Hetty and Rachel, thinking it wouldn’t be at all difficult to make Dora into a lady, promptly packed her off to Kingsport Ladies’ College without further ado. Davey, into whose veins the red earth of the Island was beginning to seep, had calmed considerably and expressed a desire for a farm like Alec King’s. His schoolwork improved and Hetty hoped she could send him to university.
At the beginning of May of 1915, Dora Keith, “a very mature fifteen, Miss King,” was solidly installed as a pupil at KLC and wrote to Hetty and Rachel gushing epistles of her undying devotion to Muriel Pettibone. One such letter told her guardians that she was to be in a concert for the commencement ceremonies. Hetty and Rachel made plans to attend. One day at the Avonlea Post Office, Hetty was sorting through her mail and amidst the catalogues from Dalhousie, Smith and Vassar, was an invitation from the principal of KLC to join her family for her annual celebration at her home in Halifax. Delighted, Hetty sent a telegram to Muriel Pettibone to accept her invitation. She then stopped at the Avonlea General Store and pestered the usually imperturbable Eunice Faulkner for several items that promised to combat seasickness.
* * *
Daniel King was playing in the lake with four other Avonlea boys his age. His sister Cecily sat near the bank, a faint smile on her face as she watched the late afternoon mist swirling over the trees on Pine Island. She watched the boys play for several minutes and then turned her attention back to the book that lay in the folds of her skirt.
“Boys, be careful,’ she warned as they played on the rocks.
“Yes, Miss Cecily,” they responded. Cecily was never anything but “Miss Cecily” to the Avonlea children, because they thought no one except Hetty could ever be called “Miss King”.
The boys had been shrieking and splashing in the pond for a good half an hour. She wouldn’t have paid any attention to the latest scream and loud splash, if it had not been for David Hawthorne. “Daniel!” he yelled.
Cecily’s head shot up. Her brother had fallen out of the dory he was in and into the deepest part of the lake. He was a good swimmer, but he was struggling to stay afloat. She threw her book on the ground and ran into the water.
“Miss Cecily, come quick! He’s drowning!” Tommy Harrison yelled as she was swimming out to her brother. She pulled the gasping Daniel out and instructed one of the boys to run for Dr. Snow.
* * *
“Daniel is fine,” Dr. Snow said to his worried parents who stood over the bed where the boy lay. “He should be up and about playing in the lake by tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Dr. Snow,” Alec said. Dr. Snow began gathering up his things. “I’ll see you out.”
“How are you feeling, Cecily,” he asked on his way out of the room.
“Fine, thank you, Dr. Snow,” she replied.
Dr. Snow smiled and put his hat on his head. He followed Alec out of the room. Cecily silently gathered Daniel’s wet clothes and left the room. She was in the hallway, halfway to the stairs when she heard her mother’s voice behind her.
“Cecily King,” she scolded. “How could you be so irresponsible?!”
“Mother, it was not my fault Daniel fell into the lake.”
“You were supposed to be watching him!”
“I was!”
“No! If you had been, this wouldn’t have happened!”
“Mother, I don’t see what you’re so upset about. Nothing happened--”
Janet cut her off. “I don’t want to hear your excuses, Cecily King!”
“My excuses? You all expect me to do everything around here! Did you ever think for one minute that I might make a mistake?!” Cecily, in a fit of temper, threw Daniel’s clothes on the floor.
Janet, shocked by her daughter’s change in attitude, watched her storm into her room and slam the door.
* * *
Cecily King paced back and forth in her room, which seemed rather empty without Felicity. She had been alone in it before, after her sister’s marriage, and had rather enjoyed having the time to herself. It was the first time she had been alone in it in months, since Felicity had been staying with them since Christmas. She had been a little sad to return to King Farm while her sister was in Halifax. She missed the late night gab-fests she and her sister had. She needed them to keep her mind off her own troubles, troubles that had crept up regardless of how she tried to suppress them.
Now she felt restless. On her writing desk was an unfinished letter to Izzy Pettibone. Next to the letter was an item that she usually kept hidden under her mattress: the Dalhousie University course guide. She felt horrible keeping it from her parents and had tried, several times, and failed to get up enough courage to broach the subject to them. She heard a knock at her door and quickly dashed the course guide under her bed, guilt washing over her. "Cecily had so much courage," her family said of her. "Cecily was the bravest of us all."
The door opened and her mother entered. Cecily sat in her chair by the window and didn’t look at her.
