The Abandoned Lady

Chapter 10- the meeting

The breakfast was amazing. There was nothing like a good English breakfast: bacon, sausages, eggs and toast with a lovely cup of tea. Oscar sat at the head of the table, languidly enjoying his breakfast and gazing outside the large window which gave him the perfect view of the gardens and the lush green fields. He hadn't had such a great breakfast in Warrington House since he was a child. At least some improvements had been made in his absence, well some was an understatement. After he had finally finished, Oscar thought it was time to explore the rest of the House and discover what else had been done to it.

He had enjoyed strolling around the quiet house and the servants seemed to have disappeared. The library had gone through a significant amount of change. Many books had been replaced and all the shelves were now stacked, filled to the brim with books and novels. He couldn't blame Lady Pierce for that, she had to do something to revive her boredom with, especially since she had secluded herself away from society. The funniest thing was that there were locks on literally all the doors and two rooms had been locked, which not even Harry had the keys to -Lady Pierce's room which was adjacent to his room, along with another room at the end of the house which used to be used as his old school room. What was inside, he was extremely curious to know, but the servants had no answer. Only Lady Pierce entered it and her maid cleaned it.

Having finished his jaywalking, Oscar ended up at the hallway again. All of a sudden, the door bell went off as he heard horses come to a halt. Harry was nowhere in sight and after a few rings, Oscar slowly tried to open the heavy door. He never realised how heavy it was, Harry must be a strong man having done it all these years.

'My Lord, allow me' Harry said rushing in.

'No, it's ok, I've got it under control.' Oscar said, his voice straining. Harry nodded trying to hide a smile.

'There, you see, I've done it' Oscar said triumphantly. Harry nodded and his eyes kept indicating towards the opened door. Oscar reading his message abruptly turned around to see the most stunning deep blue eyes staring right at him as he stared at her, baffled by her radiant beauty. Oscar gulped and she quickly diverted her eyes to the floor. 

'Are you going to let me in?' The women's sweet angelic voice asked quietly.

Oscar cleared his throat. 'Yes, of course' he said stepping back, completely in awe of the richly dressed, fine lady as she carefully stepped passed him, allowing him to smell the scent of mixed summer berries which he accumulated from her.

'Sorry, Harry I took so long, I just got caught up with something. Is it ok if I have lunch a little later than the usual time? I'm feeling rather full at the moment.' She said slipping her cream gloves off and handing it to her maid behind her with her long slender fingers, completely ignoring Oscar. Didn't Oscar understand why the woman was acting as if she owned the House?

She walked up the stairs, quickly with her back straight, like a proper Lady.

'Excuse me, Miss, may I ask whom you are?' Oscar couldn't help but blurt out. Harry muttered something under his breath, which Oscar couldn't understand, but  nevertheless sounded negative.

The women froze on the stairs and slowly turned so that her body was turned  towards Oscar, with a neutral expression on her face, her cream dress flowing beneath her.

'Who do you think I am, Lord Pierce?' she said with a challenging voice, her shaped right eye-brown raised.

'Erm...well...erm' Oscar stammered to find a reply and stopped. 'How do you know who I am?'

The women shook her head slowly and climbed the stairs.

'Harry, please have my lunch sent up to me.' She said without glancing back.

Silence surrounded Oscar as he watched her disappearing from sight. Finally, he gathered himself. Suddenly, it seemed that the hallway was bustling with servants and as he glanced around at them, they quickly scurried away muttering amongst themselves almost in disbelief.

'How could he have not recognized her, his own-' the maid caught his eye which caused her to become mute and rush away.

'No, it can't be...' Oscar whispered to himself. Finally, the unbelievable realisation  sunk in- that women was Lady Pierce -his own wife.