A Promise Kept (FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS)

5 Overheard

I slid aptly from the tree, considering the boy I used to know and the man he became all the while. He had composed himself well in speaking to Monsieur Lemieux. I had witnessed far worse negotiations at the hands of men much more qualified to partake in them. He had learned much in the art of statecraft since he had disappeared. I thought of my own training, how behind I was when I began and how far ahead of the others I was upon completion. I understood, perhaps better than anyone, how hard someone with nothing could work. Especially if the alternative was everything.

I ran silently across the grounds, remaining in the shadows as much as possible and pausing on occasion to brush a stray leaf or twig from my dress. Normally, I wouldn't pay much attention to my appearance as the subjects of my spying never took much heed in my presence but the watchful eye of Oliver's unfamiliar companion had be on alert and, though I fussed much more, the challenge of an observant soldier's presence brought a thrill to my life that I hadn't experienced since the war. Though I doubted he was truly a worthy adversary, I felt that I could exercise some expertise that had been long untouched.

I slowed my pace enough to nod at a fellow maid as she withdrew from the drawing room, used tea trays and discarded biscuits on a tray in her hands. She smiled warmly as we passed and then I was slipping through the door and crossing the room to stop in the corner behind Madame Lemieux. I felt the soldier's eyes tracing my progress the whole way and cursed his observant eye as I settled into place, flashing him a polite smile as I did. What bothered me more, however, were the eyes of his master which seemed to follow me as well. He was watching me. I wished he wouldn't.

"-of course we would be delighted to have you staying with us," Madame Lemieux was saying, her voice an inflection of thick counterfeit kindness. "In fact, I am sure that you are exhausted from your journey and our incessant company. Veronica, do see Mr. Ainsworth and his companion settled comfortably. The south tower will suffice, I believe."

The maid, Veronica, nodded and came forward as escort. Madame Lemieux met my eyes over her head. I answered the unspoken communication with a slight nod and moved furtively back toward the door. The south tower was old, made of mismatched, jutting and falling stones which made it perilous to walk beneath but far easier to climb than the smooth granite facades of the rest of the estate. Clearly, her choice in accommodations had been intentional. I made my way to the door out of view of the soldier who was now preoccupied with readying himself to retire. As I reached the exit, I glanced back just in time to see Oliver Ainsworth bending low to plant a kiss on a blushing Giselle Lemieux's offered hand. I could not hear what goodbye he spoke to her but it was enough to leave her giggling like a school girl.

Serena found me along my way and requested my assistance in stripping the girl's bedsheets but I told her that I was on an urgent errand for the Madame and she allowed my passage without further inquiry. I took an alternate route to the south tower through abandoned hallways and outdoor passages so as to avoid Oliver and his party ascending through the main halls above. I headed into the yard through the back door of the laundry and came to rest at the base of the south tower. I stared up at it. A monolith of stone at least four stories high. It had rained earlier in the day and the wet rock shone black in the moonlight. It would be slick, a slippery climb. I flexed my fingers habitually and pointed my toes in the soft slippers. They would do. I glanced down at my gown. This would not.

A tree was one thing. A dark, looming tower was another. Making my way back into the laundry, I swiped a pair of men's breeches and a billowing white undershirt. It was in no way modest apparel for a woman bit neither would be the view up my skirts from four stories below. Casting my servant's dress aside, I donned the far more pliable uniform of man in the shadow of the obelisk and stretched out my jointed, preparing for the climb. It had been some time since I had scaled a wall this high but I had done far higher and imagined it was a skill impossible to forget.