Charlotte

Chapter One

On one cold and frosty morn in the Cornish countryside, a small yet tidy carriage made its way along the main road. Inside sat two shivering girls, Charlotte Hazel Murphy and her sister, Eliza Marigold Murphy.
Charlotte at least was pondering over the plan they had set up together in her head, Eliza was to propose the notion to Mr Edward Hilton of marriage and state the term that Charlotte was to stay under the same roof until she is happily wed.

The carriage soon pulled up outside a grand house surrounded by the most unusual grounds Charlotte had ever seen. With ordered gardens giving way to wooded hills, the house in front of her glowed scarlet as the early morning sun hit the brickwork. Every window on view gave a perfectly symmetrical shape to the facade.

With gravel crunching underfoot, they made their way towards and delicately up the hard stone steps up to the grand door. Eliza took the last brave step up to the door, taking hold of the heavy brass knocker and brought it down on the rough, weathering oak below.

After waiting for a short while, Charlotte heard the bolts being drawn back and the door opened. "How may I assist you young ladies?" a haughty looking butler said with a hint of displeasure in his voice.
"I am ever so sorry but we require an audience with Mr Edward Hilton," Charlotte replied politely.
"I am afraid the master has not been down this morning. But if you insist, please follow me to the drawing room."

The gold plating within the entrance hall seemed to make the room bright despite the lack of natural sunlight due to the curtains being half drawn. The effect of the gold created a welcoming glow. Following on from the hall, they were led into an airy drawing room. The room itself gave little to no indications of being ten years into Victoria's reign. Instead, the walls were covered with a striped wallpaper of yellow and cream. The open arches between the two spaces were accented once again by gold, giving the same light effect. The furniture was very much the same with light materials and soft colours. One thing stood out to Charlotte more than anything thing else, was placed in the corner of the room on top of an ornate sideboard. Blue John Stone. Charlotte was in awe of this rare and expensive stone. Mesmerised by the swirling blues, purples and greens, she didn't realise that Eliza had settled herself on the edge of a chair and the butler had already left.

It wasn't until Eliza gave a disapproving cough that Charlotte reluctantly turned around and placed herself neatly on the small sofa opposite her sister.

They sat in almost a deafening silence with only the steady ticking of the mantle clock to break it. For what seemed like hours, they sat and waited.

All of a sudden, the door burst open and a handsome man strode in.

Charlotte leapt out if her seat half a second after her sister and sank into a low curtsy before looking the man straight in the face. Her eyes scanned over the chiselled features of his face: the moulded jaw and cheekbones, the prominent yet perfectly proportioned nose and thin lips. Her eyes travelled over towards his hair, slightly long in length but perfectly styled and yet still showed the natural curliness the brown hair had.
After only a few seconds of studying his features, his ice blue eyes met her swampy green ones. She looked down causing her ginger curls to cover the rising blush that crept up her face. In Charlotte's mind, she was already dispelling all the rumours that surrounded him; she would make her own judgment of him.

"Sir, we are so very pleased-" Charlotte started to say, but Eliza cut her off; her voice harsh compared to Charlotte's soft tones.
"Sir you have to help us. My - our father has most sadly died and left the money due to us to whomever we marry. You, sir, have been promised to me since infancy and now I wish to take you up on that offer between our two parents."

After Eliza had finished her elaborate speech, Mr Hilton just stood in the centre of the room dumbfounded.

Once he regained his composure, he looked between the two sisters, eyes lingering slightly longer on Charlotte. "Are there any more terms that you wish to discuss with me before I give you my conclusion?". His tone was uncommonly harsh, making the timid Charlotte take half a step back in shock. He registered her actions and, with that, the hard look in his eyes softened.
"I don't think so, sir. Nothing comes to mind." Eliza replied with no second thoughts on the subject and her tone final. Charlotte ducked her head in disbelief. Tears began to well and threatened to spill over like magma in a volcano's lake. Tears of hurt, anger but prominently sorrow. Her own sister had let their agreement slip. Her own sister would see her out on the streets with no further chance of marriage.
Charlotte presented a quick curtsy in respect to Mr Hilton and, with her head still down, said: "If you would excuse me sir, but it was a mistake to have come here at such an hour and ask an honourable gentleman like yourself to marry my sister." With that, she started to exit the room but only to get so far as the door when a large yet gentle hand was placed on her waist, preventing any further escape.

"Wait," said the owner of the hand, Mr Hilton, rather shocked by his own actions, "wait. I will consent to marry Miss Eliza Murphy on the condition that her sister comes to live here until further notice. This is still my house and I will have whoever I wish staying here unless they are a threat to my wife's safety."
"Alright, I believe that is fair," Eliza replied with a sour look.
Charlotte had stayed silent throughout this intriguing display of social intercourse but a small smile graced her lips when he said she could stay.

"Eliza, you may go explore the house if you wish," Mr Hilton paused," just don't touch anything." he finished with a slight grimace.
Turning back to Charlotte, he noticed his hand was still lightly placed on her waist. He looked at her face and muttered: "You're shaking". His grip tightened on her waist and his other hand went towards the opposite arm he led her over to the chair close by.

Once she was settled, Mr Hilton went to find his housekeeper Mrs Wilson to ask for two rooms to be prepared for the guests staying.
A few tears escaped CHarlotte's eyes at this point. The flow increased like a rainstorm after a drought. She began to sob quietly into her hands, so numb to the world around her that she hadn't noticed Mr Hilton had re-entered the room until he kneeled in front of her.

He gently pulled the tear-stained hands away from her face, trying to calm her all the while. As he brushed her tears away her promised never to turn her out of the house, he promised even if she never married she would be safe, he promised she would never be harmed.

He understood. That was all that mattered to Charlotte, he had understood what discontented her so.

It was during this interaction, that Charlotte felt envious of her elder sister. But once again, Eliza always got what Charlotte yearned for.

Charlotte remained lost in thought and made no further attempts to stem the flow of tears carving their path into her face.