Selina jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice. She whirled to see Gracie, standing with a white apron tied around her waist and a feather duster in her hand. Selina had sought a room at the front of the house to watch Arthur’s departure unobserved, she had not checked if anyone else was in the room. It was a large room with a cold, white marble fireplace at one end, and decorated with wallpaper depicting trailing flowers in reds and yellows. The furniture was covered with dust sheets, though Selina could now see that Gracie was removing those sheets and dusting the furniture beneath.
“Gracie! You scared me half to death!” Selina cried, a hand to her throat.
“I am sorry, my lady. Didn’t realize that you hadn’t seen me,” Gracie said, curtsying deeply, her face flushing bright red.
Selina crossed the room to her, putting her hands on the young woman’s shoulders.
“Never mind. It was entirely my fault. I have a favor to ask, now that I think on it. You used to call me Miss Voss when we first got to know each other. My name is actually Selina, and I should deem it a great favor if you called me by that name, at least when we’re alone together.”
Gracie’s blush deepened. “Oh, I couldn’t…”
“Yes, you could. It would put me at ease to know that I have at least one friend in this house. Please?”
The smile that blossomed across Gracie’s round face was heartfelt and happy. She bobbed her head, her brown curls held back by a headscarf.
“In that case, it is my duty to my mistress. Mr. Beveridge told me this morning that I am to be your personal maid. If you and His Grace approve, of course. That’s why I’m beginning to put this room into order. It was one of the Duchess’ day rooms apparently.”
“Well, I should be glad to have you as my maid, Gracie. I should certainly need a friend and confidante, I think,” Selina said.
She felt sad that she might be gone before the wedding. That Gracie’s excitement at being her lady’s maid, surely a promotion for the woman, might be short-lived. But then, she had not made up her mind. Arthur was arranging for a wedding at his own cost. It would be rude to simply run away.
And what if my father then finds me? I have nowhere else to go, after all. I could find my grandmother’s old cottage outside of Wilmington. If it was not sold, it has probably stood empty since she passed away.
Then, something that Gracie had said struck home.
“Apparently?” Selina repeated, “You mean you don’t remember if it was used by the former Duchess?”
“It was before my time, Selina,” Gracie replied, sounding as though she were trying the name on for size, unused to being given such freedom.
Of course. Rather obvious if I had stopped to think about it.
“Before everyone’s time really. I don’t think any of the current household staff were here before His Grace inherited. Mr. Beveridge has served him longest. Perhaps he was here under the old Duke,” Gracie continued, resuming her dusting.
Selina frowned. “That seems unusual. The staff in my father’s house have served more than one generation of our family. The only ones who haven’t, were those who were the children of those staff that married. My father always took inordinate pride in the fact that so few of his household wanted to leave his employ.”
“Sounds like a good employer, if you ask me. Still, His Grace is very fair and very generous. I couldn’t ask for better.”
“My father was not a good employer. I do not know why our staff did not leave him…” she paused to think, “…yes, I do. They were afraid of him. We all were. But why would every member of staff leave after the old Duke died? Did they dislike Arthur?”
Gracie shrugged. “No one has ever told me or spoken of it in my hearing. Mr. Beveridge doesn’t like it to be spoken of. Says His Grace does not like to dwell on the past.”
That certainly fits my experience of Arthur. I wonder why?
Selina felt muddled, her thoughts confused. She had felt as though Arthur was pulling away from her. Now, she questioned the man himself. His behavior was odd. The reluctance to speak to her of their times together and the mass exodus of all the staff that had served the old Duke. She had no explanation and felt as though each line of thought was becoming tangled with all the others, leaving an indecipherable mess. The beginnings of a headache were beginning to gnaw at her, and she knew of only one solution.
“Gracie, I am going to go out for a walk. Reacquaint myself with the countryside and the Downs,” she announced.
“Very good, my…Selina,” Gracie blushed again over her slip, “would you like me to accompany you.”
“No, no. I can see that you’re busy and don’t want you to fall behind. I shall enjoy the solitude for a time. So much has happened these past few days.”
Gracie smiled and bobbed a quick curtsy. Selina left her to her chores, returning to her chambers to dress appropriately. Then she left the Castle. She left via the south entrance, walking through the overgrown gardens, mossy statuary, and dry fountains, towards the hills that glowered over the structure. There was a blue sky all around her with fluffy conglomerations of cloud scudding along, pushed by a stiff breeze.
It tugged at the bonnet that Selina wore, tied beneath her chin by a yellow ribbon. The coolness of it was bracing and she enjoyed the feel of cold air contrasting with warm, July sun. She followed a path of bare earth, followed by a lane almost overgrown by grass, which wound into the hills. Finally, she struck out over a bare hillside meadow, clambering over a dry-stone wall and taking occasional rest on a mossy boulder.
The clouds slowly thickened in the air overhead, gradually obscuring more and more of the blue sky, darkening in color. She noticed the turning of the weather as she reached the eaves of a wood that cleaved to the sides of a narrow valley. She paused as the first fat drops of rain began to fall. Looking back, she could no longer see Valebridge. It was lost in the landscape. Quickly, a few drops became a torrent.
I will be returning to Valebridge in the same manner that I arrived. Like a drowned rat. I should have been paying more attention instead of trying to remember how to find the Fairy Dell.
