Locked

Chapter Ten

By the end of the week, V could walk without collapsing. She would take walks alone in the extensive gardens where the cool, crisp air helped clear her head. Every day was a new corner of the gardens. Occasionally, she would encounter the old man she knew as the gardener. He obviously did not know why she was here. He told her how Will's father had employed him, and while Will had drastically downsized the staff, he had let the old man continue to tend his beloved gardens. V got the impression the old man admired Will and appreciated everything he had done for him. Her perception of him was now very skewed, but he appeared to be the same generous person he had known before.

One misty, grey morning, after V had eaten a small breakfast, she asked Mrs. Mason – whom she had assumed was the cook, where Will was.

"I haven't the faintest idea, dear. He's always leaving us in the dark. Although lately he's been spending more and more time actually performing his duties as master of this house, which is something to say as before he spent nearly all his time running 'round the streets in that blasted stealth carriage of his."

This was all V could get out of the woman as at that moment, a young kitchen girl was burning the soup.

From what she could piece together, V knew that Will was, at the very least, a nobleman by birth, and held some sort of position at court – for which he hardly ever showed up. He had no parents, though V could not fathom why, and he preferred a smaller household. He wasn't too fond of those families who enjoyed what came with being born rich. He wasn't so different from the Will

V had known before all this. He still seemed to hold the same morals as she and for that V could not hold him against being so wealthy – and lying to her.

V met every member of Will's household, though there weren't many.

Mr. Mulberry, the butler, was Will's father's closest confident. Like Will, his father did not trust the snobbish court pretenders, but instead respected his butler and his wife by asking their opinions on important matters. Mr. Mulberry seemed to be the only person Will ever told about his travels in the city, as Mr. Mulberry often drove the carriage. He had promised Will's father he would protect Will, and he performed that task to the T.

Mrs. Mason was the cook and housekeeper. She was, in general, the head of the domestic staff, other than Mr. Mulberry. She had been with Will's family since she had been a teenager and had grown from kitchen assistant to head cook in a matter of years.

There were only a few other young staff members. A few worked in the kitchens, a few in the stables, and only one in the gardens – an apprentice to the old gardener. Staff members shared jobs. When the kitchen girls weren't chopping onions or setting tables, they were sweeping floors or polishing silverware. Will insisted on them only cleaning the rooms that were needed, therefore most of the house was covered in a fine layer of dust.

Surprisingly, the best kept area of the grounds was the gazebo. It appeared to have been painted over every year. The vines surrounding it were clipped weekly, and the floors and benches themselves were wiped down daily. The flowers nearest were the most watered, smelled the sweetest, and held the most vibrant colours.

V was in the gazebo, her favourite spot in the gardens. She was reading a beautifully bound copy of Shakespeares The Comedy of Errors.

A pair of deep maroon riding boots appeared in her line of vision. She looked up. Will was leaning against one of the pillars at the entrance to the gazebo. His muddy brown trousers were tucked into his boots – an unpopular style for the wealthy. It was obvious he had been riding hard and long – the tails of his waistcoat were splashed with mud. He wore a shirt in hues of red, his blue and gold necktie hung askew around his neck.