Mrs. Sexton stood at the kitchen window to watch them after she gave us our breakfast. She had prepared sweet cakes for us with warm butter and berry preserves. Himself had been so delighted that he had made his pirate kiss her wrinkled cheek. I had left Alma Augusta in the bedroom. She looked beautiful now in her red chintz, with her fair hair coiled up in a bun; before breakfast, I had warmed her scalp over a candle and fastened on the little wig. Then I had propped her in the chair by the fire rather than bring her on my dangerous quest. Himself and his pirate saw eye to eye, but Alma Augusta and I were different. She was a lady now, and I didn’t want to spoil her pretty dress. “Let’s play hide-and-seek,” I told Himself. “You hide first.” I did not find him during our first several trials, for he was good at hiding and I was not seeking him. Our game gave me a pretext to roam about the house and look for the way into the courtyard. One by one, I examined the back walls of each wing, wandering the dim passages and holding up a candle to study them closely.
