“I’m to have two husbands?” Nancy said with disbelief.
“I think she’s a fake!” Joy declared.
The Gypsy stood up and pointed a skinny forefinger at her. “You will live to regret those rash words. I have given you each the pattern of your lives. And as you live them you will see that I was right.”
Joy worried, “How can you so separate love and marriage?”
“You will understand when you grow older,” the Gypsy said. “Now the rain has halted and it would be wise if you both started on your way back to Canby Hall.”
Joy stood up. “I don’t think we had our sovereign’s worth. I shall complain to my father!”
Old Peg gathered up her crystal, and with righteous wrath informed them, “Don’t threaten me! One word to your father and I shall place you under the curse of the black hoptoad!”
The sound of it was frightening. Joy asked, “What sort of curse is it?”
The old woman relished telling her, “You and your friend will have big, black warts all over your faces. No man would take you in his bed!”
Nancy pulled at Joy’s sleeve. “I’m terrified! I want to get out of here!”
“All right,” Joy said, and they turned and raced outside — followed by the sound of Peg’s eerie laughter.
The sky was gray, and the fields wet but the rain had ended. Joy turned to look back bitterly at the hovel and say, “I think she is truly a witch! She robbed me of my sovereign and told us only a lot of nonsense!”
Nancy hurried along at her side. “I don’t know. Maybe she was right. Maybe we will have a lot of husbands!”
By the time she and fourteen-year-old Nancy reached the great stone castle known as Canby Hall, the family were gathering for dinner. Joy’s father, a dignified, white haired man, was holding court in the living room, which was lined with life-size paintings of his ancestors. He was with his elder son, Roger, and his younger son, James. Another young man was also with them.
In the early summer of each year, Sir Richard and Lady Canby moved from their house in Berkeley Square to an equally imposing one, in Surrey on the River Wey, and not far from Guildford. The country estate was in an area of lovely fields with forests, heaths, and delightful streams. Joy’s older brother, Roger, an athletic twenty-three, attended Oxford; but always came to the country house on his holidays. James, her younger brother and her favorite, was twenty. He had already been expelled from college for his wild escapades. To the annoyance of his parents he now was living the life of a city dandy — spending much of his time at the gaming houses or the horse races. Joy found him just wonderful!
Lady Susan had been seated with a sherry in her hand. She rose, and came to the reception hall to greet Joy and her friend. Lady Susan was slender and still attractive, but nervous in manner. She studied the two girls and declared, “You look like urchins! Upstairs with you and be fresh and clean for dinner! Sir Richard will be furious if you attend the table in such a bedraggled state!”
They rushed upstairs to find Jenny, a young, pretty maid, turning down their beds. In uniform and cap, Jenny was not much more than fifteen; she had been employed at the mansion for two years.
She glanced up from patting the pillows and told them, “You two are late today!”
Joy grimaced. “We can’t do anything without a lecture!”
The maid said, “Be lucky you have parents to care. I have only the housekeeper to order me about! And she’s a true dragon!”
Nancy said, “I’m a visitor and I shouldn’t have to take orders from anyone.” She slipped out of her frilled dress to reveal voluminous petticoats.
Joy had already taken off her dress, and as she stood in her slips she poured water in an enamel basin to wash her face, prior to putting on a fresh dress. She splashed on the water, and asked Jenny, “What’s the difference in being in love and being married?”
Jenny halted at the door wide-eyed. “What makes you ask a question like that, my lady?”
Joy groped for a towel and dried her face. “I’ve been told it’s not the same thing!”
Jenny said, “You shouldn’t listen to such talk. Love ought to lead to marriage, and that’s a fact!”
“Have you ever been in love, Jenny?” Joy asked putting on another dress.
The pretty, black-haired maid’s cheeks went crimson. “What a question to ask!” She hurried out.
Nancy said, “Nobody really wants to tell us anything. No wonder we’re due to grow up and make mistakes and have a lot of husbands!”
“Silly Gypsy talk!” Joy said and laughed, and after a slight pause Nancy joined in the laughter.
They went downstairs, and dutifully presented themselves to their elders. Lady Susan eyed them and decided, “Well, now you look more presentable!”
Joy’s oldest brother, Roger, came to her and kissed her on the cheek. “It’s nice to see you again, and also your friend, Nancy.”
