Ms. Dixon looks at me.
"So, are you staying or not?" she asks. I wait a long moment, thinking over everything in my head.
"I should be leaving, I do not want to disturb the peace here." I answer. "If that is alright."
"It's alright. But before you go Mr. Teller wanted me to give you something." She walks straight past me and down the stairs, I follow her straight into the study.
"This is one of his books, he said that this one would interest you more than the ones that he has been having you read." she says. "That and he wont be needing it anymore." She hands me a thick book. There is no tittle on the binding or the cover.
"Do not open it now, Mr. Teller gave me certain instruction that you must not open it until a year from now." she goes over to the desk and writes something down. She takes the paper and hands it to me.
"May tenth of next year." she says. "When you open it hopefully the contents will be all there for you."
"I do not understand."
"That is all that Mr. Teller told me and that is all I know about the book." she says. She wipes her hands on the apron around her thick waist.
"You may return whenever you like, just be sure to let us have a notice if you are bringing more than your family." Ms. Dixon nods. "Shall I see you out?"
"No, I can go myself." I answer. "Thank you Ms. Dixon." I takes the book with me, taking my coat and hat. The walk home is long and grey, clouds have already covered up the warm sunlight and show a promise of a storm brewing. I reach home just before it starts raining. My mother and Fanny are sitting in the drawing room, Fanny humming and my mother sewing at a cloth. When I enter the room they both look up.
"Is everything alright with Ms. Teller and her father?"
"Ms. Teller had a fainting spell just before I left, her father is well." I do not know whether it is my place to say that he is blind or not.
"Is she alright?" my mother asks. It's a little odd that my mother would care for Ms. Teller, only because she has never really cared for the family.
"She is well as far as I know. She is resting now but I do not know whether she will be well again tomorrow."
"Is it only that fat maid there-" Fanny begins to say.
"Her name is Ms. Dixon." I interrupt Fanny. "Ms. Dixon is caring for the both of them. By my eyes she seems capable of taking care of them both."
"Maybe we should send one of our own maids to help Ms. Dixon." my mother suggest. "To ease the stress until Ms. Teller and her father are well again."
"I don't know if that would be proper." Fanny says. "Besides, as John has said, they seem capable of taking care of themselves just fine."
"We all must rest now. John, you have that inspection from the other mills tomorrow. You need your rest as much as any of us." Fanny reminds me. I ignore her and go into the study, removing my coat and hat and sitting at my desk and beginning to work on papers.
The book Ms. Dixon gave me sits at the corner of my desk, the paper telling me the date to open it on top in fine ink. I wonder what it is that's inside. It could be anything really, from a book he wrote, maybe a diary or journal, could me anything. But it causes my mind to wander into deep thought, with my eyes growing heavy and stiff. I could sleep, maybe a little.
YOU ARE READING
North & South (A Fanfiction)
عاطفيةJohn Thornton. He was tall. Handsome for his age and was not the one for a real social conversation. A wealthy cotton mill owner in the north. Madeline Teller. She was young, beautiful and yet head strong. A clergyman's daughter from the south. When...
