Robert stopped short as he entered the library as the sight of a small figure sitting at his desk took him by surprise. It was only as he narrowed his eyes to peer more closely at the figure that he realized it was his youngest daughter. Although it had been three or four days, he still wasn't used to seeing her with the short blunt haircut that fell just below her chin instead of the long braid that fell half way down her back. Her hair hadn't been this short since she was probably three years old and according to the nanny she was lucky to have been able to salvage this much.

His desk was solely his domain and although he had never expressly stated so no one else was ever known to sit there. Yet there Sybil sat in his chair seemingly in deep concentration with her ankles crossed and her feet a good fix or six inches from touching the floor, her left arm bent at the elbow and supporting her head while she slowly and meticulously wrote with one of his silver plated ink pens.

He watched, first in puzzlement and then in amusement, as Sybil stopped her writing, rifled through a very large book taking up a corner of the desk stopping two or three times to pour over a page, before utter "oh shoot!" She looked back down at the paper she was writing on, took the pen and scribbled over something she had written. Sighing she looked up from her work and towards the window as if seeing something outside might give her inspiration.

"What are you so busy working on?" Robert asked as he walked towards his desk.

Continuing to stare out the window she answered bluntly "I'm writing to Grandmama."

"Grandmama! Golly!" Robert's curiosity was even more peaked now since the few times Sybil had written to her grandmother in New York were thank notes which had been short and to the point such as 'thank you for the whatever and I'm having such fun playing with it'. Certainly nothing to cause such concentration and thought as Sybil was now exhibiting nor, he suddenly thought, had they received any recent packages from Martha.

"And what's brought this on?"

"I'm asking her to send me a ticket for the soonest ship so I can visit her."

Her comment caused Robert to quirk his eyebrow as he stared at her. "You're asking her for a ticket for passage to New York?" he asked incredulously.

Without turning to look at him, Sybil bobbed her head up and down in reply.

"Whatever for?" Robert was trying to grapple with this.

Sybil turned towards her father and looked at him as if he were dense. "I don't have the money for such a thing."

"I mean why do you want to go to New York?"

"I simply must get away." Sybil dramatically responded in a tone and manner that would have done her sister Mary proud.

Robert would have laughed if Sybil didn't have such an earnest look on her face.

"You must get away?

Once again Sybil nodded. "And I thought that Grandmama is probably lonely in that big flat all by herself and maybe she" Robert couldn't help but notice how Sybil emphasized the word she "would enjoy my company."

"Why must you get away?" Robert was totally baffled as to why his eight year old daughter felt she 'must simply get away'.

Sybil sighed as she turned once more to face the window. It had been one of the worst weeks in her life. Running one hand through her now short hair she was reminded of just one of the fiascoes that had dominated the past week. While she would own up to her own hand in that matter most of the other incidents hadn't really been her fault. Well maybe the one with the torn dress and stockings but even that wasn't really her fault since she hadn't intended for the ball to get stuck up in that tree. She might have been able to cover that up, hidden the dress and thrown away the stockings, if that horrible O'brien hadn't spied her on the servants staircase and promptly reported her disheveled state to Mama.

But everything else hadn't really been her fault although she of course had been blamed. How was she to know that those women were having tea with her mother in the morning room or that Pharaoh would come bounding into the room after her? Really if those women hadn't panicked Pharaoh wouldn't have done all that jumping. In the ensuing melee, Mrs. Aulton knocked over a lamp, another woman knocked over the chair causing Mrs. Pellon to fall on the floor. Pharaoh probably thought she was playing a game just like she probably thought that ridiculous hat Mrs. Pellon was wearing was a squirrel or some other small game. Yet somehow all that was considered Sybil's fault.

It was bad enough that she then had to spend the rest of the day in the nursery but it was one of those days that Mary and Edith were going at each other like two caged tigers all day until she had had it with them. She could probably have gotten away with the yelling at them but throwing that book at them was, according to Miss Harding the current governess, totally unacceptable behavior for a young lady.

Then of course just yesterday was the incident with the cake. How was she to know that the lovely cake displayed on the table in the library wasn't for tea? She hadn't been sure of the time but she was too hungry to wait for everyone else to assemble for tea.

