It had been a wonderful afternoon thought Sybil as she settled into her bed in the Downton nursery. Nanny had been quite content to sit and read a book while Sybil happily stood on a raft in the middle of a wild river fending off crocodiles. Well maybe she was actually standing on a rock in the middle of a not so wide stream with gently gurgling water only two or three inches deep and the only animal within sight was a tiny frog but in her imagination she was in the deep dark jungle or maybe was it the Nile in sunny Egypt. Both were places she one day hoped to visit.
"Do you ever wish you could be someplace else?" Although the lights had been extinguished she knew her sisters didn't fall asleep that fast.
Why would I ever wish I could be anywhere but Downton thought Mary. This kingdom will one day be mine. I'll go riding everyday surveying all that I own. I'll throw grand balls that everyone in society will want to attend and my dinner parties will be known not only for the find food and wine but also the witty conversation. She heard Edith cough. Of course I'll probably still be stuck with Edith but maybe I'll give her one of the little cottages, she'd probably like that.
Almost every day I wish I was somewhere else thought Edith. It would be wonderful to live in London where I could visit museums and have tea at Brown's or the Savoy. I could stroll through the wonderful gardens. Maybe I should write Aunt Rosamund and ask if I could come visit.
"Wouldn't you like to see the pie-er-mids-"
"You mean pyramids" Edith corrected her.
A muffled Sybil waved her hand in the air. "What do you think is in those pyramids" Sybil carefully pronounced. "Chests filled with gold and rubies and emeralds or swords with-"
Against her will Mary found herself saying "dead bodies."
"They're called mummies" Edith smirked.
"Whatever" Mary blithely remarked. "Why would I want to go someplace far away just to see dead bodies?"
"But there would be so much more to see Mary" Sybil answered. "And you could ride a camel" she giggled. "Wouldn't that be fun?"
"And ride across the desert with a hot blazing sun on me? No thanks."
"But if you don't want to go to Egypt how about" Sybil paused to think of somewhere else. "There are islands with beaches with golden sand and the water is so clear you can see your toes."
"We've been to the beach on Coney Island. The sand was hot and dirty and I can look at my toes anytime."
Sybil sighed. Her sisters just didn't have any imagination.
The morning sky had been a gray sheet portending the rain that was now falling heavily. "Do you ever wonder why it is when you have something planned the weather ruins it?" Mary said as thick rain drops splashed against the window driven by a brisk wind that made the tree branches dip and shake as if performing a dance. Her words were punctuated with a dramatic sigh which caught the attention of her sisters.
After a quick look at her sister, Edith did what she often did, ignoring her older sister and went back to reading her book. However a curious Sybil innocently asked "What special thing did you have planned today?"
"I was going riding" Mary replied.
"And how would that be different from any other day" Edith, maybe only pretending to read, looked up from her book and not so innocently asked.
Mary again gave another one of her deep dramatic sighs. "Today Howell was going to let me ride up to Heaven's Gate."
"Heaven's Gate!" a wide-eyed five year old Sybil cried out. "We have a gate to Heaven?"
Her bubbly excitement caused Mary to turn away from the window and finally a smile wiped away that dour expression she'd had since looking out at the rain.
"No silly" Mary laughed. "It's just the name of one of those …" she paused trying to think what the word was … what did Granny call them … but the word failed to materialize in her brain. "It's like that temple out there" she turned to point at Jackdaws Castle which wasn't quite visible through the pouring rain.
"Folly" Edith piped up sounding quite superior that she knew something Mary didn't. "Granny says they're called a folly" her words punctuated with a smirk.
Sybil, in her five year old wisdom, knew she had to direct the conversation in another way before war broke out once again between her sisters.
"But Mary wouldn't it be boring if the weather was the same every day?" Sybil sweetly remarked. "Think of how excited we get when it snows" a far too rare occurrence as far as she was concerned.
"Says the girl who wants to eat ice cream every day."
Sybil's eyes grew wide once again. "But Mary there's so many kinds of ice cream." She rose from her chair and trotted over to the window to stand next to Mary. "Maybe Mary you could say the weather is just like ice cream. Often it's vanilla but sometimes it's strawberry and sometimes it chocolate and sometimes it's …" her little brows furrowed as if in deep concentration.
"Think of how delightful peachy ice cream is on a warm summer day." She turned and looking up at her oldest sister giving her a wide broad smile. "It would be boring to have the same weather every day just like it would be rather boring to have vanilla ice cream every day."
"Sybil's right. It's nice to have different kinds of weather. On a stormy day it's nice to sit in the library by the fire and read a book or when it's chilly to wrap up with a scarf and go out and pick apples."
Beaming Sybil vigorously nodded her head but Mary wasn't convinced, at least not today when she had her heart set on riding alone up to Heaven's Gate or in her mind riding alone but Howell would stay discretely a distance away watching in case he was needed. "I don't recall you being so thrilled when it rained and we missed the Howard's garden party" she glared at Edith.
"But a garden party doesn't happen often. You can go riding any day" Edith sharply retorted.
Once again Sybil tried to head off another fight. "Maybe you could go riding in the rain Mary. It would let nature give Dobbin a bath." She tugged on Mary's sleeve. "Do horses get baths?"
"Do you every wonder why the sky is blue?"
As so often happened on their almost daily walks Sybil suddenly stopped walking when something caught her interest. It was one of those glorious summer mornings with a cloudless blue sky, warm sun, and a light breeze.
"Can't say that I do" responded her papa.
"Well think about how dull it would be if it were brown or if it was yellow we couldn't see the sun or if it was white which would also be quite dull and we couldn't see the clouds." Sybil sounded quite serious as if she had given this quite some thought.
"If the sky was white then maybe the clouds would be blue." Robert tried sounding as serious as his daughter.
"But then the sky would be very dull on days there were no clouds" Sybil replied. "No I think blue is the right choice."
Robert chuckled. "Well I'm glad you're happy about that."
"Papa did you know we have a Heaven's Gate but it doesn't really led into heaven."
"Golly!" Robert replied. "I think I did know that."
"Well why was it named Heaven's Gate if it doesn't led into heaven?"
"I guess … well" as so often he was when talking to his daughters, especially his youngest one, Robert was flummoxed.
He looked down at Sybil when the idea came to him. Lifting her up he couldn't help but say "you're almost too big for me to pick up-"
"Ice cream" Sybil replied.
"What?" now Robert was even more bewildered.
"Mary says I eat too much ice cream."
Robert laughed.
"But I really like ice cream Papa." Her big blue eyes were almost level with his and while his eyes were twinkling with delight Sybil's were much more somber. "Maybe I could give up asparagus and spinach and then I could have ice cream."
"Well let's not worry about that right now." Carrying her he walked to a spot from which they could see in the distance the brick arched folly.
"There" he pointed to the folly "that's Heaven's Gate. I guess the builder thought since it was at the top of a hill it was like an entrance to heaven."
"Could we walk up there one day?"
"It's a long walk but I guess we could try." He looked at her and chuckled. "We'd walk off a lot of ice cream."