The Painting

Each spring a band of gypsies set up camp on the outskirts of the Farthing Manor estate. Every year, on her birthday, Lizbeth Farthington, daughter of the manor, visited the gypsy camp with her beloved Nana.

On her 12th birthday, Lizbeth went to the gypsy camp for the last time, because the next day Nana was turned out of the manor, and was replaced by a governess, Miss Plimsol. Before she left the gypsies that day, Lizbeth was allowed to select a gift from the old gypsy, Gizelda. Lizbeth chose a painting of a beautiful, warm cottage – a place she longed to call home, instead of the massive, cold, bleak, Farthing Manor.

Over the next several years, whenever Lizbeth was feeling sad or lonely, she would lose herself in the comforting ambiance of her painting.