"First we need to find some pirate costumes," Eden said, as they went upstairs to her sitting room – last year, it had been her play room. She stopped suddenly in the doorway.

"Good morning, girls," said Nurse Melia, who had been tidying in the play room - she could never think of it as anything but Miss Eden's play room.

Lucy thought Nurse Melia was about the same age as Nurse May, but while Nurse May was bony, angular, and fretful, Nurse Melia was fleshy, buxom, and affable. Lucy and Eden returned her greeting.

"You're back late from breakfast, Miss Eden," Nurse Melia noted, as she rearranged the bookshelves.

"We went out riding early and had to help the shepherds," Eden said.

"We only got back a little while ago," Lucy said.

"Ah, you're good girls," said Nurse Melia, then noticed they had barely entered the room yet. "Were you after something in particular, Miss Eden?"

"Oh, just some dress ups, Nurse," said Eden, going to a large wooden chest in one corner and rifling through it.

"I suppose you'll be playing a nice little game outdoors," Nurse Melia said tolerantly. "I remember once I made you a primrose yellow costume so you could dance on the lawn, being a flower fairy."

"I was four!" Eden said, with an anguished look at Lucy, whose lips twitched, but eyes remained solemn.

"It sounds charming," Lucy said to Nurse Melia, sitting down on the broad window seat. "Eden must have looked perfectly delightful."

"Oh, she was a dear little thing," Nurse Melia said fondly. "So small and dainty, and the primrose yellow really suited her. You should wear that colour more often, Miss Eden."

"Father prefers me in green, Nurse," Eden replied, adding diplomatically, "He loves that green silk evening gown you made me. Father says you are an absolute magician with fabric."

"It's very kind of him to say so, I'm sure," said Nurse Melia, looking pleased. "And what are you doing there, Miss Eden?"

"Just getting some old scarves we can turn into bandanas," Eden said, as she chose several with bright prints on them. "And sewing patches onto breeches."

"Oh, doing needlework," said Nurse Melia brightly. "Do you know, Miss Lucy, Miss Eden does the most beautiful embroidery? She made me the loveliest centrepiece for my birthday, the stitches so fine, you would think they were done by wee elves. Would you like me to show you?"

"Please," said Lucy, then saw Eden give a forbidding shake of her head. "I mean, please, not now, Nurse Melia. But I'd love to see it some other time."

"Many's the long winter evening you and I have attended to our needlework together, Miss Eden," Nurse Melia said, with the air of someone settling into a long period of nostalgic reminiscences. "And our knitting. I taught Miss Eden to knit when she was ten, and it's one of the best ways to keep little fiddle fingers occupied. Do you knit, Miss Lucy?"

"I'm afraid not," smiled Lucy. "I must seem perfectly useless, Nurse Melia, but I never learned sewing or knitting."

"You could pick it up in a brace of shakes," said Nurse Melia. "At least, Miss Eden was a very quick student. I always think sewing and knitting are good skills for a young lady to have, even a princess."

"All sailors can sew, to mend sails and things," said Eden, with a slight air of truculence. "And knit. You need to be able to knit to fill in the hours on a long sea voyage."

"Then I should learn," said Lucy. "We sail to Castile almost every year, and it would be nice to have something to do on deck."

"Well, girls, I'm sorry I can't help you with your costumes," said Nurse Melia, as she finished putting things away. "I expect you came in to ask my help, and I don't like to be disappointing you, but I promised Nurse May we would pop down to the village this morning."

"That's perfectly alright," said Eden, and Lucy added, "We don't mind a bit. Give my love to Nurse."

"You're good girls to pretend it doesn't matter," said Nurse Melia gratefully, "and I'll make it up to you by arranging a little sewing circle one evening. Just you two, we nurses, and perhaps the housekeeper, Mrs Tweddle, if her rheumatism permits."

"We'd enjoy that very much," said Lucy politely, and Eden gave a horrified look at her before saying bleakly, "Thank you, Nurse."

Nurse Melia had barely left before Eden said, "You go on a sea voyage every year"

"Yes. My sister Alice is the Queen of Castile, you see," said Lucy. "And her daughter, my niece Charlotte, is the same age as me, so I usually spend each summer with her."

"I asked you if you knew anything about boats, and you only said you'd gone on the royal barge."

Lucy considered for a moment. "Well, a ship isn't exactly a boat," she said. "But we never really got to talking about ships, we went straight out to the lake and I never thought about it again."

"Oh, I somehow thought you'd never been sailing."

"I haven't," said Lucy. "At least, not proper sailing. Just being a passenger on a ship, you don't learn much. It's not like sailing with you on the lake. And it only takes a few days to get to Castile."

"Well, if you've been on a ship, you'll know how to play pirates," said Eden. "I'm going to sew us a Jolly Roger, if can you make an eye patch?"

"Of course," said Lucy, going to the arts and crafts cupboard for scissors and paste.

The two girls worked companionably on their costumes for some time, until Lucy said in a serious voice, "Of course, if you ever want to dance on the lawn being flower fairies, I don't mind."

Lucy screeched as she got hit in the face with a piece of felt. There was a flurry of giggles as the girls entered a spirited fabric fight, which only ended when Lucy realised she'd let the paste overturn and form a sticky pool on the floor.