But it was the jovial, good-looking James whose swaggering approach made Nancy blush. He chucked her under the chin, and placed a kiss on her cheek and said, “Why should I pay attention to Joy when she has such a charming girl friend here?”
The other young man with the curly brown hair, named Ben Weston, stepped across to Joy and said, “Joy is not my sister so I can pay her full tribute!” He kissed her square on the mouth, then placed an affectionate arm around her.
Roger said, “I can’t believe the pace she is growing!”
Ben, his arm still around Joy, told Sir Richard, “I warrant, sir, it will not be long before you and your good lady are offering this gal at the altar!”
Lady Susan showed horror. “Joy married so young! Never!”
Her husband, Sir Richard, laughed heartily. “I’m grateful you didn’t feel so twenty years ago when you married me. You were not that much older than our Joy!”
“Times have changed,” Lady Susan told him.
James, standing by Nancy, smiled and said, “Times may change but nature doesn’t! The young studs will soon be showing up to pay the girls court, I’ll be bound!”
Joy found dinner a dull affair except for the fact that James’s bosom friend, Ben Weston, smiled at her often. And once, when he’d made a witty comment, he actually winked at her. She enjoyed this intimate gesture, and felt certain no one else at the table had noticed.
Following dinner they gathered in the great living room again. Her mother performed on the pianoforte, which was followed by talk of the virtues and failings of Lord Wellington. Drinks and food were passed, and Joy saw that Jenny, the pretty maid, assisted in this task. Ben Weston was smiling warmly at her.
The clock in the reception hall struck the chimes of nine, the customary signal for Joy and Nancy to say their good-nights. The elders usually stayed below for a while longer, then retired. Some would read in their rooms or write letters, but the order of things at Canby Hall was patterned on ‘early to bed and early to rise.’
Once Joy and Nancy reached the quiet of their bedroom with its lighted candle awaiting them on the dresser, Joy turned to Nancy and asked, “Did you see what Jenny did?”
Nancy’s freckled face was all innocence. “I saw her passing the cakes.”
“Is that all you saw?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you see her brush herself ever so close against Ben Weston,” Joy said, explaining by moving close by her friend and brushing against her.
Nancy stared at her. “Why would she do that?”
Joy rolled her eyes. “You are the innocent, I do declare! She was trying to attract his attention!”
“Why?”
“I think they know each other,” Joy said, with suspicion. “I’ll bet they met somewhere.”
“Well, Ben Weston has been down here with your brother, James, nearly every weekend,” Nancy reasoned.
“And somehow he’s met Jenny,” Joy said. “Otherwise she wouldn’t have rubbed against him!”
Nancy frowned. “She’s a maid. Maybe she makes the bed in the cottage where Ben Weston sleeps when he stays here?”
Joy’s lovely blue eyes opened wide. “I believe you’ve come upon the truth! She’s met him while making his bed!”
Nancy was pleased. “You see!”
Joy considered it all. She glanced at her friend and with an air of conspiracy said, “Let’s go down to the cottage!”
“Tonight?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like going after dark! There might be animals in the bushes!”
“Silly! At the worst there might be an old hunting dog who wouldn’t harm us!”
Nancy still hesitated. “I think it’s a silly idea. Why do you want to go down there?”
“Because I think Jenny will be meeting Ben Weston there!”
“I don’t think so,” Nancy protested. “She probably turned down his bed ages ago.”
Joy eyed her young friend with disgust. “Not to turn down his bed or anything like that! I think she’ll go down there and kiss him!”
“Kiss him!”
“I’ll bet that’s what they do! She pushed herself against his leg and they both looked at each other as if they quite enjoyed it.”
“I’m afraid!”
“You’re afraid of your own shadow!” Joy said.
“Suppose they see us?”
“Not if we’re quiet!”
“And I don’t think it’s nice. You know we’ve been taught not to spy on people!”
“This isn’t the same,” Joy protested. “Anyway, if you don’t go I’m going alone.”
Nancy said, “I think you’ve become fond of that old Ben Weston!”
“He isn’t old,” Joy argued. “I don’t think he can be much over twenty!”
“Seven years older than you, at least!”
Joy said, “I don’t want to talk about it any longer. Are you coming or aren’t you?”
