"I want to be a soldier," Waverly announced at breakfast the next morning. "And, wear a red tune and ride a black horse."
"To Banbury Cross," Willa added, looking up briefly from her plate of kippers to make light of her sister's curious career choice. "It's a red tunic. A soldier's coat is called a tunic. Although, I believe the actual colour is scarlet."
"Isn't it a white horse?" Wynonna questioned. "No, a cock horse is ridden to Banbury Cross. Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady upon a white horse. That's how the rhyme goes. And, no you can't."
"Can," Waverly insisted, pushing the remains of a half-eaten poached egg round her plate with a fork. "I can ride, as good as you."
"How can you possibly be as good as me at riding? Or, anything. You're only six. I meant, you can't be a soldier. Isn't that right Willa?"
"I believe so, "Willa replied, not bothering to look up this time, determined to remove as many miniscule bones as she could from the fish before her. "The army is reserved for men."
"That girl wants to be a soldier," Waverly continued. "She told me. I want to be a nurse, but now I think I would like to be a soldier and wear a red coat and wave a sword in the air..."
"Girls do not become soldiers, only boys." Willa clarified. "That girl is too boyish for you to be listening to her."
Willa is wrong, she thought. My pirate will be a soldier. She is brave and knows how to fight with a sword. Waverly placed her knife and fork across the plate as she had been shown by adults, scooping up the white linen napkin from her knee, dropping it on the table to the left of her plate. "She can be a boy if she wants. And, a soldier." Waverly replied.
It was Wynonna's turn to educate her little sister. "Oh petal, that girl cannot be a boy. Because, she's a girl. She doesn't have what boys have."
"Yes, she does," Waverly persisted. "She has a sword. So there."
Willa sighed audibly. "You're too young to understand. Having a sword does not make you a boy. I'll explain when you are older."
Shouting and footsteps outside the breakfast room drew their attention to the presence of Nicole. Waverly's face lit up, desperate to be allowed to leave the room. As the eldest, Willa was tasked with being their stand-in mother on these occasions, a role she didn't much care for. "You may leave the table. Do not go anywhere near that uncouth girl. If I find out you have, I'll tell mama and you'll be sent to bed straight away."
Waverly hesitated, knowing Willa would tell on her if she did, knowing the first thing she would do on leaving the table would be to find her exciting new friend. "I won't. I'm going to play with Ellie."
It was the first lie Waverly ever told. The muscles in her body tensed, having uttered such a fib to her sister, waiting to see if she would be caught out, or if her tongue would grow too large for her mouth, as her mother said it would. Her sisters said nothing, presumably believing her intentions to play with a doll. Why would I play with a doll, she thought, when I have a real pirate to play with?
Wynonna waited until Waverly left the room. "What are the odds she's off to find that girl?"
"I would say the odds are fairly high," Willa replied. "Sword indeed."
"You're beginning to sound like mother. I think it's endearing. Mind you, she'll get a shock when she sees her first sword."
"Nona!" Willa exclaimed. "We do not talk about men's swords. Not in public and never at the dining table."
"Just like mother," Wynonna repeated, buttering another slice of toast.
Waverly closed the door to the breakfast room, listening for any sign of her new friend the pirate. The shouts were coming from outside. A glass-panelled door to the right led to the grounds, swinging slightly in the morning breeze, whoever had gone through before her having left it open, something she was told not to do in her own house. She ventured out, standing on the terrace where tea had been served on their arrival the previous afternoon, wondering in which direction she needed to go.
"Boo!"
Waverly jumped, ready to scream, knowing if she did Willa would have her sent to bed. She turned to see her pirate friend standing behind her, wearing the same tan-coloured shorts, accompanied by a white shirt unbuttoned to the waist. "Did I scare you?"
"No," Waverly replied defiantly, her eyes on the wooden sword in Nicole's hand.
Nicole danced round her young guest. "I scared you. I scared you. I..."
"Shush. My sisters will hear. I mustn't talk to you because you're not a boy."
Nicole stopped prancing, once more trying to work out what on earth Waverly meant. "Why can't you talk to me?"
"I said, because you're not a boy. Willa says you can't be a soldier."
