Archibald Manor

"If you allow me,I could tell you a tale about a stranger I met in my dungeons",Louise asks.Agatha eyes the stranger suspiciously and looks away but having nothing better to do gives in,"Very well,let's hear it then,make it quick"she replies with a faint smile."Just last night after father had had the maiden put out all the candles and torches in the Manor,I got bored and slightly restless ,so I got off to some exploring",Louise says matter of-factly."Exploring?,a boy of your age and exploring?",Agatha says suppressing a smile."That's child's play",she scoffs."I wouldn't bother with it if I were you"she says decidedly in a superior like toned up voice."Would you shut up,I never asked for your opinion",Louise says annoyed."Why even bother telling me then?",Agatha replies.All goes quite then,resulting in an awkward silence filling the moving train cabin.The rainforest filtered sunshine floods the cabin,making Agathas light brown eyes appear a light hazel,she fumbles in her bag looking for her novel as an excuse to appear busy.Louise leaves the cabin all together and finds another cabin to sit.Agatha looks up as Louise leaves."What an awkward fellow",she thinks to her self."Whoever explores their own home,and a Manor,that attitude goes to show all I need to know,filthy rich spoiled young lad,I absolutely despise the type",she thinks to herself shuddering as she tries to get lost in her book,but oddly enough can't seem to do just that."Why,the works of Jane Austin,and I,being the selfish git I am",she thinks disappointed in herself."I'm a disrespect to her work,don't I find it interesting enough,what is it?".She finds her mind wandering off,so she closes her book and puts it away,her mind can't stop thinking about the queer story,and the stranger,a stranger in ones dungeon?,how queer,how very queer indeed.
The train screeched to a halt at a tiny train station that consisted of a mere bench and a tuc shop,near a small town.Agatha took her bag and made to leave the cabin,while she was walking through the train corridor she tried to peek into one of the cabins to get another look at the young lad whom she had talked too,but he was nowhere to be seen.
She reached the exiting door of the train disappointed to not have found the boy,she had intended to find him and apologize for her rather rude remark,not because she was sorry,but because she needed to know the rest of the story,it had been sitting in her mind ever since and she had never been more curious about someone else's affairs ever more than this.She wasn't the type of person to go nosing around in other peoples business but this story ,because of its rather queer context got lucky.She hopped of the train on the dry dusky pavement as the train doors were closing and sat down on the hot benches in the train shelters.She stared down at her thick hooded cloak , her knee length tartan dress,her white thick stockings and her ankle lace up boots inlined with fur.She regretted wearing these ridiculously inappropriate articles of clothing more than ever as the blazing hot sun shined on her ,scorching her face."Whatever made me think that this was a sensible outfit for the journey back to work at the old mansion ",she thought angrily.She took her hooded cloak off in fury and threw it beside her on the bench.Her plain brown hair fell loosely over her shoulder,which had always been known to drive her mad so thankfully she had the mind to bring along a ribbon.She aggressively tied her hair in a French braid and waited for the carriage that would take her through the Moors.She rested her head on the back of the bench,bored out of her mind.She then thought about a whole number of things ,she wouldn't never have even dreamt of thinking if it hadn't been for this state of sheer boredom."Having read all the works of Jane Austin ,Edgar Allan Poe and many more,I should just about be a knowledgeable person,just like the Archibald sisters who live in the mansion,who go to school",Agatha wonders in deep thought.She then pictures herself in one of the great libraries in the hundred roomed mansion she works at,sitting in the midst of a ginormous pile of books,all the best works of all the best writers."I would have been a very sensible and proper girl if it hadn't been for father,that hateful mumbling cove!,I do very much think he's a bad influence and so are all my siblings,all six of them",she thinks disdainfully."I expect they are going to follow in that mumbling coves footsteps,and I would be of the very last people one would expect to do so,I can't picture my self as it and I'm glad I can't,never will I extend my hand to the seemingly welcoming light of begging,degrading is what it is ,and nor will I scavenge the trash bins of London for food,I shall work here at the Manor-house to earn and eat as the respectful young woman I am",Agatha thinks to herself with great pride and satisfaction as she falls asleep.
