The Jealous Pomeroy Sister

Another family legend is about the Pomeroy sisters. Here is the story, as it was told to me by my grandmother:

Margaret was known as the smart one. Of average height and pretty in a common way with her dark hair, she was her father’s favorite and after her mother died, the bossy one of the castle. Her sister Eleanor was 2 years younger, with a sweet disposition and tender heart. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence.

When anyone compared the two sisters, Margaret was always referred to as the one who was plain-faced. She pretended she did not hear the comments but they dug at her heart. She wanted to be the prettiest, smartest and the one in charge. For her younger sister to steal any of that attention bothered her to no end.

As the sisters grew up high above the moors, the Pomeroy castle and deer park surrounding it were their playground.

One day Margaret was visiting the kitchens, having heard her nurse (or as called today nanny) scolding the cook for making the stew too hot. Margaret at age 12, saw how the castle was run and knew she one day would be the one setting the servants right. Her father by this time had become sickly in his old age, as he had his children at age 40. And now in his mid 50’s, he didn’t have time for the managing of the castle or his daughter’s shenanigans. He left most of the caring of the girls to nurse or whose name was actually Catherine. She was fairly short, thin with a pretty face and full hair.

Catherine tried to take a motherly role with them, but Margaret never liked her. Because of this, Nurse would make Margaret the brunt of her anger, by paddling her for the slightest infraction. Margaret knew her father would never stand up for her, and she seethed in humiliation and embarrassment. Strangely though, Eleanor never got the same beatings. Instead, Nurse treated Eleanor like a china doll. The nurse was the only mother Eleanor had ever known, as Eleanor was the reason her mother died in childbirth.

Margaret would make many trips to the wishing tree without Eleanor. Because what she wished for most of all was for Catherine to go away. Catherine who did not believe women should read books or be educated was a hindrance to Margaret’s future. The nurse had beat her for years and…