"I can. I can be whatever I want. Today, I am Red, the fiercest pirate you ever did meet. I take scared little girls prisoner and make them eat worms for their supper. You know if you kiss a worm it turns into a prince. Or, that might be a frog. I'm not sure. Frog, worm, all the same. What shall it be, frog or a worm to kiss?"
Waverly let out a squeal, raising her hand to her mouth quickly to cover the sound as well as any attempts her pirate might make to get her to eat, or kiss, something horrid. She spoke through a tiny gap in her fingers. "I'm never eating worms, or kissing worms, or frogs. You can't make me."
"I can. And, I will. I'll chase you and chase you and chase you. And, when I catch you I will make you open your mouth and I will place a fat wiggly worm inside. Or, the legs of a frog. Father is rather partial to those on..." She stopped mid-sentence, amused at her own rhyming words. "Father is rather partial. Father is rather partial."
She would, Waverly thought, her stomach lurching, listening to Nicole repeat her silly phrase. I know she would make me eat worms, or frogs. Poor frogs without legs. How do they hop? I could run away and hide. But, I'm sure she will catch me. Then what? Her hand dropped from her mouth. "I don't believe you. You want to scare me, that's all. I'm not scared of you. Or, worms. Or, frogs."
"Is that so? Then what shall it be?"
"Nothing. Thank you, I've already eaten. Can we play, please? I'd rather play tea parties than be chased and made to eat things."
"I know. A big juicy spider, who sat down beside her, with long hairy legs," Nicole suggested, holding one hand upside down in front of Waverly's face, dancing her fingers.
Waverly couldn't stop herself, her scream heard by both sisters, Willa giving Wynonna a look to say she should go see why their baby sister was making such a racket. Wynonna picked up the remaining half of toast she intended to eat, earning a glare from Willa, dropping it on the plate. She marched outside to find Nicole still tormenting Waverly with her spider hand, Waverly clearly enjoying the attention. "What did Willa say? I've a good mind to tell mama right now."
"No, please. I didn't speak to her. I promise."
Wynonna eyed her sister, knowing full well she had, turning her attention to Nicole. "Would you mind not upsetting my little sister. There's a good chap."
"Don't call me that." Nicole snapped.
"Do forgive me. Only, you're dressed like a boy and you act like a boy."
"So. What's it to you?"
"Come Waverly, let's leave this young man to play pretend soldiers."
Nicole raised her sword, threatening to lash out at Wynonna, Waverly shocked at the sudden change in her expression. "I've a good mind to..."
Wynonna stood her ground. "Really. You would hit me with a toy sword. A gentleman never raises his hand to a lady." She grabbed her sister, dragging Waverly away, Nicole storming off into the grounds, muttering to herself.
"I thought you said you were going to play with Ellie." Wynonna said, as they entered the house.
"I only wanted to say hello. She was going to make me eat things. I don't like spiders, you know that. And, I don't want to eat them either. It's cruel."
Wynonna took both her hands. "No one will force you to eat anything while I'm around. You hear. Now, shall we go see if Ellie would like a story read to her."
Waverly hugged her sister, her protector, taking her hand once more as they climbed the stairs to the nursery in search of a more genteel activity. Nicole stomped through the woods, kicking away obstructions, bashing her sword against innocent trees, still smarting at having been out-played, determined to get revenge. She could hear her brothers at the pond as she drew near, the small expanse of water used as their private swimming pool, an old plank of wood their makeshift diving platform, or pirate punishment, depending on who was using it.
If it was her eldest brother, the plank was exclusively for him to practise his entry into the water. Her other brothers were more willing to indulge Nicole's childish fantasies of adventures on the high seas, each taking turns to be sent to a watery grave. The more dramatic a departure from one world to another the louder the laughter and claps earned. Performance was very much part of their play world along with bravado, showing who was bravest, Nicole occasionally returning to the house with a bloody nose, or cut lip after heated arguments about who should be sent to Davy Jones' locker next.
