"I've invented a new game" Sybil happily announced to Edith as the pair walked outside their grand house into the warm summer sunshine.

"I thought we were going to play hopscotch" Edith protested. Hopscotch was her favorite outdoor game and probably the only outdoor activity she was good at.

"I just think we should do something new" Sybil retorted. Although if she were honest she'd admit she was tired of losing to Edith who at nine was much more skillful at hopscotch.

Edith as was her wont played the game with a poise and steadiness that her younger sister hadn't yet mastered. Five year old Sybil was too enthusiastic and energetic in her movements as evidenced by her throwing the stone too far or hopping so fast she'd touch the lines, something that Edith was only too happy to point out, or in her haste hopping on one leg falling down something the much more coordinated Edith never did.

Edith looked back and forth between her sister and the ground with her panic growing each time her eyes settled on the spot on the ground Sybil had marked. Sybil had displayed no qualms when she had stood here in this same spot where Edith now stood but then of course Sybil never displayed any signs of fear or doubts. It was a trait that Edith wished she had.

"Edith are you going to jump or not?" Sybil stood there with her hands on her hips as if daring her sister to jump. "If not I win!" Sybil clapped her hands in glee as she smiled broadly and jumped up and down.

Edith took a deep breath, she was older, she was taller, the jump should be easier for her than her little sister or so she told herself. And if Sybil could do then certainly she could to it.

"Edith … Edith" Sybil cried as she knelt beside her sister who was rolling on the ground moaning in pain.

Sybil gently rubbed Edith's back. "Where does it hurt?"

Edith, tears now falling down her cheeks, replied "my foot … my ankle. I … I … guess … I …" she stammered between sobs "I landed wrong."

Sybil immediately turned her eyes towards Edith's stocking covered ankles. "I don't see any blood or bone" she announced although she wasn't sure what bone would look like. Nor for that matter was she sure blood would seep through Edith's knee high white stockings which were now torn in several places.

"Maybe you just" she wrinkled her forehead in deep thought "just need a minute to rest."

Sybil laid down beside Edith, her hand still gently rubbing Edith's back. From this angle she looked up and realized how far they had jumped.

Despite Edith continuing to moan Sybil asked "Are you feeling better?"

"Noooo" Edith moaned while tears continued to run down her face.

Sybil sat up. "I guess I better go get help." She gave one last pat to Edith. "I'll be right back."

While the gardening staff often saw the young Crawley girls in the gardens, both Lady Mary and Lady Edith seemed to have favorite places to sit although never together with one preferring the Monks Garden while the other the rose garden, it was little Lady Sybil that roamed through all the various gardens. Unlike her older sisters who usually sat with their nose in a book, Lady Sybil would often stand beside one of the gardeners while they worked asking them questions about the various plants.

Her favorite gardener was Joe Hanson who had worked in these gardens since the current Earl was just a boy. Joe enjoyed the company of the littlest Crawley as he found her a breath of fresh air from the stuffiness he came to associate with the rest of the Crawleys. On more than one occasion he had been stumped by a question from Lady Sybil, why aren't there any gray or black flowers, why do flowers change color, why are these flowers so tall, or amused at her observations or opinions.

And now she was giving him her opinion on what would make her sister feel better. She had cornered him in the cutting garden where he was tending to the small border roses that lined one of the stone walkways.

"I need something very pretty because that will make Edith feel so much better." Sybil looked around the garden trying to decide which flowers she wanted for her bouquet.

Spying the deep purple allium, Sybil broke out in a smile. "Edith loves purple so maybe a bouquet of purple flowers."

"Oh Carson carried Edith down to Mama's sitting room" Mary huffily replied to Sybil's inquiry concerning Edith's whereabouts. "She's certainly playing this for all she can. I mean her ankle was barely swollen. I couldn't even tell which ankle was the hurt one."

Sybil shook her head. "Mary it looked very swollen and she seemed in so much pain."

"Maybe you just don't realize that Edith has very thick ankles."

It was then that Mary noticed Sybil was clutching a paper wrapping that held the small bouquet of purple flowers nestled in a bed of greenery with a scattering of a few white flowers, just to make the purple so much brighter.

Nodding at Sybil's bouquet she continued "well she's certainly enjoying all the attention."

Looking at Edith who sat slouched on the lounge chair with her swollen foot propped up on a footstool, Sybil again felt a pang of guilt. "Does it still hurt?"

Edith shrugged her thin shoulders. "Not as much. Dr. Clarkson gave me something for the pain. But he said I had to stay off my foot for several days."

Edith looked over to the vase containing the bouquet Sybil had brought her. "The flowers really are very pretty Sybil. I love purple flowers."

Sybil, looking pleased with herself, smiled for the first time. "That's why I chose them. To make you feel better."

Then her smile disappeared just as suddenly as it had come. "Why did you tell Papa that you tripped? Why didn't you tell Papa what really happened? Sybil whispered to Edith.

Edith smiled wanly at her little sister. "He'd be mad at me for jumping like that."

"But Edith we were playing a game and I jumped too."

"Oh Sybil you know how Papa is. He'd say it was stupid to play such a game. He'd say I deserved getting hurt for doing something so foolish."

Edith then pulled her slight frame up straight in the chair. Imitating their father's voice she huffed "Really Edith if your sister jumped off the barn roof would you follow?"

Both girls rolled over in peals of laughter.