Poor Brigid! Her face was smeared in liquid earth, and her almost new dress looked as if several buckets of cow dung had been poured on it. The girl's hair was smeared with mud, and her palms and nails were black. She looked so pitiful that if her father had passed by, he would not have recognised his own daughter.
– I'm sorry… I'm sorry! – Alienor managed to hold back her laughter and, dashing like a young deer across a puddle, the girl rushed to her friend's aid. However, her efforts were unsuccessful: Brigid's face remained black and her dress was dirty.
– How embarrassing I am… Mother of God, what will Mother say when she sees me like this? – Brigid wailed, but immediately burst out laughing: 'She says William Tury is coming to the castle today! He will ask for my hand in marriage! Imagine his eyes when I enter the hall!
– He won't see you, silly girl! We'll take you through the kitchen! – Alienor declared firmly and took her friend's dirty palm in her own, not squeamish about it, but wanting to show her sisterly affection. – Run!
– Run! – Brigid responded, gripping Alienor's palm tightly.
The girls ran as fast as if they were not young misses, but a pair of roe deer. They skipped nimbly across the puddle, reached the small forest surrounding the Norton family castle, owned by Alienor's father, the king's counsellor Jacob Norton, and rushed laughingly to the back door leading to the great kitchen.
– Mother of God! Miss Brigid, is that you? – screamed one of the maids, slicing into thin slices the meat of a roast tender pig.
– I fell to the ground! – shouted the girl cheerfully to her. – Don't tell your mother!
– Your mother is looking for you everywhere! – The servant girl said grudgingly. Like all the servants of the castle, she treated the friend of her masters' daughter as her own sister, remembering of course that she was far above them in rank. – And you, Miss Alienor, your father is looking for you! – she added, and pointed the tip of her long, broad knife at the door leading out of the kitchen. – Get out of here before they see you here! And even looking like that!
– We're leaving! Don't be so angry! – Alienor laughed and, pulling Brigid with her, headed for the low wooden door leading to the servants' staircase, hidden from the eyes of hosts and guests.