“Cecily,” Janet said softly.
“I’m sorry, Mother,” she replied. “I was horrible. I shouldn’t have said those things.” She turned to face her mother. “I’m sorry.”
Janet looked at her daughter for a long while. The pink circles that normally flourished on Cecily’s cheeks were faded, if not non-existent. Her dark blue eyes were beginning to look almost too large in her pale face. Cecily despised wearing her hair up and had taken it down so that its golden strands reached down her back. She looked very childlike. Janet would have feared for her health, but there was nothing about her daughter that appeared consumptive.
“Oh, Cecily,” Janet said. “This past winter has been hard on all of us. I shouldn’t have been so cross with you.”
“No, Mother, it was me. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. Maybe I wasn’t watching Daniel the way I should have been...I suppose this means I won’t be visiting Izzy.”
“No,” Janet replied. “No, I want you to go. You need a change of scenery dear, and I’m sure Izzy misses you. Go on and write to Izzy and tell her you’ll stay the whole three weeks, just as she’s asked.”
“Only if you’re sure, Mother. If Father can manage things without me…and the baby--”
“Your father has Daniel and Davey Keith to help him,” Janet assured her. Cecily noticed that Felix’s name was tactfully not mentioned. “The farm can go on without you. And I’ll be right here when Felicity’s time comes. You’ll probably be home by then.”
Her mother left her alone. Another wave of guilt washed over her as she began to doubt her side of what had happened that afternoon. I wasn’t watching him, she thought. Not like I should have been. She reached under her bed and retrieved the course guide. “I don’t deserve to go,” she said to herself, slowly thumbing the guide. She groaned. She had to, her mind was so curious. She remembered the long, hazy summer afternoons that she had spent reading over Andrew’s shoulder. She remembered how Felicity loved school because she wanted to achieve; Cecily had just wanted to learn things. She had hated mathematics, but forced herself to learn it anyway. She dearly loved Avonlea and her family’s farm, but for the first time in her life, Cecily almost felt trapped.
* * *
It happened that the afternoon that Felix and Felicity were scheduled to leave Halifax, a gale blew up and rendered all ferry service to Prince Edward Island shut down. Captain and Charlotte Ames and Gus were eager for them to stay another day. Gus was sometimes tense during a gale, and he was glad to have Felicity near him.
The officers at the Naval Telegraphy Office relied heavily on Gus’s skill with the telegraph and he was called away the next day, as was Captain Ames. Felicity thought she would take the opportunity to call on her Uncle Roger and cousin Andrew. Felix complained of feeling tired, so Felicity went to see her uncle with Charlotte.
Charlotte prattled on during the entire drive to Roger’s home, which was a brick house situated near Dalhousie University. Charlotte left her little boy and girl in the care of a pretty teenage girl who lived nearby. “Oh, you needn’t worry, Felicity,” Charlotte said while she was trying to persuade her to leave Amelia as well. “Christine is a pillar of responsibility. She’s always doing all sorts of little favours for us. And she’s an absolute wonder with children. I’ve never seen anything like it." The remarkably responsible Christine was soon procured and engaged for the afternoon. She reminded Felicity of Cecily, so she didn’t hesitate to leave Amelia in her care.
She had had very little contact with her uncle and cousin for several years, and rather looked upon the visit as a chore, especially since she felt that she and Charlotte had very little to say to one another and their conversations consisted of idle chit-chat. Roger had since remarried, and his new wife, who was a lively, intelligent woman, amiably greeted them at the door. Felicity knew that she had met her uncle several years ago when she was studying geology at Dalhousie, a very unusual occupation for a woman. She led them into the parlour, where Andrew was sitting in a wheelchair next to the fireplace. Andrew was glad to see his cousin, and peppered her with questions about the Kings, Avonlea and Gus. It was such a change from Felix’s behaviour that she almost didn’t know what to think or to say to him. It was true that his appearance was altered. He was very thin and had a waxy complexion, but with bits of colour peeking through his cheeks. There were purplish, but fading, circles under his eyes and not one speck of grey hair in his thick thatch. He addressed his injuries straightaway, assuring his cousin that he would be on his feet in no time, but that his hearing had been slightly damaged, and that he had been discharged. Roger expressed how eager he was for Andrew to resume his medical studies at Dalhousie. She couldn’t help being taken with her cousin, and struck by how much he now looked like Sara.
