Chapter Thirteen

THE FIRST SECTION:

I have better things to worry about, Coleman muttered to himself when he stepped into his home. The last thing I need is Richard telling me what to wear.

“Did you say something sir?” a servant asked. Coleman did not even look at the man. Instead he walked to his music room and sat down behind the piano. He tapped the keys a few times before diving into a self-made melody that he had been trying to compose since he was a child. But he was never able to get past the first few notes, probably because he never put more thought into it beyond what he wanted it to sound like. Sometimes he wanted the song to be rich with high notes and others a more full sound comprising the entire scale. Dark tones pleased him more after the riots, and the recent developments with Emily soured his mood even more.

“Call the woman down here at once,” he ordered. “And then leave us alone when she gets here.”

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Two servants hurried up the stairs to fetch Emily from her room. A few minutes later they returned without her. Coleman was as surprised that she was not in her room as the servants were. After all, they said, she was there just an hour ago and was not dressed to leave then. An order to search the grounds was responded to with great unrest, but after an hour of searching Emily was nowhere to be found.

“Then I shall have dinner with you,” Coleman said pointing at one of Emily’s maids. “You are not married and your father should not refuse so I will not ask. Go and make yourself ready for dinner.” He then ordered two other maids to help the girl into suitable attire from Emily’s wardrobe. “Tonight shall be a night of pleasure if I can help it,” he said. Coleman demanded a drink to be poured and downed as quickly as it was given to him. Deep inside he hurt.

*******

Emily, however, was out walking with Sarah. She had managed to escape the house by slipping out of a scarcely used entrance on the side of the kitchen. The staircase that led to the door ran up to the back side of the hall opposite from her dressing room and was rarely used thanks to a reconstruction of the that side of the house three years before. Emily insisted that the stair and doorway be preserved to allow her servants easy access to the kitchen if she needed anything while she was in her room. It was not a coincidence then that Emily complained the door leaked cold air and refused her servants from using the staircase after the reconstruction. Much to her husband’s ignorance, she used the door to escape the house when she felt the need to get away unseen.

The two girls met at the end of the meadows that was closest to the North End, and they walked along a small pond where a family of ducks was basking in the scant sunrays that blipped from the clouds every so often. They thought of sitting to watch the wildlife zip in and around the pond but kept walking toward a small patch of grass that Sarah had recently discovered to be perfect for picnics and relaxation. Once there they sat and had a late afternoon snack and talked about the coming summer months.

Sarah was already planning her garden for the summer. Instead of having only flowers this year she wanted to have vegetables of her own. Already, seeing the squash moving along she wanted to get more daring and try to plant potatoes as well.

“They will work particularly well in that stony section of the garden,” she claimed. Emily smiled and urged her friend on despite the fact she knew the real reason Sarah was looking was because they could not afford to keep buying off the ships. Her husband’s position, as a warehouse assistant manager in one of the town’s recently re-purchased holding facilities, was not doing as well as they had hoped it would early one. Once the former shipping companies sold the building back to the town, he has had to fight for a regular wage. And as far as their families were concerned, both Sarah and her husband were born into families of low prominence. They depended on a regular wage to support their small estates with little hope of inheriting much from their parents. Without a steady wage, they were forced to find alternatives ways to support themselves.

“So where did you get the seeds then?” Emily asked.

Sarah turned around and pointed to a stone staircase about a hundred yards away from where they were sitting. About a third of the way up the steps was an old woman who sold seeds from her home. “She claims to have been a farmer’s wife when she was young,” Sarah explained.

“Where does that staircase go to?” Emily wondered.

“Oh,” Sarah replied, “It goes up to Marnie. If you go up to the top and take a left you end up not far from the Crossing, about three streets down from where I live.”

Emily nodded but was surprised. She had not ventured into Marnie on her own for many years. Coleman simply would not allow her to go on her own despite the fact that she had been there many times with her father as a child. But she had never seen the staircase. It stunned her that she did not recognize its existence. “It is useful to know that it is there,” she said. “Who knows, maybe I will want to find my way from my father’s office to the meadows. Not that I would ever need to, but you never know all the same.”

The women laughed at the seriousness of the conversation. Sarah even went as far as saying that they had passed beyond the point of reality and should call their picnic short in case the men wondered where they were. “Jonathan will probably think I have a boyfriend,” Sarah chuckled. But as soon as Sarah started to pack up Emily’s smile grew to a frown. “What ever is the matter?” Sarah asked seeing the look on her friend’s face.

Emily turned away for a moment and then said, “Can’t we stay for just a while longer? I am no mood to go home tonight…or ever.”

“Is it so bad that you cannot even go home?” Sarah asked. “Why not just lock yourself in your room. He would never dare to chase you in there.”

Emily stood up and brushed the grass from her dress and said, “You are right. I should be able to hide in there. Come on let’s go. He is probably throwing a fit that I am not there to have dinner prepared for him.”

Sarah stood up and stopped Emily from moving away, “Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” Emily said, “all is well. It is just a little frustrating that is all. No harm done in that.”

Sarah smiled and said, “No, there is no harm done. But promise me something. Promise me that if anything does happen to you that you will come to me first. Will you promise?”

Emily agreed and the two walked back to their carriages before going their separate ways. Emily took a longer route home than she needed to, instructing the driver to pass by the upper end of the river before heading back. She wanted to see her mother’s grave near the site where she drowned. But when she got there, she had barely opened the door before she decided to not get out. I should have had flowers to bring, she said to herself. I will bring some tomorrow instead. Instructing her driver to head home, she prepared herself for the worst. But what she saw when she got there was a surprise.

Coleman barely seemed to notice that she had arrived. In fact, he ignored the servant’s announcement that the lady of the house had arrived. It took the servant several tries before he got Coleman’s attention.

“What is the problem?” she heard him ask the servant.

“Madam Montague is here,” said the servant. “Shall I make another place for her at the table considering her spot is currently taken?”

“I shall move at once,” the young maid said as she started to get up. Emily wondered whom Coleman was eating with. The voice sounded peculiarly familiar.

“Never mind that,” he said. “Make her eat on her own in the kitchen or her room. Certainly not here.”

Emily was horrified that she would not be allowed to eat in her own home and felt like storming into the room to demand an explanation. But as she moved forward to the dining room, she was able to see the frightened face of her maid sitting in her spot staring back at her. The poor girl, she thought, she has not a clue what has just happened to her. She will be sacked before the week is finished, and she knows it too. Emily knew that she had to let the girl go. Coleman’s behavior was meant to create a row between them, perhaps to bring them together somehow. And it would, but she thought that maybe she would let him play his game a little longer just to see if he would break down himself and apologize before Emily got angry. Then Emily could pretend to be enraged and fire the girl as a result of his apology, thus transferring the guilt of ruining an innocent girl’s life back to him. She slipped up the stairs to her room and requested to be served the worst part of the meal so Coleman would know that she refused the choicest portions.