Proserpina

I relinquished my children to the maids with some hesitation; I had never done this before. They had always been with me or somewhere close by.

But this evening they seemed exhausted and were too tired to create a fuss. Piers was already dozing by the time I had finished supervising the arrangement of their rather limited number of clothes. Seeing that they were washed and changed, I turned to leave.

I realized that I was drained, and after gulping down a cup of ...