“I’ll go with you. But I don’t think it’s right.”
“Get your cloak,” Joy told her. “It may be cool out there and we might have to wait for a little while.”
“In the dark?”
“We’ll be near the cottage and there’s bound to be a light inside. It will shine out the window so it won’t be all that dark.”
Nancy unwillingly got into her cloak. First they had to make their way down the stairs and out of the house without being seen. They were lucky in this. They quickly crossed the lawn — hugging the bushes by the path leading to the several guest cottages. An owl cried out from somewhere and Nancy let out a tiny scream.
Joy rebuked her. “It was only an owl!”
“It sounded like a ghost,” Nancy said, with a tremor in her voice. “And it’s so awfully dark!”
“We’re almost to the cottage,” Joy promised.
“I wish we’d gone to bed,” Nancy lamented. “Anything could happen to us out here and there’d be no one to help us!”
“Stop being such a scared creature!” Joy said angrily. “I want to see if Jenny and Ben Weston kiss! I want to see them do it.”
“What’s so important about kissing? I hate it when old people come and kiss me!”
“This is different!”
“I can’t see how!”
“Quiet!” Joy warned her friend. “The cabin is just ahead. Don’t make a sound or say a word. We don’t want them to hear us.”
They crouched below the lighted window of the cottage. Joy was breathless, and her heart was pounding with excitement as Nancy knelt beside her. They had a clear view of inside.
After a moment Ben Weston came into view. He was nude from the waist up — wearing only his breeches. There was a slight frown on his heavy-set, but good-looking face as he began to pace back and forth slowly.
Joy whispered. “He’s terribly good looking.”
“No more so than James,” Nancy whispered back.
Joy whispered. “I wonder where she is. He must be waiting for her.”
As if in answer to her words there was a scuffling sound from the area in the front of the cottage. The cottage door opened and closed, and a flushed, excited Jenny — without cap or uniform, rushed into the room. Ben Weston took her in his arms, and began to kiss her ardently.
Joy gasped. “He’s smothering her with kisses!”
“I call it disgusting,” Nancy said.
As they watched he stopped kissing the lovely Jenny, and began to disrobe her. They watched wide-eyed as he stripped her of layer after layer of her clothing. At last she stood naked before him!
Joy was impressed by the development of Jenny’s breasts, and her well-rounded figure. Then she gasped, for Ben Weston loosened his belt and dropped his trousers. This total male nudity shocked Joy. Next Ben Weston lifted Jenny, and the naked couple went to the bedroom, where they could not be seen. The telltale piles of clothing were left behind on the floor.
After a few seconds Nancy whispered, “Did he take her away to kiss her some more?”
Dry-mouthed Joy said, “Yes, I suppose so.” She was certain there was more to it than that.
The next morning, both girls sat up in bed, in their nightgowns, and discussed all. They were waiting for Jenny to appear with the usual pitcher of hot water for their morning ablutions.
Nancy asked, “What are you going to say to her?”
Joy said, “I’ll tell her the truth: we were by the window, and saw as she and Ben Weston stripped off their clothes and kissed!”
“She might be angry!”
“I don’t care!” She picked up her pillow and struck Nancy with it. Thus began a pillow fight between them, both screaming and laughing. The battle ended abruptly with the entrance of Jenny and their water pitcher.
Jenny sat the pitcher down and said, “Come now, you two! Enough of that! You know what Miss Kendall will say if I tell her.”
Miss Kendall was Joy’s elderly spinster governess. Presently, she was on her summer vacation. Joy said, “Miss Kendall isn’t here. And you know it!”
“When she returns I’ll tell her,” Jenny threatened.
Joy gave Nancy a smile, then told Jenny, “I shall then tell my father and mother something about you!”
Jenny’s pretty face turned scarlet. “Pray what could you say to them?”
Joy got out of bed and faced her. “I could tell them I saw you in the cottage where Ben Weston is staying.”
Jenny gasped. “They wouldn’t believe you!”
Nancy, still in bed, said, “Tell her the rest!”
Jenny looked shattered. “The rest?”
Joy nodded. “We saw you take all your clothes off and you really have a pretty figure.”
Jenny was brick red. “The living nerve!”
“Yes,” Nancy went on. “Then we saw Ben Weston strip off his breeches and take you in his arms.”