‘Miss Hetty! Miss! You must wake up!’
It was getting dark, Etta realised; she must have been asleep for hours.
‘You’ve been missed! You must come inside straight away!’
Bessie managed to hustle Etta indoors without any fuss, squirrelling her earth-stained dress and petticoat away somewhere. She couldn’t really believe that she would get into trouble just for reading outside, but Nanny, caught halfway through packing for her new abode in the village, was quite miffed.
‘You can’t go running off out of sight, Hetty dear. Not if you’re to go to London.’ She patted Etta’s arm placatingly. ‘Now don’t be cross with me. I haven’t told your mother and father. Just try and do us proud.’
It was hard to be cross with Nanny when the older woman looked at her with such pride and love. Besides, she might not have any of the pressures of 2023, but there were rules all the same. Ones she’d have to follow if she wanted to be part of life here in 1817.
The bracelet felt heavy around her wrist. She’d give London a try before making any rash decisions.
As Etta got ready for bed, she heard Bessie come in from her little room next door.
‘We’re all packed for London now, miss.’
‘Etta! Call me Etta, please, Bessie!’
‘I can’t, miss. It wouldn’t be right. Anyway, Miss Hetty warned me about this, but it hardly made any sense at the time. You’re really not her, are you? Even Miss Hetty would never go off and sleep on the lawn!’
Bessie was staring at her, desperate for answers that Etta couldn’t give. She looked scared.
‘No,’ Etta said truthfully. ‘I am not her and I don’t have a clue what’s happened. I come from another place altogether, another time.’
‘Another time, miss?’
‘The future, I suppose. One moment I was on the— sorry, just going about my day – and the next moment I was here.’
Bessie leaned back slightly, looking surprisingly mollified. ‘You – she – warned me this might happen, miss, but I really didn’t understand. I thought maybe she was as mad as everyone said.’
Etta smoothed the blankets down either side of her. ‘Tell me, what was Hetty like?’
‘Well … quiet, miss. Her ladyship thought that if she brought me here from London as a lady’s maid perhaps Miss Hetty would … perk up a little. It didn’t work, but … well, the pay is good and I like it here.’
‘Sounds like we’re going back to London for a while, though? You gonna be all right?’
‘Oh yes, miss. Much of the household staff is coming, including … well, everyone important.’
Etta watched Bessie blush as she retreated to her room.There was clearly a story there, and one she would deeply enjoy teasing out of Bessie.
Only a few days ago, Etta had felt like she had nothing and nobody. Today all her stresses and responsibilities were melting away. No rent, no bills, no 9-to-5 job. All she had to do was wear nice clothes and try to fit in. She decided to enjoy it as long as it lasted. After all, didn’t people always say a change was as good as a rest?
Chapter 13
2023
It turned out that in 2023, one’s doctor didn’t ride over on his horse within the day: one had to rise early, enquire as to the doctor’s availability, and then visit the doctor’s own residence. Not only that, but either the doctor would then be available that very same day or not at all for several weeks.
While they all waited to discover which of those options it would be, Aggie and Jemima had put her on a bright red bus, given her a colourful map, the small glossy black rectangle, and left her to her own devices for the morning.
A man in an amusing hat had told stories about London as she and the other passengers on the roaring, smelly contraption had been driven around the bustling streets. He had looked at her with increasing bemusement as she went round a second, then a third time.
Finally she alighted outside Buckingham Palace and made her way towards Hyde Park. This at least felt familiar. Grass was always grass, and pigeons were always pigeons.
She sat on a bench and poked at the shiny black thing in her hand until it lit up, scaring her enough to make her dropit. Thankfully it fell onto the grass and remained intact. After that, Aggie had somehow appeared to collect her, clutching two paper cups full of hot coffee. Apparently the shiny black thing could also tell people where she was. Quite miraculous.
Hetty had sworn she’d never see a doctor again after all those she’d seen in her childhood. She’d been poked and prodded, offered all kinds of potions and lotions (many of which had made her very seriously ill) and had, at one particularly low point, been given daily ice baths. Nothing had helped. Especially not the leeches.
