It had been almost a year since her last visit to the beach... a place that always made her feel happy to be when she was home to do so. She gladly made the long, slow walk and climb to the beach where she stood watching the waves lapping at her bare toes. The wet sand was therapeutic after spending the day listening to her older sisters bemoan things... The eldest, of course, being so very haughty whilst the second bemoaned her fate as a jilted bride...

The sound of the sea that pulsed against the sand was like listening to the whispers of a would be lover, a hero in a penny dreadful, in fact. Peeeeaaarl.... Peeeeeearl... sang the made up man, caressing at her ears with the barest of touches. A sigh escaped her lips and she closed her eyes.

Anyone that happened upon her would see a well dressed young lady with her stockings and shoes sitting nearby, clad in a white and butter yellow skirt and a blouse, hat settled pertly upon the masses of dark brown that matched big brown eyes. She wasn't a classical beauty, but she was pretty. There was a blanket folded over one arm.