…
The first thing she saw was a thick curl of dark hair tied with a scarlet ribbon which lay atop a bundle of papers curving itself around a charm in the form of the letter ‘A’ it was of gold with some delicate engraving and punching in its design of not above two finger joints in length. Her hand shook as she reached out to pick it up. The chest was so tightly packed with papers that the velvet covering inside the lid held forevermore the denting of the charm, the ‘A’ smoothed into its plump cushioning. Elizabeth’s throat was tight as she held it in her hand. ‘A’ was obviously for Anne, so this charm had been hers. Elizabeth brought it to her lips then laid it gently aside gasping as she spied the amount of paper inside the chest. “This will be long in the reading.” she muttered in a disgusted voice of complaint waving a hand over the pile but even as she spoke her eyes were greedily glancing over the words on the top page.

The lock of hair she brought to her nose, would there be a lingering fragrance, could she sense her mother in this small remembrance; but no there was an odour of mustiness, of old paper, of dust. Sighing she laid it with the charm. “Oh, father thank you.” she whispered. These small objects were more to her than any jewels could ever be.

With a mix of resignation, excitement and much curiosity Elizabeth settled herself more comfortably to consider her father’s supposed defence. ‘Twill I dare say fill an hour or two,’ she thought trying to hide, even from herself, her eagerness to begin now that the first step had been taken.

She shuffled her behind in the chair sticking out her right foot to rest on the under strut of the desk while her left was tucked back beneath the seat. Then leaning her left elbow on the chair arm she took some strands of hair in hand to suck on, as was her way since a child whenever she set herself to study the written word, and so supporting her tilted head with the cupped hand, she entered onto the mind and memories of her father.

…..

(that is all of the first part now, I don’t know if I will be online tomorrow but I will put up more over the weekend)