Chapter 29

     When Mrs. Harris's teaching ended a little earlier than usual. Alice waited for Charles to come.
Charles along with his sisters and brother were walking close to the house Charles saw from afar that Alice was walking in the yard. When they entered the yard.
   Alice ran forward and said to Charles: "Charles if you are not tired let's go now? I want to see that tombstone."
   Charles, although he was tired because he wanted to find out what Alice knew, said to Alice: "I'm not tired but if mother is home she will notice our absence and worry."
   "Mrs. King's children had come here they were very worried because Mrs. King was very ill Aunt Margaret went with them because they seemed very confused."
   "So let's go now."
In this way Charles along with Alice started walking again. Along the way both were silent and lost in thought; both walked fast as if they wanted to discover something by reaching that grave or uncover a mystery. Charles wanted to know what Alice knew that they were unaware of. Whose tombstone is this? How does it relate to his mother's troubles? When he thought about these things he suddenly came to himself and saw that he was standing near the tombstone. He could no longer take a step from step his feet were stuck there. He was scared! No he wasn't scared. So why didn't he go ahead? He didn't know either he just preferred to stand there.
  Alice went ahead and sat next to the grave. After a while she touched the tombstone with trembling hands and whispered softly: "The date of birth and death is correct. Emily died twenty-three years ago at the age of twelve." Then she got up and started running towards the house Charles saw Alice running wanted to say something to her but saw it better to follow Alice until he reached her. After running for a while in the plain Charles still couldn't reach Alice. Alice had slowed down a bit but still walked fast. Charles who had given up on reaching Alice preferred to follow her from behind with distance. Near the house, Charles sped up a bit to get next to Alice and looked at her face. Alice's face had turned red and she seemed angry Charles slowed down for this reason so that he fell back again.
   As soon as Alice entered through the back door of the kitchen, Charles immediately entered behind her. The smell of cake filled the space. Linda happily greeted Alice, but Alice went to her room without answering. But nothing could ruin Linda's happiness. She had baked a cake for the first time.
     Charles barely reached the wooden table where the cake tray was and grabbed his heart with his hand. He was very hungry. He smiled and said to Linda: "The cake must be delicious. I'm very hungry."
   Linda happily said: "Let me decorate it; then I'll bring you a piece of cake with a cup of tea."
   Charles smiled and said: "Thanks, by the way don't be upset with Alice, she is angry. I don't know why, but I feel she knows something about mother and her troubles these days that we are unaware of."
   "Charles, as soon as you left, Mrs. Ellington came here to see Alice. She was not very well either. But she had a strange mood and left very soon."
   "So it was good that we didn't come back on time because Alice is very angry."
   Linda said in surprise: "Why is Alice angry? By the way, I went to the post office today. A letter from grandmother had arrived for mother. Grandmother had written that she would come here in three days. Maybe mother's upset because of this."
   "Grandmother is coming here in three days? Linda, you were curious again and read mother's letter?"
  Linda, who was blushing and trying not to look at Charles, continued: "Well, if I hadn't read it, I wouldn't have cleaned the house and found the package of grandmother's letters in the drawer of mother's desk."
   Charles said in surprise: "The package of grandmother's letters?"
   Linda continued: "Grandmother wrote a letter to mother almost every month, but mother didn't even open most of them to read. I thought grandmother didn't care about us at all, so I thought mother was so upset because of grandmother's arrival."
   Charles, who was stunned, said: "Mother doesn't know about grandmother's arrival."
   Linda muttered: "That's right."
     The next day at noon when everyone was sitting at the lunch table, Mr. Bennet got up and said: "I have to go, I have a lot of work to do." And he went out.
The children were alone again and played with their food with boredom until Margaret finally entered and after changing her clothes sat next to the children with fatigue to eat.
   Margaret said: "Mrs. King is well now. The doctor said 'It's a hard cold.'"
Throughout this time, Alice had not taken her eyes off Margaret. She was waiting for the moment when she could talk to Aunt Margaret. Margaret still looked confused.
   Anyway, when they all sat together, Alice, who was tired of seeing Margaret's face full of sorrow and grief, finally said: "Aunt, don't you want to tell me the truth?"
   Margaret said: "The truth?"
   "This that I am not your niece? This that Emily, your sister, died of measles at the age of twelve? This that who is my mother? This that you are so confused because of telling the truth?"
   Margaret turned pale. She did not know what to say. She was really surprised.
   The children looked at each other in astonishment. They did not expect to hear such a thing from Alice.
   It took a while for Margaret to come to herself. There was a heavy silence among them. Anyway, she sighed and said: "Well, I think I have to tell you something before it's too late."
At that moment the door rang and Linda, despite not wanting to leave the group, went and opened the door. Elizabeth and Isabella also joined the group.
   Margaret said without paying attention to the presence of the group: "Georgiana, your mother is Emily, my sister."
Except for the little girls, no one else was shocked by this statement.
   Elizabeth said: "Alice, dear, everything will be over tomorrow."
   Isabella said: "Alice, you have to come with me to the party."
   Alice said: "Party?"
   Isabella said: "You are going there to see your mother."