Wysteria pulled the reins stopping the wagon outside the black gate surrounding the brick mansion. She, Selene and Beatrice stared up at the magnificent house. The hedges lining the sidewalk were well trimmed all the way up to the door, and the yard was wide and spacious. There was a gazebo and a well manicured pond to the far right and the entrance to a stately garden to the left. Lions with gapping mouths guarded the gate atop pillars their eyes permanently stained with tear lines from the rain.

"It's like a fairytale mansion," Wysteria said as they climbed down from the wagon and approached the tall gates.

"Look at how detailed the carvings of those lion's are atop the wall," Beatrice pointed out. "They almost look alive."

Selene laughed. "I thought you two lived around grand houses in Massachusetts," she said.

"We did," Wysteria said. "Our grandmother owned one of the largest but it lacked the character seen here."

Selene opened the gate and let them through before closing it behind her.

"I hope they don't have any dogs," Beatrice remarked.

"They are expecting us so I hope they've put them away," Selene said. "We are running a little late so we had best hurry." The three young women quickened their pace up the walkway and around to the back door where they knocked and were shown in by a man in Moorish livery.

As they walked up the hall to the library they took in the world around them. Portraits of ancestors and admired heroes decorated the walls on both sides. Persian tapestries and towering vases from the Far East hung high on the walls and took up spaces between paintings.

Beatrice tilted her head back as they passed under a chandelier where not a speck of dust or a thread of web left its trace. She had been in orderly houses before that were large and seemed vacant aside from the owners but at night she was told that an army of servants descended on the house and waged war with oily finger prints and dust bunnies, vanquishing them to oblivion.

When they entered the library Selene felt her knees grow weak. Light from the opened curtains streamed into the white octagon shaped room. The shelves ran from the floor more than halfway to the ceiling and were set in the walls. Lounge chairs and couches sat toward the center of the room on a red and cream Persian rug and large shrubs grew at the bowing window looking out at the a rich green lawn.

"The mistress will be in shortly," the colorfully clad man said

"Thank you, sir," Selene said as he bowed and turned away. She turned to Beatrice and Wysteria. "Did you see him? Do you think he's from Africa?"

"He sounded like an American to me," Wysteria said. "You know, to the privileged, having servants from exotic lands is a social statement. It's no different than wearing mink or a large feathered hat."

"I'd rather be lambasted than treated like a mink coat or a feathered hat," Beatrice said. "Do people not have any dignity?" with her hands on her hips she turned and whistled at the room. "Something tells me our kind are only welcome here to sweep the chimneys in normal circumstances." She went over to the desk at the window where seven white mice ran about in a cage. She thought it silly that such people kept such creatures.

"Well what more would you expect, Beatrice?" Wysteria said. "If you despise the way the world is so much then why don't you change it?"

Beatrice scoffed. "Maybe I will," she said. "There's a live auction in Jacksonville this Saturday and I just may put one of my pieces in it."

"You'll only get caught," Wysteria said. "Won't she, Selene?"

"It is a dangerous gamble, Beatrice," Selene said as she read the spines of the books.

Wysteria nodded. "The perfect way for a lambasting."

Beatrice was about to say something smart when a gray-haired woman entered the room. Her thin lips were neither in a smile or a frown and her eyes went straight to their feet. At first Selene thought she was checking for mud on her polished floors but then her eyes went to her face.

"You must be Selene," she said in a voice that sounded winded. It was as though she had been running up and down the stairs.

"Yes, ma'am," Selene said. "These are my sisters, Wysteria and Beatrice."

The woman nodded. "The books I have selected for you are in the box at the corner there." She extended her hand. "I hope you will find them to your liking."

"Thank you, Mrs. Christenson," Selene said awkwardly. She went over to the box and scanned the books on top. "You have a lovely library."

Mrs. Christenson gave a quick look around. "The complement you must pay to my husband," she said. "It is his after all. I hope your own library is coming along well. We all thought it was such a pity that Old Town burned."

"We are doing well, thank you," Selene said. "Your husband has a marvelous library. I'm afraid ours won't be as grand but at least people will have a place they can go read."

Mrs. Christenson's eyes went back down to Selene's shoes. "Well it is kind of you to consider others," she said. "Hazel will show you out the back door."

"Yes, ma'am," Selene said. "And thank you again for the books."

Mrs. Christenson nodded. "Just don't touch anything."

Beatrice felt a blow at the words. Using the back door was one thing but something had changed in this woman.

"We'll be out shortly," Selene said and the aloof woman left only to be replaced by the colorfully dressed man from before.

/

"Did you see the way she kept looking at your shoes?" Beatrice said when they were on road again.

"I never wear these shoes save for Sundays," Selene said. "I was only trying to look presentable. Do you think she was offended?"

Wysteria clicked her tongue at the horse and guided it away from the side of the road. "Maybe she was just surprised to see a colored woman with such a nice pair of shoes."

"Maybe," Selene said. "Well at least we have more books to contribute to the library now. Wysteria, if you could I'd like to stop off their on the way home."

"Sure," Wysteria said. "Did you need help with anything?"

"I'll manage," Selene said. She took a deep breath of the fragrant spring air taking her mind away from Mrs. Christenson's odd behavior.

/

The wings of the chickens were noisy as they flapped around the pen pecking at the feed Alifair had put down for them. In the adjacent pen Providence changed the rabbits' bedding while they skipped about behind the wire stretching their legs. Sacha and Birdy watched tentatively in the afternoon sun nearby.

Alifair turned to empty a water dish and jumped when she saw Heloise standing outside the gate. "Heloise!"

"Sorry, Alifair," Heloise said from behind a newspaper.

"You were supposed to be putting that down for the rabbits," Alifair said.

"Look at this, ya'll!" Heloise said going around to stand between the pens. "There's a building going into raffle in Brickyard. Didn't Ladybird say she wanted to open a ballet studio?"

"Have you lost your ever-loving mind, Heloise Antonia Fairchild?" Alifair demanded. She passed the water dish through the pen door to her sister. "They won't let us enter."

Heloise went over to the water pump and rinsed out the dish with Birdy following her. "You would say that, Alifair but look Mr. Sweetland of Custardville is in charge and the paper lists no disqualifications."

"This is mocking bird talk, madness!"

"I would love it if we had an actual studio," Providence said.

"We should ask Wysteria to take us by to see it!" Heloise said. "Imagine that, a dance studio all our own.

"Ottaline and I used to watch the dancers back in Drinking Water," Providence said. "Do you think there's a chance we would win, Heloise?"

"Raffles are meant to be fair," Heloise said. "All we have to do is get a ticket with our name on it and we'll be entered. It cost a penny a ticket and you can only enter once but since there are twelve of us, plus my Mama and Papa."

Providence liked the idea but Alifair was less keen.

Alifair sighed, "Meanwhile, Heloise, why don't you give us a hand here," she said reaching for the dish.

/

Heloise spoke to Miriam as soon as she could about the building and entering the raffle. Beatrice being in earshot said they should do it and not involve Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild. Miriam liked the idea of taking full responsibility themselves and thought to write Taitiann and Ladybird about it.

"I think all of us will agree except Alifair," Heloise said. "She's too safe."

"The part about it being in Brickyard does dissuade me," Miriam said. "But I think this may be our one true chance. I think Alifair will come around even if she doesn't put a ticket in the raffle."

Heloise let out a breath of air. She doubted it.