The Vault

3.

Cobwebs covered Alice's apron as she tiptoed as high as she could from the slim perch of a chair. Stretching her arm out, she just about managed to swipe away the pesky cobwebs that clung on to the corner of the living room ceiling.

"Great, now just to clean that ugly chandelier," she thought to herself.

Alice collected the thick grey cobwebs and threw them in a dustpan, she then emptied the dustpan into a large rubbish sack, and threw it over her shoulder.

With a huff, she chucked it on a pile of similar sacks, which were full of all the junk that had been left inside the house.

Abraham was supposed to then dispose of the collection, but unsurprisingly, like most things he promised, he had not got round to it yet.

Wiping her hands together with a small amount of pride in her hard work, Alice placed them on her hips and looked out at the array of trees that surrounded the house.

"I suppose this isn't such an ugly place after all," she thought, before a voice from behind her startled her.

"Hello." The unknown voice said.

Alice leapt around in surprise. In front of her, was a young looking girl, maybe only one or two years younger than herself, who was dressed in cheap, mucky clothing, and on top of her brown hair was a small white bonnet hat. Despite her slovenly exterior, she had a natural beauty about her, but it was nearly lost amongst the look of poverty.

"You startled me," Alice replied in her well-spoken tone. "Who are you?"

"My name is Mildred Elm, I live in the small house near the stables outside the woods, my Mother told me that Templeton Manor had new owners, but I had to see it to believe it." It was clear she was doing her best to sound polite, and from the sound of her accent, she was not used to being around the upper class such as Alice.

"Oh right, well yes, my father and I have recently moved here."

"And is it true he is a successful writer?" Mildred continued with an inquisitive look.

Alice nodded.

"Then you must be a rather wealthy bunch, perhaps the most wealthy these parts have ever seen around here."

"I wouldn't know, my father's finances are his own interest. I don't plan on being her very long, I'm only supporting him through the move," Alice said rather annoyed. She hated when people were only interested in her for information about her father.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry, it's just not often I get to meet such well-to-do folk," Mildred replied humbly, lowering her head to apologise.

Alice shook her head, "Don't let that change anything between us, my name is Alice," she said regally, offering out her hand to greet Mildred.

She shook it rather limply.

"I have to tend to some chores inside." Alice continued.

"Could I be of any help?" Mildred replied eagerly.

"Well, it's mostly cleaning out this filthy greenhouse, I'm sure you wouldn't be interested, it's not very girly."

"I'd love to help. I have tended to all my own chores, so I have nothing better to do. That's why I came up here in the first place, my parents insisted I didn't show my face, but my curiosity got the better of me."

Alice smiled back at her. "Sure, if you would like to help, then why not?"

A throbbing in the back of Abraham's skull forced him to clamber up out of bed. The day was drawing late but he had been asleep through most of it as he looked out over the messy gardens beneath his high up window. The sun had lowered in the slightly greying sky and it looked as if the day had been quite pleasant in comparison to recent weather. He let out a small, depressing sigh.

Hunting inside the pantry, Abraham realised food was getting sparse, and that he had been letting another responsibility slip during his lethargic last week or so. He buttered some slightly stale bread and opened up another bottle of whisky to wash it down with. His eyebrow raised when from somewhere in the living room, he heard his daughter laugh.

Leaning inside the entrance to the greenhouse, a small, cheery smile came across his face as he watched his daughter and Mildred natter away while gardening. It was the first time in a while that his face had seen a smile, and it revealed a handsomeness about him.

"I thought you hated gardening," he interrupted.

"Oh, Father..." Alice startled up, rubbing the mud off her gloves and throwing some weeds into another nearly full sack of waste.

For a small, unexplainable moment, he saw his wife there in his daughter, she had been an enthusiastic gardener, and it filled him with great pride that his daughter was growing to be a similarly talented and upstanding woman. The small moment only lasted a fraction of time, but for that tiny second, it felt as if he had thoughts that lasted a lifetime.

"Let me introduce Mildred Elm, she is, well I guess she is our neighbour," Alice said while gesturing to the poorly dressed young girl.

Snapping out of his emotional reminiscing, Abraham looked over at his daughters new friend. He was an old fashioned man, raised by the upper class to continue the upper class, and he could barely hide his slight annoyance that inside his home was this dirty little urchin, but his daughter had always possessed this modern way of thinking, and despite his disdain for it, he loved her, and did his best to accept it.

"Nice to meet you," he said bluntly.

"It's an honour, Mr Ecklesbury," Mildred said, straightening out her apron but inadvertently dirtying it up with mud from her gloves.

Abraham looked back at his daughter, noticing, and smugly enjoying, the stark contrast between his own daughter and the peasant that stood next to her. "I shall leave you young ladies to tend the gardens from now on then, it will be nice to have it looking as regal as it no doubt once did."

He left the room and the air of formality and nobleness followed with him. Mildred let out a deep exhale of breath causing Alice to look over.

"Relax, he's not all that."

"That's easy for you to say, I've never been face to face with a real nobleman before," Mildred replied, looking slightly flustered.

"If you ask me..." Alice said looking out towards the entrance to the living room, then back at Mildred with a cheeky grin, "They're all a bunch of ponces," she said bravely, albeit with a slight whisper on the last part, in case her dad was still around the corner.

Mildred gasped in shock, before smiling back just as cheekily. "You can't say that!" She whispered back excitedly.

"I can, and one time I even said it to a friend of my father's. I wasn't allowed out my room for a week!"

Mildred's eyes widened with bewilderment. "My father would never let me talk to a man in such a way!" She whispered back. "Although if I was honest, should I be so lucky to talk to such noblemen like your father and his circle, I would act with as much serenity as I possibly could in the hope that one would ask me to be his wife," she said looking a little embarrassed at the thought of such a thing.

"They wouldn't do such a thing... For the most part, the ones I have met are pigs, and only interested in one thing." Alice responded, rather angrily and stabbing at an irresponsive weed with her trowel. She looked over at her friend, who looked a little disappointed. "Although I'm sure you would make a wonderful wife," she continued, noticing her feelings, and doing her best to cheer her up.

Mildred smiled back with a blush, revealing her innocent beauty that was trapped beneath the dirty exterior society had forced her to be imprisoned in.