Sunday got off to the same start. The girls bustled about the house getting ready until they were all dressed in their Sunday best.

"Beatrice, your hair!" Heloise gasped when Beatrice came into the workshop where she sat with Selene and Hannah.

"You're wearing it up," Hannah said.

"Don't say anything more about it!" Beatrice said. "Ladybird has been saying I should try it and so I have. There is no other reason than that."

Heloise and Selene looked at each other and smiled. "It is very becoming of you," Selene said.

"I can't stand all these pins," Beatrice said. "How is it done, being a proper woman?" she sighed as she touched her locks. "I don't know if I'll go through with it." She located her hat and left the room.

Hannah turned to Selene. "Selene, I need your help," she said. "I want to make Astrid a new doll. You see I feel poorly about damaging her nutcracker and it shouldn't have been Wysteria to get her a new doll, it should have been me."

"But she's happy with Little Astrid," Heloise said.

"But I feel bad inside," Hannah said. "What does that mean?"

Selene smiled. "It means you have a working conscience," she said. "I'll be happy to help you make a doll for Astrid tomorrow after school."

"Thank you, Selene," Hannah said. "You are a soldier."

Mr. Fairchild called everyone together and they left the house. Beatrice received many compliments about her hair and not just a few little giggles as well.

Preacher preached self sacrifice and love of neighbor again. During the talk Mrs. Fairchild gently touched Miriam's hand who smiled that she had recently put this into practice.

Little Hannah sighed. It would certainly be a sacrifice spending the next few afternoons making a doll rather than playing.

Tennessee managed to stay over for church but declined when he was invited back to the house by Mrs. Fairchild and Beatrice to have supper with them.

"Really I must be going," Tennessee said, "I hope this time without the piano I shall attract less curiosity from my fellow passengers."

"Will you come see us again sometime?" Beatrice asked. "Even if it is for just a short visit."

"I don't know," Tennessee said. "I don't feel free to be myself in Dixie. I avoid it as much as possible. I don't know how such a fiery young woman as yourself manages. I couldn't put up with these people. I'd have long ago moved far away and stayed."

Beatrice looked around at the people leaving the church and she looked to the trees and the tall grass and the way the sun shone on them. "Once a wanderer always a wanderer I suppose."

Tennessee smiled. "Well it is good to see you are still strong, Beatrice. Take care of yourself." He tipped his hat and mounted Gatling.

"Mr. Wellbeloved!" Jessop shouted as he crossed the churchyard. He passed Beatrice as she walked away and stopped Tennessee. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"Not to stay longer I hope," Tennessee said.

"Not that," Jessop said. "I want you to inquire of your party regarding a certain man; Andrew Addams."

Tennessee smiled. "Now that is my something I can do" he said. "And what would you like to know about this man?"

"I want to teach him a lesson," Jessop said.

"I understand." Tennessee said looking away. "I will let you know if there is anything." He turned his horse and trotted away raising his hat to the girls as he passed them on the road.

"I wish I could have an adventure like Mr. Wellbeloved," Hannah said. "I'd be brilliant with a sword."

"Those who live by the sword perish by the sword," Alifair said.

Beatrice came running up behind them, her hair bouncing freely in the wind. "Were ya'll aiming to abandon me?"

"We wanted to give you time to say goodbye," Ladybird said.

"Why?" Beatrice demanded. "It's not as though I'll miss him more than anyone else. Stop smiling at me like that, Ladybird."

"Oh, Baby B, you must know by now that older sisters like to tease," Ladybird said wrapping her arms around Beatrice and kissing her."

Beatrice broke away and whipped it off. "Ladybird!"

"Oh, come here!" Ladybird said embracing her again as they walked home.

/

As soon as Hannah got home from school she went straight into the workshop to find Selene. As usual both she and Ladybird were present. Ladybird was at her easel and Selene was flat lining a bolero.

"Hannah, you must not run so," Selene said as she set her sewing aside. "So, where would you like to begin?"

"I want to make a doll that look just like Astrid," Hannah said. "We'll need lots of stuffing because Astrid is soft and huggable and we'll need black buttons for her eyes and some yarn for her hair and we'll need to make a dress to go with it."

"That all sounds very complicated, Hannah," Ladybird said as she rinsed a brush. "I think you should start with a simple pattern."

"But it has to be beautiful!" Hannah declared.

"It will be beautiful," Selene said selecting the ragdoll pattern from the basket behind her. "But Ladybird is right, you need to start with something simple."

"Well fine," Hannah said with a sigh. "But I want her to wear something fun," she looked at the wall behind Selene's dress forms where a few garments hung. There was a red dress with a white collar and a blouse with a pigeon neck and lace panels and then there was a bathing suit comprised of a sailor style shirt and wool bloomers. "That!"

