The tremendous crash of a pan dropped spread quickly through the kitchens, and then screams started. Evelyn had just come out into the hall when she heard it. She hurried more rapidly, and the end of her long dress swept across the stone floor as she went towards it, her heart in dread. The kitchens were rarely ever so noisy and messy, and she knew even before she opened the door that something completely dreadful had occurred.
As she crossed the threshold, she stood there rigid at what was before her. One of the young servant girls was on the floor, bent up, her white hands gripping her belly, and she was struggling in tiny, spasmodic breaths. Another servant was kneeling beside her, crying for someone to get and help, and the rest of them stood there in a terrified half-circle, looking at the doorway as if help would somehow appear there.
