Sins of a Shaker Summer Read Free

tired. Normally Charlotte had them rest awhile in midafternoon, sometimes for several hours, on these steamy summer days.
    Rose climbed the staircase to Charlotte’s second-floor retiring room and knocked gently. After a second, louder knock, a groggy voice beckoned her in.
    Charlotte slumped in a ladder-back chair at her small pine desk. A geography book and some notes were spread open in front of her. She had removed her white cap, and her short, dark blond hair fell forward over her face. A crease across her forehead revealed that her study session had turned into a nap.
    â€œOh, Rose,” she said, with a self-conscious laugh. “The girls are resting, and I thought I’d get a head start on my teaching for the fall. But I must have fallen asleep. I’m so sorry. This heat . . .”
    Rose laughed, too—a welcome moment of release. “I believe I speak for Mother Ann and all Believers,” she said, “when I assure you that you are forgiven.”
    Charlotte grinned as she ran her fingers through her tousled hair and pushed it back into her cap, which she tied at the nape of her neck.
    â€œWhat is it? What has happened?” she asked as Rose’s smile dissolved.
    â€œNora and Betsy sneaked out of their rooms.”
    â€œThose two! This isn’t the first time, you know. I’ll give them a good talking-to, you can count on that.” Charlotte stood and shook out her wrinkled dress.
    â€œI fear it might be some time before you’ll be able tohave that talk. They’ve gotten into something and made themselves ill.”
    â€œOh dear. Very ill?”
    â€œI’m afraid so.”
    â€œIt’s my fault,” Charlotte said, dropping back in her chair. “I should have known; I should have watched more carefully. Are they going to be all right?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œDear God.”
    â€œIndeed. Charlotte, I need to know what those girls might have touched or eaten. You said they’ve sneaked off before. Do you have any idea where they’ve gone?”
    â€œNay, I’ve never been able to catch them at it, the clever little creatures.” Charlotte’s stern tone held a hint of admiration. “Each time they’ve ‘just been to the bathroom’ or ‘down in the kitchen,’ and I haven’t been able to disprove it. But it’s always the two of them at the same time, so I know they’re up to something.”
    The hall telephone jangled, and Rose heard a young voice answer.
    â€œAre the children finished with their naps?” Rose asked Charlotte.
    â€œYea, it sounds as if they’re up and about.”
    â€œThen let’s ask them if they know anything about Nora and Betsy’s adventures, shall we?”
    As Rose turned to the door, a girl of about seven, clutching a corncob doll, peeked inside. “Sister Charlotte? Sister Josie says to tell Eldress to get back over to the Infirmary right away.” She smiled shyly at Rose.
    â€œThank you, Marjorie. Did she say why?” Charlotte asked.
    The girl shook her head. “Nay, I think it was a secret.”
    â€œWhy do you think that?”
    â€œBecause she was whispering.”
    Leaving Charlotte to question the children about Nora and Betsy, Rose rushed back to the Infirmary. As shecrossed the central path, Elder Wilhelm’s muscular body and shock of white hair disappeared through the Infirmary door. She felt her jaw tighten as she wondered how Wilhelm would turn this tragedy into a criticism of her competence as eldress. He hoped to replace her with someone who thought as he did—someone who would support his efforts to take the Society back to the early nineteenth century, when novitiates signed the covenant and crowded into dwelling houses as fast as the brethren could build them. It was because of Wilhelm that North Homage Believers wore traditional dress, which other Shaker villages had modernized or