Chapter 6
IN THE SUMMER the nights were long, and after that disastrous evening meal, Johanna slipped down the stairs into the servants’ quarters. The house staff, Koby, Nellie, the gardener, all sat around the kitchen table. The sounds of spoons clinking against plates drifted from the room, as well as talk and laughter. Johanna always felt a bit jealous hearing them chat and laugh. She wished she could join them and laugh with them instead of having to suffer Father’s long silences.
She slipped into the pantry and grabbed a half-cut loaf of bread and a piece of soft cheese, which she put in a basket.
Then she went out the back door into the garden with its pebbles and neatly-clipped bushes. The roses were very prolific this year and the scent of the flowers hung heavy in the summer ai