Felicity felt an odd discomfort in her stomach when she thought of Sara. Hetty had informed the Kings that, at the last she had heard of her, she was still in Paris and was perfectly fine. She also said that she had entreated her to leave “that godforsaken Paris and return to the Island, and not to that blasted Montreal where Louisa J. Banks will poison her mind against us, no doubt”. Felicity wished that she would come home. She missed her terribly, especially with Gus away. Cecily was good company, but she felt that her sister’s mind was, of late, often far away when she spoke to her. But she couldn’t help wondering, after all the grandeur of life abroad, if Sara would ever again consider Avonlea home.
They stayed and visited with Andrew and his family for a bit more than an hour. Andrew was sorry to see her go, but he was looking tired, and Felicity did not want to exhaust him. She bid her goodbyes and promised to visit when next in Halifax. Andrew said, with a hopeful glance at his father, that they might visit Avonlea soon. He made her promise to have someone telephone just as soon as her baby was born.
When they returned to the Ames’s, Felix had just come back form a walk in the city. “I didn’t go very far,” Felix replied over tea when Charlotte questioned him where he had walked.
“Well, I’m not surprised,” she replied. “You hardly know the city well at all, I’m afraid. Why don’t I take you both on a tour?”
“That’s really not necessary,” Felicity protested.
“Oh, nonsense. The children could use some air. I haven’t a thing to do this afternoon. And you mustn’t leave Halifax without seeing our wonderful sights.”
Charlotte then firmly made up her mind that she would take them on a tour and out to a picnic. “I realise you lived in Halifax while you attended medical school, Felicity, but I doubt you had a proper tour.”
The Ames’s had a driver for their motorcar and he had the car ready within minutes. “I want to take you on a tour of some of our prettiest districts,” Charlotte told them. “Some of the homes in town and just outside the city are absolutely breathtaking.”
“Isn’t that one charming,” Charlotte asked as they drove along. “It’s my absolute favourite. There are much grander ones in town, and out by the shoreline, but this one is so elegant, don’t you both agree? It was built in the 1760s by a sea captain for his bride. Unlike most of those tales, they both lived to a ripe old age.”
The house was very pretty indeed. It was large, styled in the fashion of the 1760s and made of brick that had been painted white. A thick growth of waxy ivy ran riot over several areas of the house and enhanced its charm. There were green shutters hung on numerous windows and they could see a glass atrium on one side of the home. In front of the house was an informal garden that promised to be gorgeous when in bloom. Charlotte said the formal garden in the back of the house was one of the loveliest in Halifax, in her opinion anyway. Large shade trees dominated the front lawn. Three pine trees grew closely together near a neat little white fence that separated the property from the Victorian home next to it.
“It is lovely,” agreed Felicity. “Do the sea captain’s descendants still live in the home?”
“They did until about fifty years ago, when they left for Toronto. There was some sort of tragedy. I actually forget the details, but they say the ghost of a young girl walks the hallways at night. I tell you, that’s something I don’t like to think about. It’s recently come under new ownership. A family named Pettibone.” Felicity wondered to herself if they were the Pettibones from Avonlea. Charlotte continued. “I ran into one of the young lads of the family and he told me that they were from just about everywhere you could imagine, but most recently Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. I believe you know them. I remembered you to,” she thought a moment, “Morgan and he said you were well acquainted.”
“Oh, yes,” Felicity said, smiling. “We know the Pettibones very well indeed. Mr. Pettibone was a schoolteacher when I was a student at Avonlea School.”
“Yes, and now he’s a famous writer of some sort. An imposing military man with a dear of a wife, isn’t he? Although, I haven’t any idea exactly what it is he writes.”
“Mysteries,” Felicity supplied.
“Oh. Well, I’m terribly afraid I’ve never been much for reading. But, do you know, Morgan told me this delicious story about his older brother having a mad crush on you as a boy, Felicity. Is that true?” Charlotte’s eyes widened with curiosity.
“It is,” she replied, unable to believe that she was blushing to remember the affair. It had been rather embarrassing, now that she looked back on it.
“And you chose the dashing sailor over that handsome young doctor, didn’t you? I never knew you were such a devil with the men, Felicity. I can’t say I much blame you. I’ve always had a soft spot for men who love the sea, haven’t you?” Charlotte stopped her chatter long enough to notice that Felix was very quiet, and was gazing over at the opposite street. Charlotte took it for disinterest in the conversation. “Oh! I’m afraid I’ve been speaking rather too boldly in front of your brother. Do forgive me. Well, they’re all charming, particularly the young lady. Would it be terribly forward of us to call on them this afternoon? You are old acquaintances after all.”
