Belinda hoped that the people from the village who always helped would not refuse to come, but they might want to spend Christmas at home.
She did not say anything and only assisted her mother into bed.
She was thinking how beautiful she looked with her fair hair falling over her shoulders.
She was wearing a diaphanous nightgown that was almost transparent.
“Would it not be wise, Mama, to wear something warm over your shoulders?” she asked. “I have had a hot warming pan in the bed all day and the fire was lit first thing this morning, but it is still very cold.”
Her mother shivered.
“I am freezing!” she complained. “At the same time, D’Arcy does not like me to wear wool or anything stuffy like that. I will be all right.”
She climbed slowly into bed and pulled the linen sheets up to
