– We need to be as quiet as mice! – Alienor whispered to her friend as they made their way up the stone staircase, which smelled damp and was covered in moss in some places. – You need to be bathed in warm water and herbs… And the dress, alas, will have to be thrown away! But don't be sad: if William Tury, that handsome man, asks for your hand, they'll make you a dozen… No, two dozen new dresses! And jewellery! They'll buy them for you, the most beautiful, the most…
– Alienor! – suddenly came a woman's voice from somewhere above. The voice, echoing off the sturdy stone walls of the rather narrow staircase, belonged to the girl's mother, Lady Francesca Norton.
– Mother! – Alienor gasped and, pressing Brigid against the wall, whispered in her ear: – 'I will go first! It is not good for my mother to see you like this! She values purity so much that she would faint at the sight of a beauty like you!
– Right, I'll wait here. Please find my mother and ask her to prepare a bucket of warm water for me. My father must not know that I have appeared in the castle black as an old homeless wanderer! – Brigid replied faintly.
– I will! Stay here for now! – Alienor let go of her friend's palm, lifted the wet hem of her dress, and hurried up to her waiting mother. – 'Mother, do not be angry! It is not my fault that it rained!
– My child, you need to change your clothes… We have been visited by titled guests! This only happens once in a lifetime, and I will not let you spoil this moment…" said the resentful Lady Norton, but soon her voice disappeared behind the door, and Brigid could not make out the last words.
"Guests! And I was so lucky to fall in the mud!" – With a mockery of herself the girl smiled. She glanced again at her dress and arms, took a deep breath, humbly accepting her awkward position, and, after waiting a little while, slowly made her way up. However, not even three steps up, Brigid heard the door at the top of the stairs open and bang loudly against the wall, the very door behind which Alienor and her mother had recently hidden, and the stairs were suddenly filled with a loud, displeased male voice.
– Now listen, Catherine: we shall stay here as long as I like! I do not wish to ride in the pouring rain! But you, if you are in such a hurry to London, you may go without me! – The voice was like a peal of thunder, and Brigid involuntarily pressed herself against the damp, cold wall.