“No,” Felix said shortly. It was the first word he had spoken during the drive.
“Felix,” Felicity said, surprised. She knew Charlotte was rather flighty, and that her chatter could get on one’s nerves, but she hadn’t expected him to be so rude.
“I-I mean we’ll never get back to Avonlea tonight if we stay much longer. There could be another storm tonight.”
“Well, we could at least drop in. It would be rude not to stop by while we’re in town.”
“You haven’t been so anxious to visit the Pettibones up until now, Felicity,” Felix reminded her.
“Felix,” his sister replied through her teeth, not wanting to start a family row in front of Charlotte. “It’s only the neighbourly thing to do,” she explained. “We could just drop in and say hello.”
“Well, I already saw Arthur and I said hello. I don’t see why you’re insisting on this, Felicity.”
“Why don’t we head back to my home?” asked Charlotte. “Shall we?” Felicity turned away from Felix and smiled graciously at Charlotte. Felix stared straight in front of him. “I’m sure you’re both anxious to get back to that dear little island of yours.”
“Yes,” Felicity replied. “That’s fine.”
Felicity gave her husband an entire account of what had transpired that day. “You can’t force him, Failicity. He’ll know when the time is right. I know you’re worried about him. We all are. But forcin’ him to do something that he ain’t ready for ain’t what you want to be doin’.”
“So, what should we do? I don’t see how allowing him to sulk around all the time is helping him either. He’s been home since Christmas. I think we’ve left him alone as long as we should."
“Failicity-”
“Should I have just left you alone, Gus?”
“No,” he replied. “I’m grateful for what you did for me.”
“So do you understand?”
“Failicity, that was me. I ain’t Failix. I can tell you if you’d come just after the sinking, I’d have never gone back with you.”
* * *
Gus and Charlotte accompanied the three of them to the dock where their ferry was about to cast off. “I don’t like the idea of you bein’ tossed around in the state you’re in, Failicity.”
“Really, Gus Pike,” she replied. “You sound exactly like Aunt Hetty. I’ll be perfectly well. Not that I have much for company,” she finished, looking over at Felix. He was standing on the pier with his hand thrust into one of the pockets of his navy blue suit. He turned around and walked toward his sister.
“I’m ready to leave,” he announced nonchalantly. Felicity stepped away from Gus and took Felix aside.
“Felix,” she said, attempting to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “We could have just said hello.” A look of understanding crossed her face. “That was about Izzy, wasn’t it?”
“What? Why would it be about Izzy? We were only ever just friends. I’m just not in the mood to visit people, Felicity. I’m sorry if you can’t understand that.”
“Friends? Friends say hello, Felix. That’s all I wanted to do.”
“Well, you could have said hello, Felicity. I wasn’t stopping you. You’re the one who decided that you wanted to leave. Can’t you just let it drop?”
They stared at each other, both determined, and both oblivious to the irony of the situation. They had had the very same conversation in Halifax over five years ago, except their situations had been reversed.
Felicity took him by the arm. “Felix, I want to help you.”
“You just think you can save everyone, don’t you, Felicity? You think you know what’s best for everyone.”
“Not everyone. But I do know I hate seeing you like this.”
Felix ignored Felicity’s last comment. He took his suitcase and boarded the steamer. Felicity shook her head and walked over to Charlotte, who was cooing over Amelia and holding the hand the little girl didn’t have an ice cream cone in. She bid goodbye to Gus and Charlotte and took Amelia’s hand. Her little legs attempted to keep up with Felicity’s annoyed stride as they walked aboard the ship.
* * *
On a very fine day in Avonlea, Mr. Philip Long of Charlottetown paid a call on King Farm. He was graciously welcomed by Janet King and inquired of her where he might find Miss Cecily. Philip had been beauing Cecily around since the beginning of that year and Cecily’s parents were pleased to see that she seemed to have formed an attachment with him. He informed Janet that he had brought a picnic and she could see the back seat of his motorcar. She told him Cecily would be right down.
