Penelope eventually found herself walking through the estate grounds.
The weather was mild, and the gardens were quiet. A few servants were working near the flowerbeds, while the gardeners moved about with the familiar efficiency that came from years of tending the Anderson property.
She walked without any particular destination, passing the old stone fountain near the eastern garden and continued toward the line of trees that bordered the estate.
There had been a time when she could spend an entire day outside without wondering what she ought to be doing.
When she was younger, the estate had seemed enormous. Every path led somewhere worth discovering, and each trees had been large enough to hide behind. The gardens itself once seemed endless, and the fields beyond them had been a world entirely of their own.
Penelope had once believed the estate would always feel that way, and perhaps that was why walking through it now felt different.
