Cornwall, England, December 1822
Cornwall, England, December 1822Cornwall, England, December 1822Matilda Matthews’s day was ruined by a terrible downpour of icy rain that shrouded her home Meadow Cross, the little cottage on the edge of the Earl of Castleton’s estate where she had lived her entire life. She had hoped for snow; it was certainly cold enough.
A wall of unpleasant gray clouds and sleet had cast a pallid tone to the skies and ice shimmered on the rippling ivy that climbed up the cottage walls. They’d had such a late fall that the ivy on the walls had stayed green far longer than usual, but come tomorrow it would begin to wither beneath the frost. Not for the first time, Matilda was thankful for her Aunt Florence’s beautiful paintings of spring flowers that hung upon the walls