Cecily promptly appeared on the stairs, with her hair elegantly swept up and wearing the cream coloured dress that Sara had sent her from Paris the previous spring under Cecily’s protests that, though it was beautiful, she couldn’t wear it and wouldn’t feel entirely like herself in it. She did, however, begin to wear it and she did feel uncomfortable in it. The cause was most likely the fact that it was the most stylish thing the other young ladies in Avonlea had seen in their lives and their envious eyes were glued to Cecily every time she wore it. As fashions sometimes changed slowly in Avonlea, it was still very much in fashion a year after its debut in Paris. But she had to admit that she gradually did enjoy wearing it. The spark of vanity that existed in her allowed her to see how much it complemented her skin and hung gracefully on her tall figure.
Philip Long was a handsome young man. He was tall, Cecily only came up to his chin, and had curly, sandy brown hair that was cut close to his head, as he had recently enlisted in the Army. He came from a well-respected Charlottetown family and had been studying business at Dalhousie, with the hopes of assuming his father’s position as soon as he retired. The Kings and the Longs could not have been more pleased with the match, and they congratulated the young people on making such a sensible choice. It was really Hetty who had orchestrated the whole thing. She had met up with Philip’s mother Alice earlier that year when she was in Charlottetown. Hetty knew that Alice Long had a son about Cecily’s age and in the course of conversation, the two women plotted to introduce them at a dinner dance at the White Sands. They were promptly introduced and apparently took a liking to each other. But then, Cecily was such an odd girl. The Kings really had no idea how Cecily felt about Philip Long, but they and the longs, including Philip, were assured of her devotion to the young man. She wouldn’t tolerate any teasing about him, as she did when she was prodded about Will Fraser or Morgan Pettibone, and her family took this as a sign of her affection.
Philip had courted her very decorously and respectably, and on this afternoon, he had asked Alec’s permission to picnic alone with Cecily. Alec, aware of the reason Philip wanted to be alone with his daughter, assented.
She rode with him in his motorcar out to her favourite spot in the woods, where you could hear the ocean murmuring. She sat down on the picnic blanket. There was a fiery white diamond stark against a black velvet box before her. Philip hadn’t even asked the question, but looked at Cecily with eager, hopeful eyes. “Miss King,” he said breathlessly, adding a touch of formality to the situation. “Will you? Do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
Cecily stared at him a moment. It was a very long moment for Cecily. In it, she felt an overwhelming sense of confusion. What was she doing there with Philip Long? Why was he proposing to her? She soon saw quite clearly that she couldn’t marry him. She couldn’t marry him because she didn’t love him, never had loved him and never could love him.
Philip Long, who was oblivious to the nature of Cecily’s thoughts, smiled inwardly as he was sure that he had secured for his bride one of Alec King’s daughters. He was contemplating what a fine lass she was and how he adored her. She was pretty and had a charm that he couldn’t define. He looked deep into her sea blue eyes, with expectancy and joy in his green ones. His eyes soon became clouded with disbelief.
“No,” Cecily said shortly and firmly. “No, I won’t marry you.”
Philip, like every rejected wooer, thought at first that Cecily’s refusal was due to maiden coyness. He then remembered that Cecily had never excelled in maiden coyness. “What?” was all he could stammer out.
Cecily stood up. “I’m sorry to hurt you like this, Philip. I like you, I really do. But I can’t marry you.”
“Not now, you mean. You don’t want to be a war bride. I understand that, Cecily. We can wait.”
“No, Philip. All the waiting in the world couldn’t change my mind. I…” she didn’t want to say it and hurt Philip like that. He had always been such a dear. She almost relented because she felt so horrible. “I don’t love you. There, I said it. I’m going home now.”
Philip Long, who had sense to know that when a King said no, a King meant no, didn’t pursue the subject any further. He closed up the ring case with a snap and set his jaw. “I’ll drive you back,” he mumbled.
“No, I’d rather walk. It’s not that far,” she said quietly and began walking toward a path through the woods.
Philip stalked moodily back to his motorcar. A small hope was somewhat born in him. How many times had her sister refused Gus Pike? Well, he had heard that it was plenty. He would give her some time, Philip thought a week or so would be adequate, and then he would come calling again.
* * *
At King Farm, Janet, Great Aunt Eliza, Hetty and the recently returned Felicity were milling around the kitchen, waiting for Cecily to return.
“I had hoped for a June wedding,” Hetty was saying. “But with Philip in the Army, that doesn’t seem likely.”
“I am so happy for Sicily,” Great Aunt Eliza said. “After all the girl has been through. And I must say this family could use a wedding. It will bring us all lighter spirits.”
“If only it were under different circumstances,” lamented Janet. “But I suppose it’s the way things will have to be. I’m certain that we can have her wedding dress all made up in no time at all.”
