizable tune, she hurried into town. Her mind was awhirl, her thoughts scattered like a deck of playing cards caught in the wind. She could not latch on to even one for more than a moment.
Worse, her emotions fluctuated between a dispiriting sadness and light-minded excitement. When at last Kate reached the village, she was in a rare state of turmoil.
Jutta, the baker's wife, lived above her husband's shop, where she interpreted the position of the planets for the curious. Loyal patrons, like Kate, customarily purchased a loaf of crusty bread from the stargazer's husband before they departed.
A mass of untamed coarse, wren-brown hair mushroomed from Jutta’s head. Otherwise, the middle-aged astrologer's only notable feature was her receding chin, which sloped into her neck at a rather startling angle.
In the normal course of events, Jutta charted the constellations and counseled Kate once a week. Kate always knew how the alignment of the planets would affect her health and fate.
But nothing had been normal since Edmund's return to Rose Hall. Kate had no choice but to pay a second visit to Jutta.
"London, Jutta! The Earl of Stamford has asked me to travel to London as his aunt's gentlewoman. Why did the stars not reveal this course before?"
"I know not."
"What say they? Do I go or stay?"
But Jutta behaved as if she had not heard the question. The stargazer regarded Kate with mouth agape.
"Your eye is black and blue."
"I walked into a low-hanging bough."
"Aye?" The stargazer hiked a sparse brow.
"Do you see a journey for me in the stars, Jutta?"
Jutta looked down at the parchment chart that lay between them on the crude wooden table, "Your sign is Cancer, a family sign."
"My family is here." At least the family Kate knew.
"But you are a moon child, vulnerable to the changing phases."
"Are you saying I am meant to travel to London? That indeed change is predicted?"
"You shall see the way by the light of this eve's moon."
"No more? They say no more?"
"Your sign rules here." Jutta rubbed her belly. "If you do not take regular meals there will be a disturbance."
Kate felt the disturbance as she headed for home deep in disappointment. A mass of butterflies frolicked in the pit of her stomach.
Kate begged her papa's forbearance and retired early to her small room. But when darkness fell the moon was shrouded by clouds. She spent a ragged night, alternately tossing and turning on her small feather bed, and then staring from her window to wish on any number of stars. Stars hidden in the hazy mist. Kate wished the same over and over: that she might make the correct decision. Jutta had been no help, and nothing was forecast in the midnight sky. Kate was left to weigh the wisdom of such a great change by herself through the long, quiet hours.
The hope of a London goldsmith identifying her ring filled her with an edgy excitement, a prickly anticipation. To discover her true identity would be the answer to her prayers.
Alas, the rubs: first to leave her dear papa and then to live beneath the same roof in London as Edmund. Kate feared the folly of such an arrangement. Instead of becoming closer to him, she should distance herself from the earl's simmering virility and spellbinding eyes.
Still, when might she have another opportunity to search London for her natural mother and father? The moon gave her no sign, the stars did not shine, and the stargazer's chart remained unclear.
By dawn's light Kate had not yet made up her mind.
She sought her papa's advice. Soon after dressing for the day, Kate carried a ripe red apple, a chunk of cheese, and jug of water to
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