make it more comfortable."

"aye," murie said weakly.

"i am sorry," gatty said with a sigh. " 'tis a poor homecoming to be sure, but with so few of us left, we are kept running from morning till night and simply did not have the time to - "

"nay, of course not," murie interrupted, straightening her shoulders. " 'tis fine. if you would send cecily up and have someone bring along my chests, she and i can set to work preparing it for the night."

"i could help," gatty offered.

murie shook her head. "i have taken enough of your time. you go about whatever you would normally be doing. we shall tend this."

nodding, the woman turned and left the room, and murie spun in a slow circle, her eyes roving over everything as she tried to decide where to start.

the bedcurtains were the biggest eyesore; not just dirty, but ragged. in the end it was those she decided to tackle first. hitching up her skirt, she marched across the room to the side of the bed, grabbed two handfuls and gave a firm tug. the next moment she was bent over, coughing up the dust and debris that had billowed around her in a gray brown cloud from the musty old cloth.

finally able to catch her breath, she waved her hand in front of her face to displace the remaining dust cloud and peered up at what she'd achieved. her shoulders slumped as she saw that the cloth was so fragile that it had torn away where she'd grasped it and no higher.

murie glared at the results, then squared her shoulders and clambered onto the top corner of the bed.

clinging to the post there, she reached up to grab the cloth as near to the frame as possible, having to stretch up on to her tiptoes to manage the task.

"oh! my lady! what are you doing? get down! you shall hurt yourself!"

murie glanced down with surprise to find cecily had arrived. her maid was looking absolutely frantic as she rushed across the room to her side.

"i am just going to pull down these curtains. i thought if we remove them and remake the bed with fresh linens, it would do for the night." she reached up again, tugging at the cloth, adding,

"i wish we could change the rushes as well, but that is not possible at this hour. those shall have to wait until the morrow."

"my lady, this is ..."

murie glanced down again to see the maid staring around the room in horror. sighing, she turned back to give the cloth another tug.

"it is rather awful, but - aiyeee!" murie squealed as the cloth suddenly tugged free and she lost her balance, falling back on the bed. a cloud of dust immediately rose up to envelope her, and then murie gasped in alarm as the bed itself suddenly collapsed beneath her, crashing to the floor.