Anna In The Garden

3

3

Try as she may, she could not stop her mind returning to the folly and the mysterious girl that appeared and disappeared without a trace. It was a conundrum. A puzzle that could put Nursey's educational tests to shame. Throughout the next few days, she continued to wonder about the experience, to the detriment of her studies and also to the ire of Nursey.

She could not give her entire attention to anything else. Meal times passed in silence as she pushed the food around her plate, contemplating the strange clothes the girl wore. Like nothing she had ever seen. For certain, she had nothing that could compare. Even her riding clothes, made from the most tough and hard wearing materials, did not come close to the girl's.

Wearing trousers of a type that clung to the girl's legs, a top that appeared, to Anna, like a short nightshirt with a picture upon it and writing that made no sense to any educated person. Spelled in some form of indelicate English, the words 'Havuk Grrlz Rool!' arched across the girl's chest and, atop the nightshirt, the girl wore a jacket, made of some kind of shining black leather, with straps and buttons in places where no straps or buttons were at all required. Upon the girl's feet, Anna had noticed large, black boots, unlaced and dirty.

Anna had memories of visiting local festivals, seeing other children, and could not recall any of them wearing such clothes. Indeed, apart from quality of materials and various states of dishevelment, all the girls wore similar clothes to Anna herself. The boys, neither, wore clothes like that girl. It was all quite tiring to understand.

Not least that, as Anna recalled after the fact, the girl left no footprints in the snow and, Anna reasoned, those boots the girl wore should have caused great ruts and holes as the girl ran around the tower. If Anna allowed herself, she would find that fact the most disturbing of all. If she had remembered everything as clear as she believed she had.

She could not mention the girl to Nursey. Not at all! Anna could imagine the state of wrath Nursey would descend into at the thought of local children scaling the walls of the garden, making the estate their own little funhouse. There would follow much stomping and grumbling and, Anna cringed at the thought, orders to avoid the girl at all costs.

Gates would become secured with even greater, thicker chains. Walls all around the garden would find sharp, broken glass placed atop them to discourage further invasions and letters of disappointment and threats would wing their way to the local Mayor. Nursey was not, in any way or fashion, a woman to trifle with.

Even now, as Anna sat within the library, poring over ancient texts and under orders to write an essay about the socio-economic causes of the war in Crimea, she found her eyes and mind drifting out of the frost etched windows, up the short hill and ending upon the folly. She dearly wished she could visit the tower once more.

Nursey, however, had taken Anna on morning constitutionals anywhere but the folly. They had visited the vast topiary garden, where snow sat upon trees and bushes teased into the shapes of various beasts, both natural and mythic in origin. They had walked among the apple and pear orchards, the branches empty of any of the delightful treats that would emerge upon the branches once winter passed and the snow retreated back to its place upon mountaintops.

They even visited the old, abandoned stables, far on the edge of the estate, where prized ponies were once reared to compete in the many race meetings dotted around the country. She recalled, especially, Father's excited fervour every time he returned with first place rosettes and trophies, now left within the old stables to gather dust and fallow memories. The new stables, closer to the house, were not near as grand and expansive.

The sharp slap of wooden rule upon desk brought her from her reverie, causing her to jump in her seat, dropping her pencil to the table with a clatter. Nursey had already turned aside, facing the window and barring Anna's view of the outdoors with her cumbersome derriere. The heavy keys, upon the heavy chain, swinging to and fro before coming to rest against Nursey's black dress.

Anna needed an excuse to return to the folly. The thought of the immaterial, yet undeniably real, girl fed her imagination. The girl fascinated her. Everything about her. From her clothes, to her hair, to how she had found herself within the private grounds of the family estate. Anna had not spoken to anyone other than Nursey in such a long time, it almost felt like forever and she dearly wished for a new conversational partner.

Picking up the pencil once more, she tried to return to her studies with little success. She found herself tapping her pencil against the pages of her textbook. This brought a scowl from Nursey and a pointed finger back towards the paper that had few words written upon it. Her mind wandered again and she felt the pencil knocked from her hand as she chewed, in absent-minded fashion, upon the top. Once again she picked up the pencil, ignoring the sting of the slap against her fingers.

Nursey turned away again, this time with a little more testiness and irritation, causing the heavy keys to clank against each other before they came to rest once more. Anna looked at those keys and came up with the most delightful, mischievous idea. She had done it once before and had, to her regret, found herself caught in the pantry, stuffing her face with raspberries intended for a pie. Nursey ensured she could not sit down for days after that.

This time, however, she was older and her intent was not to pilfer sweets and nibbles from the well stocked stores of the house, but to leave the confines of her lavish prison and its interminable warden, to avail herself of a grand adventure. Like a gentleman thief from one of Mother's fantastic Penny Reads, Anna would sneak into Nursey's room at night and borrow her keys.

Of course, if caught, she would suffer at the porcine hands of Nursey, but naught was ever gained without a little risk. For certain, she could not find answers to her little mystery were she to stay in her comfortable routine, safe within the house, so long as she did not stir Nursey to retributive punishments for minor, or major, infractions.

Nursey would, Anna did not doubt, explode in apoplectic fury if she caught Anna snaffling her keys. The trick was for Anna not to find herself caught.

Anna felt almost giddy as she began to configure plans for her little nefarious deed. She tried not to appear so, lest she bring herself to the attention of Nursey's penetrating gaze. The look that could rip into Anna's mind and sift through every little thought that Anna believed she held secret. Or, at least, that was how it felt. Nursey had an almost preternatural instinct for even the most insignificant dissident thought or urge to malinger.

She would have to retain a demeanour of absolute compliance until such time as she could put her scheme into play. Nursey was no fool and did not suffer others in their foolish ways.

Returning her head towards her text book, Anna began to formulate her strategy. She would need to catch Nursey at her most vulnerable. Night-time, as she had thought in the immediate aftermath of her revelation, would serve as the best time to attempt her theft. That option held the risk that she would appear tired in the morning and Nursey would find that suspicious.

Try as she might, Anna could not think of any other time that she could attempt to steal Nursey's keys. Not a single one. Anna could not remember Nursey ever taking a bath during the day, although Nursey always seemed clean and tidy. To her dismay, Anna couldn't recall any moments other than nighttime that she could consider Nursey to be in a position for Anna to take control of her keys.

As the grandfather clock, in the entrance hall chimed five, she closed her text book without Nursey giving her leave and the irate glare told her she should have waited. Nonetheless, the next hour, before tea, was now her own to do with as she pleased and she intended to use that time to formalise her plans.

Of course, what she would do with the keys after taking them would present its own problems. Sneaking outside, alone, in the dead of night, was a foolhardy idea in its own right. To then walk to the folly in the vain hope of catching sight of the mysterious girl? Well, what was youth for, if not committing foolish mistakes? Yet the appearance and disappearance of the girl had caught Anna's imagination like nothing else ever had and it deserved an investigation.

For the next hour, she sat upon the window seat, legs curled to her side, head resting against the cold window pane, as she stared out into the snow covered garden. She allowed a wistful sigh to escape from her lips and daydreamed of the girl with unruly hair and strange clothes, wondering what, if anything, she could say to such a person.