Excelsior

Chapter 24: The White Gloves

The autumn wind felt cooler in the old Cornell Manor. Angelica walked into the main hall after school, and a couple of laughs caught her eye. She already knew they had visitors, as a motorcade was by the roundabout.

He peered down the hallway with walls as white as the floor. Almost all the rooms were decorated with statues of knights. Despite the bright color, the place felt lonely and gloomy. This was the Cornell Manor, a neo-Gothic fantasy, dark on the outside and white on the inside.

Her family had bought the house on those lands more than a century ago and demolished it to build the cradle of their dynasty in 1883, and since then, it remained there in the middle of a dense silent forest, in which hares, deer, birds and foxes lived. In those months, Mr. Cornell used to organize a hunt before Thanksgiving with his inner circle.

The young girl entered the drawing room, where her mother, the respectable Mrs. Cornell, was sitting with perfect posture talking with her friends. She was known as the queen of society, and it was not for less. All the women greeted Angelica.

"How was your day at school?" Her mother asked.

"It was divine," she replied with her trademark serious tone of voice and a modest smile.

Mrs. Cornell wore cornelian red, as her daughter did too. It was already cultural to know that this was the color of the family and that all the Cornell members dressed in that tone with black details.

"I guess you have nott heard," Mrs. Cornell said, handing her the tablet.

"Cowell secrets exposed?" Angelica read aloud.

The women in the room laughed. Three times a week, her mother met for tea with her friends, who were collectively known as The White Gloves because of the accessories they wore when they were together. They showed off extravagant dresses that, with their elegance, made them stand out, as they were considered the bosses on the social scene.

"Tell me, dear," Mrs. Cornell continued, "do you know that Cowell girl?"

"Ramela Cowell? Absolutely."

"I hope you do not hang out with that kind of people -the nouveau riche are disgusting to be around with."

"I bet they are," Mrs. Wildingham replied. "Did you know that her mother was an exotic dancer? I have told you that the St. Andrews student body has dubious origins and that you should transfer your daughter to Sullivan Academy, like my dear Paul."

"You are exaggerating, Pandora," said Mrs. Bainbridge. "All of my children have found worthwhile friendships at St. Andrews, I can assure."

"It does not matter anymore," Mrs. Cornell continued. "I heard that the behavior of the Cowell children is very embarrassing; the youngest gets into a painful drunken state in public, let alone her brother."

"Such a embarrassing!" Mrs. Barrington exclaimed.

"They have no sense of respect for their own family," Ms. LeClercq commented.

"And you do not know about the corruption with misappropriation scandals yet," said Mrs. Wildingham. "That family has done everything."

The women were suddenly silent.

"Do you know something?" Asked Mrs. Cornell.

"Serve the tea first," she said with a wicked grin at the butler, "and I will give you all the juicy details."

Angelica asked to accompany them to hear the details, and her mother agreed.

"Give us a few hints while they bring the tea," Mrs. LeClercq added, "do not intrigue us in vain."

The women thus entertained themselves the rest of the afternoon, while absurd and dark things happened in the basement of the mansion. Amid the laughter and gossip, it would hard to believe that a man sitting in a chair, his hands tied behind his back, was being tortured by two knuckle-duster thugs, wearing black suits.

The man looked up, with a bloody face, his eyes. He saw spots and could not identify the faces of his attackers. One thing he could identify: Cornell family crest earrings that were fastened in the left pockets of their suits.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. English is not my native language, so any feedback, suggestion or advice to change the grammar would be really appreciated.