Page 20 of The Silent Songbird

Evangeline gave her a tremulous smile. Her kindness made tears sting her eyes.

“My name is Nicola, in case you don’t remember. And that is Sabina, Cecily, and Berta.” She pointed to each girl as she said her name.

Evangeline nodded to show she understood.

“I saw Reeve Folsham a few minutes ago walking back out to the field, and he didn’t look hurt at all.”

Evangeline mouthed,Thank you.

Nicola smiled.

The others were silent except for the faint sounds of the pea pods being snapped open and the peas hulled, then the pods thrown into buckets at their feet.

Evangeline surreptitiously watched out of the corner of her eye as Nicola transformed a pea pod into an empty shell that she tossed into her bucket. It happened so quickly, Evangeline had no idea how she did it. She watched again, but Nicola’s fingers moved too fast.

“Eva has a friend, Mildred”—Sabina rolled her eyes toward Evangeline’s basket—“who’s helping in the house.”

The other maidens murmured awkwardly, as if unsure what cue Sabina was sending them.

“I could help you with shelling your peas. I used to be the fastest pea sheller in my household.”

While Sabina was boasting about her speed and skill, Evangeline concentrated on trying to break the side of the pea pod, but it wouldn’t break the way Nicola’s had. Out of frustration, she used her thumbnail and tore a hole in the pod. She tried to get the peas out but had to rip the pea pod into shreds. She ended up picking out the bits of hull and throwing them into the bucket she shared with Nicola.

“I see you’ve never shelled peas before. I’ll show you.” Sabina stepped over to Evangeline, picked up one of her pea pods, and held it out. “You hold it like this and snap off the end, like this. You hold the broken end in this hand and break it open with this thumb. You push out the peas with your thumb, then throw the pod and the end away.”

Sabina picked up another pea pod and did it again, only faster. “Can you do that?”

Evangeline gave a stiff nod. She picked up a pea pod and tried to do what Sabina had just done. Her pod was more crushed than broken, but within a few moments, she had all the peas out of the pod and into her basket.

“It just takes some practice,” Sabina said. “I’ve been shelling peas since I was five years old.”

Evangeline nodded to show she was impressed, cautiously eyeing the girl who went from mocking to helpful in less than one minute.

As they sat shelling, Cecily and Berta challenged Sabina to a competition to see who could shell the most peas. They took more pea pods into their baskets. Sabina loaded a basket with peas for herself, then cried, “Ready? Go!”

They shelled furiously, hardly talking as they kept their gazes on their laps and their peas.

A while later, with Sabina and Cecily both crowing that theywere winning, Mistress Alice strode toward them. “Girls, when you get those peas shelled, go and get your midday meal at the manor. Then help clean and get ready for the field workers to come in for their meal.”

“Are these the last of the peas?” Nicola asked.

“This will be the last big batch. Tomorrow I will only need one of you. Cecily, Sabina, what are you doing?”

“They are trying to see who is the fastest sheller,” Berta said.

“Are the ones in your baskets all that’s left?”

“Yes, Mistress Alice.”

Mistress Alice went to look over Sabina’s and Cecily’s shoulders.

“Finished!” they both screamed simultaneously.

“Who is the winner, Mistress Alice?” Berta said.

Mistress Alice picked up each basket and examined the contents. Frowning, she selected a few pieces of pea hull from Sabina’s basket and a few unshelled pea pods from Cecily’s, then said, “Cecily has more.”

Cecily laughed so loud, they must have heard her in the farthest field.