"Lady Alice?" Edna knocked the next day as I was still in bed reading after having breakfast in bed, "Lady Alice?""Yes Edna?"
"Are you alright in there?"
"Yes quite alright," I lied as I wrestled with everything I knew, my guilty conscience.
"Good for Lady Walker is here to see you."
"Here?"
"Yes."
"Alright," I got up from bed begrudgingly as I had planned on staying there the entire day and night.
"What will you wear?"
"Anything will do."
"As you wish," Edna closed the door and did my hair quickly to go meet my mother in law.
Lady Walker in my house it was no doubt to talk of the marriage but I wanted an explanation for the awful masquerade ball.
"Ah there you are, what took you so long?" Lady Walker asked and we both sat down.
"Forgive me but I did not receive a calling card."
"No I did not send one out but you should have sent one to me, we must talk about the Masquerade Ball."
"What must we talk about? About what I saw there? Or the fact you dispatched me to that Ball in the first place?" I went right to the point as my anger boiled to hear the answer.
"Have you finally learned to get to the point? Oh that is quite the accomplishment, but I am more interested in who you met, who you spent the night with, anyone particularly fond of your youth that could benefit my son?"
"My youth!" I was horrified for the way her mind worked, then what was I to her? Was she buying me off like a doll to do her family's bidding in the most extreme of ways?
"Well I heard the Duke gave extravagant little parties..."
"So you knew! You knew and you expected me to just go along with the hedonism of that party! You would taint the bride of your own son!"
"Men need not know the sacrifices we pay, and you have obviously never been taught the ways that a lady can gift small joys and still remain spotless for their wedding day."
"You are insane! My price is already too high and I shall not pay a dime more!" Lady Walker had not the slightest blush upon her cheek after telling me such plans, the depths of her scheming had no end and her evilness knew no boundaries.
"You will pay whatever I say is necessary, you are a pawn on a chess board and one wrong move lands on your family, remember that always."
"Now who came after you? I need names and details of the night so I will know how to proceed next," she tapped the sofa and soon I could feel Sir Holloway's proposal seem very interesting if it meant getting away from the Walkers.
YOU ARE READING
The Greatest Journey (Completed)
Historical FictionIn Victorian England slums, the oldest and quietest girl of four trying to keep a roof over her family's head accepts a job with an odd staff and mysterious employer. Until she finds out all the maids before her are dead and she must face a mystifyi...