Torment

THE WRATHFUL & THE MELANCHOLIC

Back in the manor, Pilot immediately welcomed Burns with a bark. Her pet jumped and walked around her while tremendously wiggling its long fury tail. Even Dona and Lydia were not expecting them to be back that early in the house. "Miss Burns? Sir Homer?" Dona and Lydia hastily found their way to her direction. "Ang aga nyo po Miss, akala namin mamaya pa kayong hapon dadating." Lydia said, surprised and almost dumbfounded because of course her father's presence in the house made everything extra gloomier than usual. Homer only gave the servants a brief nod before heading back to his office. "Well, I don't want to stay in the Realondas property forever." Burns gave her bag to Salieri to bend down and cuddle with her dog. "Where's Harriett?" She suddenly noticed the absence of her governess. Normally, Harriett would be the very first person to greet and embrace her.

Dona paused and Lydia could only shrug. "Ma'am Dona nasan nga ba si Ma'am Harriett?" The two servants looked at each other before staring back at Burns. "Nagpunta po Miss Burns ng simbahan kasama ni manang Hilda. Kani-kanina lang pong umalis si Harriett." Burns caressed her dog until Pilot sat on the floor already. "She's out." She mumbled and her eyes suddenly shifted to Dona and Lydia. "Eh, Miss Burns akala namin kasi hapon pa po kayo eh kasabay ng mga Ramos para din naman pong nababagot na din si Ma'am Harriett kaya siguro umalis." As far as Burns was concerned, all of the servants knew that Harriett never went out because of Homer and now that her father had revealed himself to everybody, they had no idea what other reason were there of why Harriett did not want to go out. "No, even Governor Ramos and his family are all in Santa Lucia now." That was the time Burns had to stop petting Pilot and realised the risk of Harriett encountering Rosalie.

"Miss? Okay lang po ba kayo?" Burns blinked and stood up. "How are they getting home Dona?"

"Uh, sa pagkaka-alam ko po kasama ni Manang Hilda si Michael. Baka po magpahatid na lang si Harriett." However, what would be the probability of Harriett and Rosalie seeing each other in the basilica? It was 50:50 of course. Suddenly, she felt sick. What if they found each other on the road instead? There will be too many questions and worse, Rosalie could have been running to her later. Burns didn't know where her anxiety was coming from and she never liked it. "If you want I can pick them up from the basilica Miss Burns." Salieri kindly offered. Perhaps it was better if he were there, at least her father's assistant knew a little bit about their situation

"O-okay, please let me know if she's home I'll have some rest. Thank you Salieri." She gave them a smile before heading to her room.

***

Harriett together with Hilda left the candles burning but Rosalie remained behind the pillars, frozen and confused. "Mum? I've been looking for you what's happened? Why are you running?" Georgiana held Rosalie's arm in concern rather shoked about her mother's visible tears. "Georgiana." She breathed and stared at Harriett and Hilda who were just walking away. Georgiana might have felt her eyes looking away from her so she followed where her gazes were. "Do you know them mum? Do you want me to call them-" Rosalie caught her daughter's arm. "Wait Georgiana not now."

"Then what's wrong?" Rosalie was surprised of how desperate Georgiana sounded. "Isn't she the old lady from your old photos?" Even her daughter remembered. Rosalie told stories about Harriett and how she grew up in Santa Lucia under the governess' care before she met Edgar. "Is she Harriett mum? The one who looked after you before?"

Then they saw a familiar figure of a man approaching the two old women. "Salieri." Rosalie whispered. That only made things clearer for her. She was right that she heard Harriett in the manor few days ago. Harriett spent her time with Homer and with Jane. Could Burns be her daughter then? But how? There was a dead child. She held the dead baby in her arms she buried her with Harriett. With Harriett who had suddenly been gone without a word few days after she had given birth to Jane. Furthermore, she even tried to contact her before but there were no signs of her. What happened? Rosalie had no idea what to speculate anymore.