Victorian Girl

Chapter 1: Emma

(Each chapter is from William or Emma's point of view, in the chapter heading it says who the chapter is about.)

I wake up to the birds chirping, the hustle and bustle of outside. I get up from the bed and put my hair into a nice tight bun. I pull on my black dress and tie my apron around my waist. I quickly go downstairs to the kitchen to prepare my Madam's tea, I make it every morning.

I probably should introduce myself my name is Emma. I have been a maid my whole life since I was 15. That was when my Madam took me in to help her out with maintaining her house. I have never worked for anyone else, my Madam has always treated me nicely.

She taught me how to read and write when I was younger. I was born in a village near the coast but I never knew who my parents were they abandoned me when I was a baby. Well enough about me, I will continue my story of how my life changed for the good.

I quickly make the fire in the stove so I can get the water boiling for the tea. Getting out my little recipe book. I make some bread rolls and I stick them in the oven. The water starts to whistle so I take it off the stove. Putting it in the yellow teapot and mixing up the tea leaves to get the tea nice and strong. I check on the bread and see that it is rising the way it should, smiling to myself happy with my work.

Going to the back door I pick a couple daisy's that were blooming. Putting them in the vase on the tray Madam loves having fresh flowers on her tray. I check the bread and I see that it's down so I take it out of the oven, cutting it up. I plate everything and carefully pick up the tray going upstairs into my Madam's room I set the tray down.

"Good morning, Madam," I say softly.

"Morning Emma, that smells really wonderful," Madam says giving me a small smile as she sits up to receive her meal.

I set the tray over her lap and let her dig in as I go over, opening the curtains to her room to let the sunshine in.

"Today looks like a beautiful day," I say softly, looking at the cloudy blue sky and seeing the red birds playing in the trees.

"It does, thank you Emma for breakfast," Madam says while she sips her tea.

"It's my pleasure, Miss," I say softly, and after she is done I grab the tray carrying it back down to the kitchen as I clean up the mess that I had made. After cleaning up I find the Madam in the sitting room reading a book. I go to the dining room, to shine and polish up the silver. In the middle of cleaning the silver, I hear a knock on the door.

I wonder who that could be. 'Madam didn't have any visitors for today', I think to myself. I go to the door and I push the door open when I hear a cry. Gasping as I see a gentleman on the ground holding his face as his hat goes flying.

"I'm so sorry," I say softly helping him back up and when I look at him he just stares at me.

I see his hat start to fly, "Sir your hat, never mind I got it," I quickly go down the stairs and I grab his hat before it goes further down the street. Walking back up the stairs to him I hold the hat out for him and he is still just staring at me.

"Emma, who is at the door?" I hear Madam say from inside the house.

That's when he finally says something, "It's William White, Mrs. Brown, your old student," he says. I take his coat from him and I hang it up. Then quickly go fetch some tea for them. After I fetch the tea, I walk into the sitting room and see them in a warm conversation about when she used to teach.

While I get the tea ready for them, I can feel Mr. White's eyes on me as I stir the tea. I suddenly get these intense butterflies in my stomach, I take deep breaths to get them to go away. I walk over and set the tray on the coffee table, then I stand in the corner of the room to give them space while they talk, so if Mrs. Brown needed me for anything.

They talk for a couple of hours and I look around at the pictures on the wall of the sitting room. I see a picture of the young Mr. White from when Madam was teaching him when he was younger. I smile to myself, 'he was so cute when he was younger', I think to myself.

I suddenly hear my name and I see Mr. White and Madam looking at me, I blush. "Yes, Madam," I say softly looking at her and not at Mr. White so my blush doesn't get worse.

"Will you show Mr. White out please," She asks with a smile. I nod my head and head to the door. Helping him into his jacket and I hand him his hat while trying not to make eye contact.

"It was nice to meet you, Miss Emma. I hope to see you again," he says and gives me a smile. I blush and look down. He walks out the door and I shut it behind him with a sigh as I lean against for a minute.

I head back to the sitting room and I see a glove on the chair, " He left his glove," I say and I look at the Madam.

"He was always forgetful," Mrs. Brown says shaking her head.

"Should I go after him?" I ask looking outside, kind of hoping to see him again.

"He will come back for it. I know he will remember soon that he had left it here, Emma," she says and gets up, going to her room. I smile to myself getting butterflies in my stomach again, hoping to see him really soon.