Sky Pirates

Chapter 32

For the first morning of her life, there was no one to greet her when she descended the grand staircase, except the servants, all of whom kept their heads down and avoided eye contact. Mildred entered the dining room and there were only two place settings, one at the head of the table and a second to its right hand. She knew it was proper for her to take her place at the right, so she did.

Mildred sat in the silent room. There was no more Lorain to play mother. On the one hand it's what she'd secretly desired for most of her life. The woman was a bore. She nagged and cajoled both her and Cole mostly into doing things they didn't want to do. And, what success had there been? Mildred knew she was awkward in social settings, and that's something that a good tutor would have taught her. And, Cole, he'd failed his university entrance exams. That was a massive failure in her eyes. What was that poor boy to do now? He had no prospects of any accomplished future. Although, being the male heir to her father's fortunes, not to mention those of her uncle, what need did Cole truly have of a formal education?

On the other hand, she now had her time free to pursue her own directions and ideas. If she had the opportunity, which she wouldn't, she already knew, even at her young age, that she could pass university exams if they were placed before her, except maybe for the Latin portion.

Through the closed windows she could see the leaves outside flutter to the morning breeze and hear the slight sounds of birds chirping through the leaded panes.

With determination, she rose, moved to the great windows, and with some effort, successfully flung two of them open. Immediately, the room cooled some. The air smelled fresh and sweet compared to the closed up house air that was stifling. Her effort to open the windows was great and she contemplated how window opening could also be assigned in some way to the great drive shaft she envisioned for the manor. As she began working on getting the third window open, a servant entered the room.

"Miss? What are you doing?"

"Opening the windows and airing out this house." She felt emboldened, empowered. If Cole was now officially the man of the house, then, by extension, she must be the lady. And, in all the homes she knew of and had read about in books, and Mildred had read a great many books, dealing with things inside the home fell to the lady.

"But, Miss, the instructions are that all the windows—"

"The rules are changing. There will, I suspect, be a great number of alterations that shall be undertaken in the days, weeks, and months to come." She thought for a moment. "First, I would like my breakfast."

"But Master Cole has not come down from his room."

"Well, I'm hungry; I no longer wish to wait. And, in the future..." How did one go about creating new rules for a great manor house? She quickly realized that speaking to a serving girl was not at all the proper approach. "Please bring my breakfast."

"Yes, Miss."

Mildred watched the girl rush from the room and realized she didn't even know her name. She knew few of the servants' names. They came and went, ran the house, and Mildred had been oblivious to all of it. They never seemed to be the same girls two days in a row, so she'd never invested the time. If she were to become the Lady of this manor, or any other house, she realized she'd need to know the names of the people who worked for her. Not just their names, but the jobs they did.

She got the hang of the windows and the sixth one she attempted opened easier than the others. The room was now filled with fresh air and the songs of the chattering birds.

Two girls returned to the room with trays and plates. Mildred took her seat to the right, placed the napkin on her lap, and nodded to the girls who served her morning meal.