Selene looked over her shoulders. "The bathing suit? Hanna, are you sure?"

"Yes!" Hannah declared. "It's perfect!"

"That will be unique; I've never seen a doll in bathing bloomers before!" Ladybird said coming over to the table.

"You can help, Ladybird," Hannah said. "But," she held up her finger. "I must do most of the work as it is my sacrifice. I must prove to Alifair that I too can be a good Christian."

Ladybird and Selene laughed. "I'll make the bloomers," Ladybird said.

"And I'll do the shirt," Selene said. "Here, Hannah you'll need this."

Hannah took the round red tomato and frowned. "What am I supposed to do this, eat it?"

Selene laughed. "No, silly it's a pincushion," she said. "You put your pins and needles in it when they are not being used. I'm surprised you've not seen one before."

Hannah shook her head in exasperation. "You will notice I pay little attention to my surroundings as we go on this escapade together," she said. "She turned the tomato over in her hand. "I just realized this situation could be worse."

"How so, Hannah?" Ladybird asked as she selected fabric squares for the bloomers.

Hannah held up the tomato. "It could have been a potato pincushion."

/

Sumner was tired by the time he reached the old shack. Without Harlequin he was doing a lot more walking. He found the old man sitting on his porch the same way he had before.

"You've came back," the old man said.

Sumner walked up to the porch. "There's a storm coming in," he said. "I thought maybe...I thought maybe you'd like a place to wait it out."

"Bad storm you say?" the old man said. "I've seen plenty of bad storms in my life."

"Yes, but your house," Sumner said. "I don't think it will stand against the wind."

The old man leaned up in his chair. "Why are you worried about me?" he asked. "Did you ever find Talbot Montgomery?"

Sumner looked up at the sky as thunder rolled. "I found him," he said. "And I know he was your son. And that would make you my grandfather."

The old man sat silently. "So...you gots it all figured out, eh?"

"Look I can't just leave you out here with a potentially dangerous storm coming," Sumner said. "Look at those clouds, look at the trees."

Old Man Montgomery looked to the bowing trees. "Well," he said. "So you may be right."

"I'll get your mule for you," Sumner said.

"Now hold on there, sonny I ain't said—" he stopped when Sumner didn't turn around and instead ran around back to untie the mule. Old Montgomery had to smile to himself.

/

Sumner didn't miss the shifting curtains as he led the mule up Fifth Street. His neighbors were curious but he thought to let them be so. He helped Old Montgomery down in the yard then up the steps. "I think you'll be comfortable here," he said. "I'll put your mule in the barn out back."

Old Montgomery held his small bag of precious things as he looked around the house. "Yep, everything seems to be how they left it," he said.

Sumner closed the door and hurried up to him. I found the rag doll on her bed like you said," he

said. "Please, come." He led Montgomery up the hall to a spare bedroom. "You can sleep here for the night," he said opening the curtains.

"My oh my," Montgomery said. "This won't due one bit."

Sumner looked at him in confusion. "All the other rooms are on the next floor," he said. "I figured you might have trouble with the stairs."

Montgomery looked at him and rolled with laughter showing his gums. "My boy, what I means by that was this is far too good for me." He looked around the room at the elaborate furnishings. "I reckon I ain't never slept in a bed like this here before."

"Well now you shall," Sumner said. "And every night if you will."

Montgomery put his little sack down in a rocking chair by the window then sank onto the bed. "What you mean by that?"

Sumner turned the gas lamp in another direction to occupy himself. "I was hoping you would stay forever with me," he said. "This could be your room. You could do what you pleased with it. The rest of the house would be at your disposal. A maid comes occasionally but she won't get underfoot. There's a place for your mule out back, she won't have to sleep outside anymore."

Montgomery felt his heart move at the sound of the man who seemed now as a boy to him as he went on about his house and how much he thought he would like it there.

"My poor boy," he said. "You've been lonely too long." He looked to the window with sigh as leaves tapped against the glass for being blown by the wind. "You know, I was born in that old shack. I nearly didn't make it but my mama wouldn't give up on me. Your father be born there as well. He was a large thing."

Sumner sat in the rocking chair. "Tell me about them," he said. A crack of thunder shook the window and they looked outside. "I'd better get the mule in," Sumner said standing. "But won't you tell me about them. I know so little about my family. All I've had for years was my cousins and their parents and they didn't talk much about my mother. I now know why."

Montgomery nodded. "What they have kept from you, I shall tell you. My boy, you shall learn all you be wanting to know."

Sumner smiled in excitement. Thunder echoed outside and he hurried to put the mule away before the rain came.