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The Silver Heiress Sarah Winn 314
Martha looked up from her darning, obviously surprised.
"Do they make the nighttime look just like daylight?" Bessie asked.
"Nothing but the sun can do that," her father said.
Victoria hadn't thought he was listening to their conversation. "Sometimes at theaters with
marquees all lit up and street lights on, it's almost as bright as day."
"Your grandparents entered this country at New York City," Ralph said to his children.
Cindy crawled into his lap and turned her attention to Victoria with the rest of the family.
Victoria realized they just wanted to hear about places and things they'd never seen, and stopped
worrying about offending them with her affluent background. Ralph's remark about his immigrant
parents reminded her of the Statue of Lady Liberty being erected on Bedloe's Island in the New York
harbor.
She told them it was a gift from the French people and how her Uncle Ambrose took parties out
on his yacht to observe the huge scaffold needed to lift the heavy copper sections. When finished,
the Lady would hold a giant torch above her head to welcome immigrants to the country.
The Silver Heiress Sarah Winn 315
Victoria grew a little sad as she told them of the great celebration planned for the statue's
dedication. She had hoped to see that herself before her father ordered her to come back to the
West.
Ralph finally rose from his chair and carried the nodding Cindy to her bed. Martha put her
darning away and gave her children knowing nods, signaling bed time.
Victoria shared a bed with Bessie. She didn't mind that until a whining Cindy climbed in with
them, saying she was afraid to sleep on the pallet that had been prepared for her. Little knees or
elbows jabbing into her back awakened Victoria several times during the night.
Martha and Ralph rose with the sun, and roused the rest of the household. Bessie and Cindy
promptly got into a loud squabble over the way Bessie combed her younger sister's hair. Victoria
tried to soothe Cindy and found the comb thrust into her own hand.
Fortunately, plaiting a roommate's hair had been a common practice at school, so Victoria
attacked this task confidently. As she worked, she became increasingly aware of the shy admiration
both girls held for her. Was this what it would have been like if she'd had younger sisters?
The Silver Heiress Sarah Winn 316
In the kitchen, Martha assigned Victoria the task of turning the bacon. As Martha prepared the
rest of the meal, she shouted answers to her sons and husband about what they should wear and
where to find it. She also checked over Victoria's shoulder and told her how to move the frying pan
around on the stove top to control its temperature. Victoria feared the bacon had gotten too brown,
but to her relief, the family ate it with their usual gusto.
After breakfast, Victoria and Bessie again washed the dishes. Then they made beds and cleaned
the bedrooms. Victoria almost rebelled when it came time to clean out chamber pots, but she
couldn't bring herself to refuse to do something that twelve-year-old Bessie obviously did routinely.
She spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen watching Martha's quick movements.
Fortunately, Victoria had brought her stationery case with her, and she began to write down some of
the methods and recipes that flowed throughout Martha's chatter. Unfortunately, Martha had
learned to cook by her mother's side and through years of experience so she lacked exact amounts.
The recipe for sourdough biscuits read, "A palm-sized ball of starter, a pinch of salt, sugar, and
soda, a dollop of lard, and three handfuls of flour."
The operation of a wood stove generated such a maze of instructions that Victoria doubted
she'd ever learn them all. She wrote a full page on where the hot spots and cool spots on top of the
The Silver Heiress Sarah Winn 317
stove were, how much wood to put in the fire box and when to replenish it, how long to pre-heat the
oven, and how often to turn baking goods so that they'd brown evenly.
Her admiration for Martha grew.
If Victoria found the art of cooking fascinating, some of the other chores she had to do in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]