There, in the mahogany floored hall with its stained glass windows, at the large dark wooden dining table, sat my mother, father, and sister. They were all seated in the far right hand corner, Mother eating primly from her ridiculously small plate of food, while my father read the paper. Elodie was dancing in place, pushing her breakfast around her plate with her silvery utensil, apparently too excited to eat. When she saw me, her rounded cheeks curved into a radiant, dimpled smile, and her baby blue eyes (a perfect match to my father's) twinkled in delight. She launched herself from the bench to the sound of my mother's protests and ran towards me, her long golden locks flowing wildly behind her.

"Pleasance, Pleasance! Look, look! Aren't I pretty?" Elodie asked breathlessly when she reached me, doing an eager twirl before me in her new dress.

She did look pretty indeed. Her pale pink dress was the same basic pattern as mine, with quarter length silk sleeves and pearl buttons, but hers was slightly less complex in design. Elodie wore plain matching slippers and white stockings with pink ribbon instead of white. Some of her golden hair had been tied back with a big piece of pink ribbon, accentuating her dimpled face and wide blue eyes. She truly looked the perfect image of English royalty.

I told her so and she blushed prettily. "You are as beautiful as a princess as well! No, a queen!"

Elodie then grasped my hand and led me to the seat beside her, immediately piling my plate high with the day's breakfast choices that our wonderful cook had prepared. I smiled at her childish choices for me; I was not going to have a dozen sugary pastries for my morning meal! So as not to hurt my sister's feelings, I simply added a few scoops of scrambled eggs to the plate.

As I ate, I listened to Father jabber on about the new gadgets being made, telling Mother how he could improve this or add that. My mother encouraged him to contact the company with his ideas. She was always supportive of his endeavors, as long as they made money. They usually did.

When Father was finished eating, he folded up the paper, tucked it under his arm, and kissed us all on the cheek, commending us for our 'great beauty.' Then he was off, rushing up the freshly polished wooden staircase, no doubt on the way to his study.

When my father had left, Mother began to tell me all about the guests who would be attending the party. I zoned out, completely uninterested, but then froze, my fork halfway to my mouth at the sound of the familiar name.

"Bethany Jenkins is coming?" I asked in surprise. Elodie appeared to be just as taken aback as I was. Everyone and their brother knew the story of Bethany, the snake, and the odd little girl Pleasance. I had always loved animals dearly, utterly fascinated by them. I was often watching them, playing with them, or helping them. One day, my mother's good friend Bethany had been over for tea, the two of them sitting outside together, watching me run around in the grass (I was lucky this time she had left her nasty son home!). As they were visiting, I found a large brown garter snake, and had gently picked it up. Proud of my discovery, I'd quickly run over to show my mother and stood rightbeside Bethany. So close that the snake's tongue brushed her rouged cheek, or so I'd been told. My mother was rather used to my antics (although not in the least approving) and simply gasped in surprise, while Bethany screamed like a wounded banshee, clutched at her chest and promptly fainted, tipping over backwards in her chair.

I admit I did not make matters any better by laughing, but it truly was hilarious! Her giant skirts stuck up in the air, legs propped up on the chair, exposing her extremely lacy floral underpants. Mother was less than amused when Bethany finally came to, and she left not long after, ranting to my mother that I was a wild child who must be tamed before it was too late!

Mother paused her recitation as if recalling that same incident and smiled. "Yes, she will be attending. All the way from London too! It will be so good to see her again. You remember her, don't you Pleasance? You scared the poor woman half to death with that dreadful snake! She hasn't come back since."

Elodie giggled and I grimaced. I had only been six years old at the rime, hardly able to deduce the consequences of such actions. Besides, it was quite a friendly garter snake — completely harmless, really. I do not think Bethany thought so, however...

My mother went on, "I have telegraphed and assured her that you are now a genteel young lady who has long grown out of your strange afflictions, and into the personification of your name. Therefore, she has decided to come."

I nodded silently, biting my tongue to keep from saying something I would regret. In my head, I retorted, "Oh no, I certainly haven't!"

                                                               * * * * * *

The guests were scheduled to appear at eleven, and it was now ten. Mother ushered Elodie and I to hurry with our meal, so we quickly finished, wiping our hands and mouths clean on linen napkins. We then followed her out the double doors and into the garden, where servants, caterers, musicians, and decorators were bustling around in a flurry of activity. The flowering yard resembled a beehive both in sight and sound.

Every circular table was draped in pristine white tablecloths, a tea set upon each. A selection of fine teas sat beside the pots in decorative boxes. A long white-draped table ran along the opposite side of the garden, where the servants and caterers worked to set on display various selections of teacakes, pastries, finger sandwiches, quiche and Danish. The musicians were setting up on the stone patio, and the large grass lawn in front was the designated area for visiting, Mother said. I noticed that the tables did not have any decoration besides the beautiful tea sets. Seeing an opportunity to escape my mother's endless party talk, I asked, "Would it be alright if Elodie and I went to gather some flowers for the tables?"

My mother smiled and clapped her hands happily. "Oh Pleasance, that is a wonderful idea! Little bouquets of wildflowers would look simply charming. Yes, run along and do that, just don't get yourselves dirty, our company arrives within the hour."

Elodie and I grinned and took off, quickly grabbing a couple of baskets and shears from the garden shed before bolting into the neighboring fields. Laughing as we went, we soon came across a beautiful meadow of flowers and began collecting them one after another.

As I bent to retrieve a particularly beautiful buttercup, a flash of white caught my eye. I looked up, squinting at the wildflowers to try and see it again. There it was! The flowers rustled where I had seen the creature, their swaying indicating the being was moving away, a faint glimpse of white fur visible underneath their petals.

"Elodie, did you see that?" I asked, pointing to where whatever it was had just disappeared in front of us.

Her eyes widened as she nodded at me, a hint of excitement in her expression. Like me, she was prone to thinking up wild possibilities. "What was it, Pleasance?"

I shook my head. "I don't know! I have never seen the like before. Perhaps a rabbit? Or a cat? Maybe an albino weasel or fox?"

Elodie laughed. "Well that'd be silly! I've never seen a white rabbit before. Or a weasel!"

"Me neither. They'd likely be picked off before becoming adults. How curious! It must have been a neighbor's cat." I said the words, but didn't fully believe them. Something about what we had seen felt very peculiar. "Oh well, we had better hurry back with these flowers before Mum misses us," I told her.

"Can we come back to look for it after the party? If it is someone's lost kitty, we have to help it," Elodie urged, staring up at me with her vibrant blue orbs.

I smiled, who could resist that look? Of course, I had already planned on investigating the mysterious sighting myself. "You're right, Elodie, we will search for it later."

My little sister grinned happily, taking my hand and pulling me through the knee-high grassy field towards home.

Elodie released my hand at one point to skip ahead joyfully, making me laugh with her at the gleefully abandoned sight she made. My attention was abruptly drawn away from her by the faint sound of something ticking, almost like a clock. Out in the meadow? I turned around, scanning the area carefully.

Nothing.

"Pleasance?" Elodie questioned, now far ahead of me.

I shook my head, brow furrowed. I must be hearing things, my imagination combining noises to produce a sound that wasn't really there.

"Coming!" I called to her, running to catch up. Whatever had been in those flowers had unsettled, yet intrigued me. Something about it felt familiar, and almost magical. The sensation called to me, and I knew I would be driven to find it again.

                                                              * * * * * *