There were a few more incidents, very minor issues Sybil thought, that weren't even worth mentioning but had caused scenes with Mama, the governess and her new nanny. Mary, sporting a big bruise on her cheek where the corner of the book had landed, had rebuffed Sybil's attempts to apologize. She hadn't meant to hurt anyone, she had just wanted them to stop their constant bickering and throwing the book was done without thinking but her apology was met with stony silence . With Edith still angry at her for ruining her new hat, how couldn't Edith realize how silly she looked with that monstrosity she called a hat was beyond Sybil, it was rare that both her sisters were avoiding her.

All in all thought Sybil she needed to get away. Maybe if she was gone for a month or two …

"Sybil you haven't answered my question. Why must you get away?"

Sybil turned to face her father. "Oh Papa" she started but seeing his kind face she began to quiver as tears filled her eyes. "Everyone is so mad at me and blaming me for …" she stopped as those tears began flowing down her cheeks.

xxxxx

"You're doing what?" Cora was dumbfounded at what her husband had just said.

"I have to go to London anyway. I have that meeting tomorrow with Mur-"

"I know that … but why are you taking Sybil?"

"I just that it would be nice to-" Robert wasn't really sure how to describe what had happened. He hadn't intended to invite Sybil to London but she had looked so sad and, he realized now, he had just been caught up in the moment.

"It was either that or let your mother send her a ticket for passage to New York" he chuckled.

"WHAT?"

xxxxx

"Believe me I was just as astonished as you are when Robert told me."

Cora should have known that Violet would hear of Robert's plans so she shouldn't have been surprised when Violet walked unannounced and uninvited into Cora's sitting room the following morning.

"Carson tells me they left this morning."

"Just after breakfast." Cora smiled thinking about how excited Sybil was.

"But … but Robert will be … how will he …" It was so rare for Violet to be at a loss for words. "How will he cope?"

"You think Robert can't handle his eight year old daughter?" Cora herself had considered this but wouldn't admit it to her overbearing mother-in-law.

Violet set her tea cup a bit too quickly onto the saucer before setting both on the low table before her. "I could maybe see with Mary or Edith but our little Sybil is not like her sisters."

"Well I think that's a good thing."

Violet looked at Cora as if she had suddenly sprung two heads. "You would!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cora huffily asked, her eyes burning with indignation.

"It's just that Sybil seems to be a bit more like your side of the family" Violet breezily responded. "But then she's still quite young. Although I'm not sure how much longer we can use that as an excuse for her most unladylike behavior."

Cora rose out of her chair. It was one thing for her or Robert to criticize their daughter but for Violet …. Sybil was too rambunctious but in some ways Cora secretly like her daughter's exuberance, her cheerfulness, her endless curiosity. It was certainly so much better than the haughtiness and petty bickering so often displayed by her older daughters.

"Why shouldn't Robert spend time with his daughter?"

"My dear" Violet began in that voice dripping with condemnation "you both cater to that child too much. You're spoiling her and some day you both are going to regret that."

xxxx

It was a weary Robert that sunk into the deep pile of his seat in their first class compartment. He looked across the aisle at Sybil who sat with her face up against the railway car's window as if sitting back in her seat she might miss something exciting happening on the platform. It wasn't until the train began picking up speed as it left London's King's Cross railway station in the distance that Sybil finally sat back in her seat.

Looking at her father, her face lit up with a beaming smile. "Oh Papa I've just had the grandest time."

"It was rather fun wasn't it!" Despite his weariness Robert had to agree. It had been wonderful to take someone to the ancient exhibits at the British Museum who seemed to enjoy it was much as he did. They had spent the entire day there and her interest and energy never flagged. It amazed him that she took such joy in simple things like having an ice cream treat or browsing the trinkets in the museum's shop. He chuckled when she suggested that buying her sisters and mother some small trinkets might help mend their relationships and then watched as she carefully and thoughtfully chose presents for each of them.

The boat ride on the Thames was something he had never thought of doing before so he was surprised how much he had enjoyed that. Seeing the familiar sights of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral from the unfamiliar vantage point of the river had given him a new perspective of their grandness.

But most of all he enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of a child. Sometimes surprised, sometimes a bit taken aback, he marveled at what caught Sybil's attention.

"Yes it really was wonderful!" he smiled at his beaming daughter.