She didn't care being called a boy. That was not where the sting lay in Wynonna's words. The sting lay in the fact she knew, as her mother knew and as Wynonna clearly knew, no matter how much she acted like a boy, she would never be one, never be treated the same way a boy would be treated in society. She knew full well her path to adulthood would soon diverge from that of her brothers. All the freedoms she enjoyed as a child, running naked through woods on the estate, fighting invisible enemies with her less-than trustworthy sword, would shortly be coming to an end.
The gong for lunch sounded. Loud enough for those in the house to hear, the Haught children usually left to their own devices until one or more became too tired, or too hungry to continue their games. Nicole's stomach was rumbling, having missed breakfast, deciding she would return to the house to see if the kitchen staff might prepare something to take back to the woods.
She spotted Wynonna and Waverly descending the main staircase as she slipped into the house, unaware of her presence, heading to the dining room where they would eat with the adults. Nicole followed, messy hair and muddy clothes not the attire her mother accepted at the dining table. As soon as she entered the room her mother rose abruptly from the table, dragging her outside, reprimanding her for having appeared before guests looking less than respectable, demanding she go wash her hands and face and put on a dress before returning.
Nicole sensed her mother was not in the mood to be argued with. She returned five minutes later, her hair partly brushed, a dress hastily placed over her outdoor clothes, most of the buttons still undone at the back, face and hands briefly shown water. She sat as far away from her mother as she could, avoiding her stern gaze, as she waited for the first course to be served, too hungry to care what it was. Waverly's eyes were also on her, sitting diagonally opposite, taking the occasional mouthful of soup, watching as Nicole devoured the food before her, dipping her bread in several times to the horror of her mother, who would, if no guests were present, have banished her to her room for such bad manners.
Staff entered with the next course, a buffet of meats and salad, placing silver trays on the serving tables at the side of the room. Nicole's mother rose, inviting Waverly's mother to join her, the pair chatting as they chose from the selection before them. Nicole watched as Waverly's turn approached, jumping up from her seat to make sure she was next in line.
"I've a juicy fat worm in my pocket," she whispered, as she stood behind Waverly.
Waverly turned slightly, catching the grin on Nicole's face. "And, I have Wynonna. So there."
"Wynonna can't protect you from the Red pirate."
Waverly felt a rush of excitement through her body. The confidence, the arrogance of this girl was so different to anything experienced with her sisters. This girl scares me, she thought, but, is so much fun. She helped herself to the salad, deciding not to take any meat, returning to her seat. It was the movement of a lettuce leaf on her plate that drew her eyes, Nicole once more making her scream. The commotion that followed got Nicole sent to her bedroom without finishing her lunch, protesting Waverly wanted to try eating a worm, her mother giving her the sternest of looks as their nanny dragged her out of the room.
"I never said I would eat a worm," Waverly said, as her plate was removed. "Red told me if I kissed one it would turn into a prince."
There were audible groans from her sisters. Waverly had a lot to learn. Nicole's mother could not apologise enough, offering a double helping of trifle, Waverly becoming overwhelmed by the attention she was receiving from the adults. She worried about her new friend, believing it to be her actions that had landed her pirate in trouble. If only I had kept quiet, she thought, Red would not have been sent away.
She was halfway through her trifle when she burst into tears.
Notes:
Nicole's house 'Wattlestone' is based on a grand house called Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, once owned by the Rothschild's, who bequeathed it to the National Trust. It's strange visiting such homes, recognising there were those in society who lived and loved in such places. So many grand houses were built in Buckinghamshire by different members of the Rothschild family the county was nicknamed Rothschildshire..! Only Waddesdon remains standing today.
The rhyme Willa and Wynonna refer to is a popular nursery rhyme told to children: Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady upon a white horse. Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, and she shall have music wherever she goes.
A cock horse is a high-spirited horse, and the fine lady has been associated with Queen Elizabeth I, although Lady Godiva and Celia Fiennes have also been linked to this rhyme.
Lady Godiva, Countess of Mercia (11th Century) is mainly remembered for a legend dating back to the 13th Century, in which she supposedly rode naked, covered only by her long hair, through the streets of Coventry. Celia Fiennes (1662–1741) was an English traveller and writer. Like Queen Elizabeth I, Celia never married, choosing instead to explore England on horseback at a time when travel for its own sake was unusual. Travel by a woman even more so.