Mr. Dale and the earl looked at each other and burst out laughing. "What a strange girl she is! How many of the servants even know who Sophocles was, do you think, James, let alone have an opinion as to his scholarly abilities?" the earl asked curiously.
"I doubt if any of them would know, my lord," admitted James. "I wonder why she contents herself with digging in your gardens and dusting your shelves when she could be a teacher or governess somewhere. I find I am dashed curious about her background."
"As am I, James. However, only time will tell if the evasive Emily will ever admit her secrets. But she is certainly right about one thing, let us get on with the work for the day. We have much to do."
Both men had to put considerable effort into focusing on their work that day. Philip suspected they both had a delightful image of the smiling, beautiful, and seemingly quite intelligent young maid seared into their minds and it took a determined amount of diligence to get past that image and settle down to their paperwork.
~~~~
Philip walked up the creaky stairs to the attic, wondering what Emily was doing up there. As he reached the top step, he heard her call out, "Good day, my lord!" Her face lit up with a smile that made his heart flutter. She was standing on a rickety old chair, and he couldn't help but feel concerned for her safety."Whatever are you doing up here in the attic, my lord? You are going to get yourself dirty!" she chided him, just before she sneezed from the cloud of dust she had disturbed.
"Emily, get down from there this instant! Why, pray tell, is it that I am forever finding you in some death-defying position? I happen to own the place. I might ask whatever areyoudoing up here?" Philip was merely teasing but he was delighted to watch the bright blush steal up into Emily's cheeks as she struggled to pull a crate down off the high shelf she was reaching for.
"My lord, I assure you, I am supposed to be up here," she began earnestly but he could see amusement in her eyes. "But I'm sure you knew that, didn't you?" she continued with a bit more spirit as she stuck her tongue out at him cheekily. "If you must know, I was told by a reliable source that there is a whole trunk filled with interesting things that should be in the library. I think I had just about gotten it before I was so rudely interrupted."
Philip smiled at her cheeky attitude. "Well if you must break your neck, be sure to do it on your own time. I wouldn’t want the maids to have to clean up after you.”
Emily gasped in mock outrage and threw her rag at him as they both broke into gales of laughter. While she was still giggling, Philip reached up and grabbed her around the waist to help her down. As his hands closed warmly around her, the laughter died in her throat, and she stared at him with a solemn gaze. A long moment ticked by as Philip felt like he had fallen into a trance or some other foolish thing. He held her in mid-air as though frozen before gently setting her on the floor.
For an unguarded moment, Philip felt such a powerful attraction to the young woman that he could barely take a breath. He was surprised at the intensity of his feelings and could only stand there gazing in wonder at her. Emily cleared her throat uneasily and they each caught themselves abruptly. She stepped back as Philip dropped his hands away as though burned.
"Yes, well, thank you for your concern, milord," Emily began awkwardly. "I will just continue with my search for that trunk." And she turned her back on him abruptly, resuming her work.
After a moment of stunned disbelief, Philip commanded her harshly to get the help of one of the footmen before he turned on his heel and stalked from the room. He was at a loss to know why he was so drawn to the strange young woman. She was such a contradiction, he mused to himself. She was distractingly beautiful, and he had to struggle to keep his thoughts about her under control. And then there was her obvious intelligence; he could see that she had been educated. Her extensive knowledge continued to surprise him.The chit knows Greek philosophy!he thought in amazement.But what was she doing in my carriage dressed in rags and now dusting my shelves?he wondered distractedly. He had never taken up with any of his servants and he was surely not going to start now, but it disturbed him to be so drawn to her. As he walked back down to his library, his mind was consumed with thoughts of Emily.
~~~~
A few days had passed since Philip last saw the beautiful maid. He had tried to resist the temptation to search for her, but he again found himself wandering the vast gardens of his estate, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He finally came upon her in a back corner of the rose garden wearing the gloves and hat he had brought her weeks ago, singing a beautiful French melody in perfect pitch and accent. Although his French was far from perfect, her singing sounded flawless to him. He was captivated by her performance, taking a moment to savour the scene.
As the song ended, he began to applaud, which startled Emily. She spun around in apparent fright "Oh, you scared me, my lord!" she exclaimed, blushing as she realized he had witnessed her singing. "Were you standing there for long?" she asked, turning shy, obviously hoping he hadn’t heard her..
"Are you embarrassed, Emily? You have no need to be, let me assure you. You have a most beautiful voice."
Emily appeared delighted but bashful over the compliment and didn’t seem to have a ready answer. Before the silence became uncomfortable, Philip continued.
"Where did you learn such perfect French?" he asked, trying to find out more about her.
"Oh, here and there," she replied vaguely, returning to her weeding.
Frustrated, and refusing to be dismissed by the maid, Philip questioned her further. "Why do you never admit any information about yourself? What are you hiding? Why all the mystery, Emily? Where do you come from and why are you a servant when you have so obviously been well educated. You could hold a much higher, more comfortable position!"
Emily stiffened noticeably during his monologue. "I am perfectly comfortable just as I am, my lord. Thank you for your concern," she responded in icy, dismissive tones. The atmosphere between them, which was always running hot and cold, was decidedly cooler after this exchange. She was clearly not going to reveal anything about herself and Philip was annoyed. He was unaccustomed to being denied and wanted to know more about her.
Despite his annoyance, though, he could not ignore his steadily growing attraction to her. It was a constant source of dismay and confusion for the proud young earl. He had never been drawn to someone from the lower classes nor taken advantage of anyone in his employ, as so many of his peers were prone to do. He chuckled to himself as he walked away, thinking that maybe all this country air was addling his brain.
~~~~
As the days passed, Emily noticed that Lord Yorkleigh seemed to be "bumping" into her more often around the house. She couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement whenever he engaged her in conversation. She knew her reaction to him had to be written all over her face. However, she noticed that he would become puzzled whenever she suddenly grew nervous and excused herself. Emily couldn't help but wonder why he was taking such an interest in her.
One such example was the day Emily had been assigned by Mrs. Simms to polish the furniture in one of the bedrooms in the guest wing of the grand manor home. Due to her work in the gardens and the library, Mrs. Simms used Emily for extra projects, rather than having a regular assignment each day. On this particular day, Emily was vigorously rubbing ornate, old furniture with a special concoction Mrs. Simms had provided for her. She was proud of the gleaming mahogany that was revealed as she progressed through the room.
As Emily worked, she couldn’t help but sing as a natural extension of her sense of wellbeing. It was an old song from her days in the nursery. She never expected anyone to sing along, so she jumped a little in surprise when a deep baritone joined in with her higher notes but she quickly recovered and finished the ditty with a flourish.
Clapping with gleeful abandon, Emily grinned at the earl enchantingly. Completely forgetting the obvious differences in their stations, she looked at the earl as a friend and comported herself accordingly. "That was well done, my lord. How do you know this song? My nurse assured me it was a special song just for us," she complained teasingly, in fine fettle.
The earl merely quirked his eyebrow at Emily's reference to her nurse, and she briefly stilled, realizing she had said too much. Thankfully he didn’t comment on it, merely answering her question. "My old nurse must have been friends with your old nurse, since she told me the same thing when she sang it to me. There must be a secret nurse's code which requires them to tell their charges such tall tales," he concluded with a chuckle.
While they were talking, Philip had stepped into the room and sat upon the bed as Emily continued polishing the fireplace mantle on the other side of the room. She had grown quite accustomed to his visits and considered it to be a normal activity for her to continue working while they visited together. As she rubbed the waxy concoction into the fine wood, they companionably chatted about other songs and stories they remembered from childhood. They even sang a couple more brief nursery rhymes together.
