She had barely slept. Between dreams of her parents glowering at her from the pews and the memory of her new husband standing so close the day before, sleep had seemed an impossible thing.
Yet the door adjoining their chambers had remained closed.
She glanced back at that door from the window, feeling relieved that he had not come to her in the night though there was also a knot in her stomach when she thought of how they had left things the day before.
I will not have an angry life now I am wed. If I am free of Lord Wetherington, after all, then I shall make the most of it. I shall find a way to be happy.
She turned and looked out of the window again, thinking of what made her happy in this world.
She thought of Charlotte, Dorothy, and of Honora. She thought of her silhouette cutting, of how she liked to play the harp, and the duties she had done at Honora’s house. She had been very content indeed helping at Honora’s house, and now, there was a greater estate to take care of.
Smiling with the thought of being useful to her new husband and this house, she rang the bell for her maid, a new energy and enthusiasm consuming her.
Once dressed, she left the room with some paper and a pencil in her grasp and her new maid with her.
Lucy, a young and very eager girl, was such pleasant company that Frederica asked the maid to stay with her for a while.
“And how is everything downstairs?” Frederica asked. “Do you have everything you need?”
“Of course, My Lady,” Lucy said, brushing her red hair under her coif as she attempted to keep up with Frederica’s fast pace around the house. “It is a beautiful home.”
“Indeed, it is though a little updating is needed.” Frederica went first to the breakfast room. The wallpaper, old and peeling, needed changing. She wrote down some notes, intending to send off for samples of new colors, then appealed to Lucy for her thoughts. “What do you think of green?”
“Green?” Lucy said in surprise, pinkening almost to the color of her hair. “You wish for my opinion, My Lady?”
“Of course.” Frederica’s answer made Lucy blush all the more.
“Well, I quite like green.”
“Oh, good.” Frederica nodded as she turned in a circle in thought. “Allan loves his garden, so maybe we could bring more of the outside in. Some more plants too. Now, to the music room.” With as much purpose in her stride as before, she moved on with Lucy racing to keep up again.
Frederica was in the midst of planning a new scheme for the music room when Lucy sat beside her, beaming as she looked around the room.
“I should return downstairs,” Lucy said eventually. “I will be needed to help carry up breakfast, and that spiral staircase takes a while to get up and down.” As Lucy stood, Frederica turned around in thought.
“What’s wrong with the stairs?”
“Oh, nothing, My Lady.” Lucy shook her head, suddenly looking quite abashed. “It’s perfectly serviceable.”
Not quite ready to believe this, Frederica went with her to the servants’ staircase leading from the breakfast room down to the servants’ quarters. Narrow and poky, Frederica could see at once that it would be no easy thing to carry trays up and down here.
“Show me more, Lucy, please,” Frederica asked, tucking her pencil and paper under her arm.
Lucy smiled again, looking quite delighted at having the mistress of the house come downstairs. Frederica descended, finding that yes, indeed, the staircase was too small to be of any great use without some hazard involved.
She found the kitchens alive with activity. Most of the cooks turned in alarm and one young scullery maid accidently dropped floured dough when she saw Frederica.
“My Lady.” An elderly woman, who Frederica recognized as the housekeeper, Mrs. Long, scurried forward. “Is there something wrong?” Her eyes were wide to find Frederica down there.
“I’m continuing my tour of my new home,” Frederica explained. “They are warm kitchens indeed. Everyone is working so hard.”
The cooks who had been staring at her, jaws agape, now madly returned to their work. The poor scullery maid who had dropped the dough had to start her kneading all over again.
“Well, if there’s anything you’d like to know, My Lady, you need only ask,” Mrs. Long said, sharing the same beaming smile as Lucy.
Frederica looked between them, wondering if they were mother and daughter, for they shared such a similar smile.
“It would be good to know if there’s anything you need, Mrs. Long.”
