An Illicit Romance

The Journey

 Copyright © 2011 by Mimi Greene. All rights reserved.

 The Journey.

Rose's POV

“Wake up, servants!”

A deafening voice woke me up. I sleepily opened my eyes to see the driver of the carriage ringing a bell to wake everyone up. I looked around. All the girls were being woken up and some were in a state of confusion. One girl had been crying almost throughout the whole journey. I looked down at Lily. She was still sleeping. I shook Lily’s shoulders. If she was caught still snoozing, who knows what would happen?

“Lily! Get up! We have to go!”

She waved my hand away. “Already?” she said sleepily.

“Yes, already! Now get up the driver’s coming this way.” She immediately sat up.

Lily and I were on our way to the North of England for work. It had been a hard and long journey from home but it was somehow worth it. The hardest thing was leaving my mother behind. I thought about where she was and whether or not she was okay, or still alive.

“D’you think we’ll get a good place this time?” Lily whispered.

“I hope so.” I whispered back.

The driver of the carriage handed each group of servants a card with some details on it. He was coming our way.

“You’ll be working here. Can you read that?” The pompous man pointed to the letters on the card. Lily scowled at him. I lightly nudged her.

“Yes I can read it.” I said. I’d been looked down at too many times to argue and I’d gotten used to it. Lily, on the other hand, was slightly quicker to anger.

“Read it.”

“Cheshire.” I said looking straight at him.

“Hmm.” Was all he managed to say and carried on to the next group.

“Can you believe him? He’s lucky I don’t have a potential weapon, or I would’ve-“

“Lily, you’re not killing anyone. Yes he’s an idiot but let’s just leave it okay?”

She turned away. The man walked past me and gave me a disgusted look. It was as if he was angry at me for my ability to read. I didn’t bother saying anything. He’d been that way for the whole journey, ever since he discovered my ability to write my own name.

I sighed. The ignorance of some people still astounded me.

The carriage stopped and the doors flew open, letting in a cold flood of air. Lily looked confused. “What does he expect us to do, walk?” She went to talk to the driver. “Excuse me, I-“

“Do not touch me! It’s bad enough I’ve been stuck with your kind for hours but now you must make it worse by touching my clothes? What is it you want?”

Lily paused. I watched as she clenched her fists. I knew she wanted to hit him.

“Where do we go now?” she said almost inaudibly.

“What do you think, nigger? Look at the address on the card and go to it! What? You don’t understand?” He started making motions with his hands. “Loook on caarrd…and folllloow addresss? Unnnnderrrstaannd?” He spoke slowly.

I quickly pulled Lily back to my side knowing she’d do something dangerous.

“Relax, let’s just find out where this is and we’ll be there any seconds.” I said to her, attempting to calm her down. She wasn’t looking at me and I could tell something was wrong.

The place was further than I thought. It was cold, raining and anyone we asked for help just laughed at us and carried on their way. Lily was still silent.

“Lily? Come on, you haven’t spoken to me since we left. What’s wrong?” I turned her to face me.

“Nothing. I’m cold, hungry and tired, that’s all.”

I wasn’t convinced but she had a point. We hadn’t eaten in almost two days and the rain was getting heavier. I looked at the card. The ink was smudged and I could only make out a few words. I looked around. I hadn’t even been bothered to check if we were going the right way.

A mansion stood a few metres from us. We were almost there.

“Lily! I see it! C’mon hurry up!” I began running. “Rose! Wait!” I heard her running after me. The golden title ‘Harrington Manor’ were melted into a metal gate. I didn’t know whether to go in or not but I opened it slowly in case. Just then, a woman came running after us. She was dressed in a black dress with a frilly white apron and a matching headband. She was also black, although her skin was a lighter shade. She must’ve been a maid.



“Where have you two been? Lady Harrington was expecting you hours ago!”

“We…were…l..lost. S..sorry.” I was shivering from the cold.

“Come quick.” She led us inside the gate.

I couldn’t help but feel fascinated of the countryside. It was beautiful. I had never seen any place like this. The garden seemed to get bigger as we walked. Lily looked just as surprised as I did. I spotted another six girls lined up against a fence. They were being inspected by another woman. She was tall, old and thin. She dressed very elegantly, even in the cold and wet weather. The maid brought us before the woman. She looked at us up and down because of our appearance, no doubt.

“Apologies, I’ve just found them, Duchess.” The maid looked down as she spoke.

“Do you care to explain to me why you are late for inspection?” She spoke as if she was of high importance, and judging by her appearance, she probably was. You could tell she was a knockout when she was younger, with her high cheekbones and bright blue eyes. Her brown hair was neatly wrapped into a bun. Of course royals have to look the part.

“Apologies,” I began, speaking in the way the maid did. Even Lily looked at me funny. “We were lost and the carriage only brought us half-“

“That’s enough. No excuses. You were needed hours ago.” She looked at her nails, clearly uninterested in what I had to say. “Line up with the others.”

We did as we were told. I looked at the other six girls. They dressed similar to us, minus the wet clothes. They were all different shades of brown. Some darker than others, some lighter than others. They were probably our age, no older than 17. The old woman, who was probably Lady Harrington, examined each girl. She paused when she came to us. I knew she noticed the wet clothes. She sniffed a few times. I felt an uncomfortable feeling of embarrassment. I hadn’t had a proper bath in days and the damp smell from the rain wasn’t helping.

The Duchess said something to the maid that I couldn’t quite hear.

“I’m worried.” I whispered to Lily.

“Don’t be, we’ll be fine.” She whispered back.

The maid walked towards us. “You four come with me.” She led me, Lily and two other girls to the house. The other four stayed in the gardens. I hoped we didn't get ourselves into any trouble.