The terrified shriek fills the halls and both Robert and Cora leap to their feet.
They know, as parents do, that it is Sybil. Together they race towards the sound.
She is sobbing when her parents skid, panting and pale, into the kitchen.
There is an angry read welt across Sybil's palm in the shape of a panhandle and she fights her way out of Mrs. Pattmore's lap to run to her mother.
The cook makes nearly incoherent, and unnecessary, apologies, and is promptly reassured by Robert.
Quiet reigns in the usually busy kitchen as Cora gently kisses the wound.