She wakes up to dark greyish black clouds looming overhead,and a strong cold wind blowing,tipping trash cans over and making stray newspapers soar through the sky,the carriage can be seen getting ready to leave the station without her.Agatha panics and stuffs her hooded cloak into her bag and runs over to the carriage yelling"Oi there!,mister!,would you please let me on,I !,I dozed off!",she yells breathlessly.The carriage stops and lets Agatha on,Agatha stops screaming and sits down at the very back feeling a bit embarrassed.The carriage soars through the cold misty dark moors,the cold fresh moor air whips Agathas face and brushes it's fingers through her hair,her braid comes on loose,and strands of hair wildly fling around.Her hands start to turn blue and her nose turns red in spite of the cold,Agatha takes out her hooded cloak and wears it pulling the hood all the way over face."Why this makes me feel like one of those hedge creepers in the back streets of London,on a cold shady night",Agatha thinks to herself amused,but quickly removes the hood of her face as that very thought occurs,certainly not wanting to be mistaken as hedge creeper.
Chapter 2#
Archibald Manor,a lonesome beauty.A sight to look at and not be disappointed,no sensible person would ever agree with me for the sight in question is utterly intimidating,with its tall impressive grey stone structure and high turrets.A singular glance at it would give one goosebumps down their spine and it would feel as if the mere sight could swallow you in whole.An eerie feeling,not quite a pleasant one,but this charmer of a sight does not have to oblige every other person."I believe it has a sad beauty to it",Agatha would often say and so it does.The sight is surrounded by the cold dark misty moors like a rafting boat in the midst of the Atlantic.
Agatha steps down from the carriage and prepares to enter the Manor,she grabs her bag and goes in through the tall wooden grand doors and into the main lobby which has a cold cobblestone floor and huge gold chandeliers on the ceilings ,each at a small distance from the other.A royal red carpet sits in the midst of the lobby,the lobby being the size it is gives off an overwhelming feeling,this is by far the nicest place in the whole of the Manor,all the other parts of the Manor are dark cold corridors with portraits of fat woman or knights,and empty locked bedrooms that haven't been used in at least a hundred years.Disease and illness crawl through the tall empty corridors of the Manor and sit there patiently waiting in the nooks and crannies of the rooms waiting for someone to contract them and die a miserable death.Agatha looks at the state of the Manor and her eyes fill tears"Bettering this miserable dump is going to take me years,I would rather clock myself in the head with a billy club",she wails stomping up the dusty dark staircases up to the very top of the Manor where Mr Archibald had been kind enough to lend her a room,but she forgets her misery as soon as she looks at the warm bed and a fire place."A fire place,for Agatha,why I'm really going up in the world ,aren't l?",she whispers overcome with happiness.Agatha jumps onto the bed then suddenly remembers her dirty shoes which she takes off in a hurry disappointed in herself."I behave like a mumbling cove ,a mumbling cove that received a decent bed for the one very rare time in their life",Agatha thinks to herself in disbelief."I'm a proper sensible young woman and I refuse to appear as a mumbling cove ,I'm not one aren't l?,well when the thought of father and Eugene and Elvin and Andrew and Augustus and Robert and James it's obvious almost ,I'm not a mumbling cove for I don't sleep on a smelly mattress in a small dirty room in the backstreets of London",Agatha thinks to her self determinedly.
"Oi you in there?",a voice with a very British accent floods her room leaving eerie echoes bouncing off the four walls.Agatha quickly gets up and smartens her hair and dress up by running her hands through it before opening the door to the sight of a thin surly looking woman."You came",she says tonelessly."Well yes...was I not supposed too",she asks confused."Took you long enough",the thin woman replies ignoring Agatha ."The names Bertha ,I work down by the kitchens on the third floor in the West wing if you need me,the reason I'm here is to tell you that Mr Archibalds family is coming to live here ,all the way from the city,so you best make sure that their bedrooms are well and proper,and you must wait on them on all given occasions as long as they are here"Bertha recites from a piece of parchment in her hands."I hope you see to your task well",she finishes with a faint smile before leaving.