Amabelle

Chapter Ten

Tall silver birches and oaks shot up into the night sky, colourful blooming flowers poured from the flower beds, and the grass was the deepest green she had ever seen. The house towered above them, echoing power and brilliance. A stable boy escorted the carriage round the back, while Amabelle followed Mr Douglas with her luggage up to the front door. She had thought her home was grand, but this was from another league.

"Oh hello Christopher, you're finally home! And I see you've brought us a governess. I need to get ready for my party later, the theatre society are having a little celebration. I may not see you until tomorrow, as I've been told it's going to be wild." An obnoxiously posh woman explained, drawing out all her vowel sounds. This must be the Mrs Douglas. She was wearing what Amabelle thought had to be the tightest corset she'd ever seen, and so many precious gems she wondered how the woman was still standing upright. Amabelle restrained herself from rolling her eyes, or letting the words 'ridiculous woman' escape her lips. Mr Douglas greeted his wife and allowed her to return to her rooms to prepare herself for her late night escapade. He then gestured to a maid.

"Show Miss Amabelle to her room. Call her down again when supper is ready." With one quick glance of good bye, he strode off down the hall to some unknown destination, which would probably have been his study. The maid curtseyed and said hello.

"I'm Daisy. Nice to meet you Miss Amabelle, been a while since I've seen another girl my age!" She giggled, ascending the magnificent staircase, guiding Amabelle by her hand to her chambers.

"Delighted to meet you too! Are there many servants here?" Amabelle inquired.

"No, not in comparison to the size of this place. There's just me, the cook Mrs Melch, the butler Mr Gallagher, the gardener Mr Fisher, and an old lady who helps with odd jobs called Miss Eldigar. She's a bit off her rocker, if you ask me. There's a lot of maintance with a house like this, and that requires a work force. Instead, they've just got me working day-in day-out! They're quite a tidy bunch though - they don't carelessly leave mess to be cleared. Sometimes the Mrs hires a girl to dress her and such, but she hasn't had one of those in about seven years. The family isn't as well off as it used to be." Daisy sighed as they reached the door. Amabelle was surprised at how openly Daisy explained all this, and then remembered that she was not a guest - simply a governess. No servant of her family's would speak so candidly to her. She liked the slightly inferior status she had attained here.

"How long have you been here then?" Amabelle asked confused; how come she was so young, but been here so long?

"I came here with my mother as a child. She was a cook, and as I grew up I became a scullery maid. She saw something in the woods one night and went insane. She killed herself several weeks later. The Douglas family have looked after me ever since." The girl's bottom lip trembled slightly, and a tear threatened to crawl down her cheek and escape to her chin. "Mr Douglas was always so kind to us... Although since my mother died he's been more solitary... Sadder than he was before. When I was little I was allowed to attend the other children's lessons, so I can read and write. It was all down to his generosity. Mrs Douglas disapproved..."

Her brow creased ever so slightly, and then she let out a strangled and awkward laugh. "Well now you know the back story! Off you pop and get ready for dinner - we always eat at 7 o'clock sharp, and it's a quarter to already!" Daisy scuttled off, reminding Amabelle of a field mouse she'd seen in the garden once.

Amabelle sighed as she unpacked her belongings and stowed them away in various vacant draws. She checked the clock; she had only five minutes to get ready. She became a whirlwind of fabric and flesh as she tore around the room removing clothes then replacing them with others. Breathlessly she pinned her hair back, and heard Daisy's knock upon the door. "Miss Amabelle, it's time you were getting downstairs for dinner. It would seem bad on your part to be late."

Amabelle's reply was to swing open the door, and follow Daisy darting downstairs.

Amabelle was quite surprised to be greeted by the sight of three children alongside Mr Douglas at the table. Children had always dined separately in her household, and she had been led to believe that was the case of most others. She was compelled to ask him why. "Please forgive me for prying," she began nervously, "but do you often dine with your children? I thought it was against etiquette?" Mr Douglas' reply was cut off by that of the smallest child.

"Not when Mummy's here. She doesn't like eating with us, but whenever she's away at parties Daddy eats with us! So that's pretty much all the time, as Mummy is almost always at a party!" The child grinned, her perfect milk teeth glinting in the dim light. Amabelle stifled a laugh at the girl's enthusiasm. This must be Amelia. Mr Douglas let out a low chuckle and shook his head slightly.

"What have I told you Amelia? Don't interrupt people, or answer questions directed to other people!" He rolled his eyes and Amelia giggled, beaming up towards her father.

Amabelle took in the children's appearances. Amelia looked very much like her mother, with her identical flaming hair, and had eyes that exactly matched her father's hue. Oliver looked nothing like his mother, but was extremely similar to his father, apart from his piercing blue eyes. Mable was completely unlike her mother, and barely resembled her father. She had very blond hair and the same eyes as her brother. She had a funny little nose, and looked quite different to the other two children. For a fleeting moment the children's parentage swept across her mind, but she dismissed the thought, knowing that they probably had a very similar looking relative, and that was why two of them looked a bit unusual.

There was no conversation or discussion during dinner, apart from the children's incessant chattering. At first it irritated her, but as she listened closer, found it rather entertaining. It was like another language, that she had yet to learn, and quite often one word would lead to a long and loud peel of laughter. She was satisfied listening to the jibberish, and it appeared that their father quite enjoyed their conversations too; although it seemed he had a better idea of what they were talking about. Children certainly were fascinating!

After dinner she went to her room, and tidied the mess she'd made during her frenzied dressing. She thought about going out for a walk, but was afraid she'd bump into someone. Or see the thing Daisy's mother had seen... She pondered over it... Perhaps it was just a young demon that had ineffectively concealed itself. Generally the demons avoided being seen, as they preferred to wreak havoc anonymously. She sighed, and pushed the thoughts from her cluttered mind. She lay on the bed staring at the ceiling until she heard a timid knock at her door...

AN

Hello again! Apologies if formatting goes a bit weird here and there, but I've been having to write this on the Wattpad app, which is far harder than using the website on the computer... :/  

Hope you're all enjoying this so far!  

Just to clarify, Rebecca Hall's character, Silvia, isn't just the same as the character from Parade's end, and neither is Hugh Jackman's character, Christopher (in Parade's End played by Benedict Cumberbatch). (Although I have a feeling I've written his character a bit like Jean Valjean from Les Misérables, so apologies!) I came up with the characters before the names or actors/actresses. So yeah, just making sure that's all clear! Rebecca Hall has the red hair from Parade's End. I hope what I've said makes sense... For those of you who didn't connect this with Parade's end, then just ignore my jibberjabbering!

Next target: 120! 8D (Again, I'll lower it if I write quickly, but as I haven't started writing the next bit, I probably won't...!)

- Mirabel