it was small , with flowered wallpaper , and sparsely furnished-a plain deal table with a white lace cloth over it where she ate her meals ; the narrow brass bed where she slept ; the cracked washstand and porcelain jug for her ablutions ; the windowsill where she stacked her books , and the small chair where she sat each night and wrote letters to her brother-letters she knew she could never send , letters she kept hidden under her mattress where the dark sisters would not find them .