Rachel's Story

Chapter 3

The hero appears on the scene...

 CHAPTER 3

Many silent tears were shed the day the Warrens left the Parsonage of Little Hanstead. Friends and acquaintances crowded their house for the last time, promising to keep the Warrens updated about every occurrence and offering all manners of assistance. Young Robert, the chemist’s assistant who had harbored a secret crush on the late Parson’s pretty daughter for a year, had to hold back his emotion and satisfy himself with pressing Rachel’s hand fervently before stammering out an incoherent farewell.

Poor Cassie bawled outright and had to be consoled by Mrs. Warren that they will be fine, they will be with Miss Lucy, Miss Rachel will certainly be all right, they will always keep in touch. The twins went about the house telling each other stories of their childhood related to each and every corner of the building, and Mrs. Warren fondled her favourite pieces of furniture over and over again with a sweet, tremulous smile on her face. Rachel instantly went outdoors and for the first time in weeks, sobbed her heart out in the loving seclusion of her trees, away from the eyes of her family for whom she had to remain tough at all times.

They could not carry everything away with them, since Lucy’s house was already furnished and Grace didn’t have much extra space. Rachel bid her little room farewell with a heavy heart, and patted her feather collection one last time – she was going to give it to Daphne, a young neighbour who had been fascinated with the pretty colours for years and will hopefully take good care of it. Her walnut rocking-chair mercifully found a home with Grace, and The Mirror, the symbol of her parents’ love, was among the few things claimed by Mrs. Warren herself as one of her memories of her late husband. It will go with her wherever she went.

Rachel was very glad about that, since as a governess her luggage would be minimal. Besides her clothes, toiletry items and penny-whistle, she only took her father’s beloved Utopia as the last thing which had consoled him in this world, and a framed sampler which she had done with her sisters when she was young. It may be a childish attempt compared with their later creations, but it depicted their home in spring, and the motto “God Bless Us Forever” was wreathed around it. Though it almost made her cry when she espied it, Rachel couldn’t turn away from her memories of a happier, more innocent time. It helped her to remain grounded in the belief that like happiness, sorrows also could not last forever.

Thus, after hours which appeared alternately interminable and ever-receding, the Warren family finally bundled all their worldly belongings into two carriages, said their final goodbyes to the place which had seen the widow come as a new bride almost thirty years ago, and set off towards their new lives.

“‘Beautiful’ and ‘interesting’ year ahead indeed! You don’t know what kind of wish you had asked for me, Papa,” was Rachel’s last bitter thought as her carriage turned the corner, hiding the Parsonage from her forever.

                                                             Xxxxx

The next afternoon saw her squeezed between two old ladies in a rattling old stagecoach, finally on her way to Demfries and Carillon Hall. Though Rachel had wanted an early start on her journey, saying goodbye to her family proved to be more difficult than she thought.

“Why is this happening to us, Rachel? Just a month ago we were eating Cassie’s apple pie in our…I mean, the Parsonage’s kitchen, being scolded by Papa for shouting and thinking only of the games we had planned for the day. How can a month change us so?”

Rachel’s throat choked up at Neil’s pathetically simple question. Her own eyes filling up, she hugged him tightly and whispered, “Life can change in a minute, sweetie. It is no one’s fault, and we must make the best of what we have been dealt now.”