Eliza looked out of one of the windows in the kitchen and clasped her hands together. “Hush now,” she said. “Here she comes.”
“Can you see her ring?” Daniel asked, jumping down the last three stairs.
Cecily soon walked in through the door of the summer kitchen. “Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” the group in the kitchen replied. They all pretended to be busy at their own tasks, but were sharing looks and suppressed smiles with each other.
“Hello, Cecily, dear,” Janet said. “How-ah-how was your picnic?”
“Just fine,” she replied, but she could sense they were all waiting for more. “Philip…well…he proposed.”
“Oh Cecily! We’re all so happy for ya, child!”
“I said no.”
Janet, Hetty, Eliza and Felicity all stood as if frozen. Hetty was the first to recover from the shock. “Ya said no? What do ya mean by saying no to Philip Long? He’s one of the finest young men in Charlottetown-on-on the Island, in fact. Felicity, talk some sense into the girl.”
“I can’t marry him,” Cecily said firmly. “I know none of you agree with me, but I just can’t do it. I’m going to lie down now.” She turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving her family bewildered.
* * *
Tree climbing had been one of the things that had helped forge a friendship between the still tomboyish Izzy Pettibone and quiet, demure, sweet Cecily King. Izzy had once thought Cecily too girly to be friends with, but that was before her discovery that Cecily was an expert at climbing trees.
Cecily thought at first that she wanted to lie down, but she couldn’t sleep and just staring at the ceiling was driving her insane. She had gone outside and climbed up a maple tree on the King property and sat against its trunk for a good long while. It was there that her sister Felicity found her.
“If you’ve come out here to talk some sense into me, Felicity, I’m not going to listen.”
“Cecily, please come down. Mother is worried sick.”
“I want to be alone.”
“I’ll come up there, Cecily King. Don’t think I won’t.”
Cecily ignored her. Felicity began making motions to climb up the tree. “Felicity!” Her sister looked up at her with an expectant expression on her face. “All right. I’ll come down.”
Felicity got her sister alone in the kitchen and poured her a nice hot cup of tea. “Cecily, what is the matter? Something tells me this is about more than just not wanting to marry Philip Long.”
“I should love Philip Long, but I don’t. He’s very handsome and not boring and from a good family and his ears do not stick out and has, as Aunt Abigail puts it, ‘excellent prospects.’ But I can’t marry him. I don’t think he could ever make me happy. What’s wrong with me, Felicity?”
“Nothing,” she assured her.
“I don’t know that the matter is with me, Felicity. I used to love it here. I just don’t feel happy anymore.”
“Well, you’re going to Halifax soon.” Her sister’s face only brightened a little at the prospect. “Cess, what is it? You’ve seemed so down lately.”
“It’s so many things. It’s you leaving us…but I’m happy for you, Felicity. I really am. It’s Philip, it’s Felix, it’s the Pettibones. I have to admit I was a little sad when you told me you and Gus were buying their old house. I guess I just thought…I thought that maybe they’d come back someday. That was pretty stupid, huh? They won’t. They’re gone for good.”
“You’ll visit Izzy soon. And maybe she could come here.”
“It isn’t the same. It’ll never be the same again. I love the farm still, I really do. Sometimes I just wish I could do something more.” Cecily was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m just dull old Cecily King from Avonlea and I’ll be dull old Cecily King until I’m a dull old maid.”
“Cecily,” her sister said in surprise. “You aren’t dull in the least bit. If you’re going to sit here and feel sorry for yourself, I certainly am not going to encourage it.” Felicity was voraciously rummaging through the pantry. Cecily eyed her peculiarly.
“Felicity, what are you doing?”
“I’m looking for pickles.”
“Pickles?”
“Yes. Pickles. I need pickles. Right now.”
“I don’t think--”
“Anyway, Cecily,” she said as she continued to search. “You should find something that you really want to do and tell Mother and Father. You know they’ll say yes.”
“I don’t know about that,” she replied quietly.
“It takes convincing,” Felicity allowed. “And they’ve never been able to say no to you. But you have to make them see that you won’t be happy unless you do what your heart wants. The trouble is, my heart has changed so many times...But I think I’ve finally found what it is I’m meant to do. You have to find that too, Cess.” Felicity stood in front of the pantry with a frazzle and desperate look on her face. She threw her hands in the air. “Don’t you have any pickles?!”
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