A Season to Be Sinful Read Free

said to him. You cannot deny it, for I understand it is also your opinion that she is an abomination.
    This time the Reverend Mother could not mask her surprise. Her nostrils flared with her sharp intake of air, and her regard for Mary Joseph was stern. Still, it was with a mixture of tenderness and resignation that she asked, What has Lilith done now?
    ***
    Lilith stared at the traveling and identification papers that Sister Mary Joseph thrust into her hands. It was after midnight, and a stub of a candle was all that illuminated Liliths cell. She had made room for Mary Joseph by sitting cross-legged at the head of her cot. Her thin cotton shift was pulled taut across her knees, and it served to catch the papers when they fell through her nerveless fingers.
    Je ne comprends pas , she said, pushing the papers off her lap and onto the cot. Her spine was no longer the curved deformity she had shown to the baron, but ramrod straight.
    Quietly, Mary Joseph whispered. And in English, please. We do not want to be overheard, but if we are, it would be better if we were not well understood.
    Lilith nodded. Everyone spoke some measure of English, but even Reverend Mother did not have the facility with the language that she and Mary Joseph enjoyed. They could speak rapidly and employ phrasing and cant that was often incomprehensible to those for whom langlais was a second language.
    But why am I being sent away? Lilith asked with all the plaintiveness of a child questioning the fairness of her punishment. I do not want to go. This is my home.
    Mary Joseph shook her head, her eyes sad but resolute. No, it is not your home. You have always chafed at the restrictions of the abbey, and you would not want to live out your life here. Some of us have spirits that are set free in the service of our Lord. The abbey does not confine us as much as it defines our work.
    But I want to serve our Savior. Unfortunately, even to Liliths ears this statement was marked by a certain defensive desperation that undermined its truthfulness. You are my family, she said, taking a different tack. You. Sister Carmel. Sister Angeline. And Sister Mary Claire. Sister Agnes.
    Mary Joseph held up one finger before Lilith named everyone who lived at the abbey as well as those who served it, from the groundskeepers to the groomsmen. Shh. I know what we mean to you because I know what you mean to us.
    In spite of the raised finger, Lilith was compelled to name one more. Even the Reverend Mother, she added quickly.
    This last elicited a gentle smile from Mary Joseph. Of course, the Reverend Mother. She loves you, dearest. We all do. She gathered the papers, squared them off so they fit neatly inside a slim leather packet, then placed the packet on Liliths lap. There is not much time, and there are many details to attend. I must have your full attention and your promise to commit what I am telling you to memory.
    Lilith was not yet prepared to listen. I do not want to go with him. He frightens me. I saw how you looked at him. It was the same.
    Mary Joseph did not deny Liliths observation, only her assumption. I am not here to arrange your departure with the baron. Is that what you have thought all this time? No, dont answer. I can see that it is. When he returns in the morning, it is my hope that you will be gone. That is important, for I am unsure that once you are in his company you will be able to get away. We are fortunate, indeed, that Reverend Mother insisted that you remain here this evening to make your farewells. More fortunate still that his lordship acquiesced.
    This confused Lilith. She could not be certain what Sister Mary Joseph was telling her. Was she suggesting that the Reverend Mother had given her tacit approval to some alternate plan, or that they were about to take advantage of her kindness? The farewells, for all that they had been appreciated, had also been difficult. Lilith knew that with the exception of a few of the sillier girls, no one was truly