Chapter One #3
“I’m sure she’ll do a fine job and make you proud.” Mr. Clarke’s smile was kind and encouraging. Lowering his voice, he added to Selena, “Did you know I asked this good woman to marry me four years ago? And she turned me down?”
Selena felt her brows raise. “Is that so?” It seemed that the day was to be full of surprises.
Mrs. Hillman shrugged. “I have no need to marry, and I told him so.”
“I intend to impress her with my charms and try again,” Mr. Clarke told Selena, which made Mrs. Hillman roll her eyes.
At that moment, Mrs. Whitlock and her companion, lifting up their long skirts, mounted the front steps and joined them on the front porch. “My dear Mrs. Hillman! What an extraordinary house! I have no words to express my delight!” Mrs. Whitlock held out her arms.
“Mrs. Whitlock! You look marvelous, my dear,” Mrs. Hillman said as the two women embraced.
Mrs. Whitlock’s companion was clutching a small, brown case with a blue strap. It seemed that the missing piece of luggage had been found.
“As do you.” Mrs. Whitlock exhaled in a huff.
“However, this has been the longest two days of my life. I cannot tell you how glad I am to be here. I had to rise in freezing darkness yesterday to catch the 8:16 train from Exeter. There were delays everywhere and ever so many changes! Last night, we had to stay at the most dismal inn in Warwick.”
“Have you forgotten?” put in Mr. Clarke. “It used to take three or four days by coach to cover the same distance. This new age of the railway is a like a miracle.”
“I do hope you’ll think the trip was worth it, Mrs. Whitlock,” Mrs. Hillman replied dryly. “I, for one, am glad to see you after all these years.”
Mrs. Whitlock’s frown turned upside down and she let out an unfettered laugh. “Oh, listen to me, going on and on. Yes, yes. The feeling is mutual.”
“Allow me to introduce Miss Selena Taylor.” Mrs. Hillman gestured to Selena.
“Mrs. Hillman has spoken of you endlessly in her letters, Miss Taylor,” returned Mrs. Whitlock, holding out her hand. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Whitlock.” Selena greeted Mrs. Whitlock with a handshake and then extended her hand to the woman’s companion, thinking it rude that she had not been introduced. “I am Selena Taylor. And you must be Maud Thompson?”
“Yes,” replied Miss Thompson quietly, her grip tentative and brief.
“I am so happy to meet you.” Selena gave her a cordial nod.
Before Miss Thompson could respond, Mrs. Whitlock announced with a scowl, “Miss Thompson has only been a few months in my employ and has yet to prove herself.” Gesturing to the case Miss Thompson was carrying, Mrs. Whitlock added, “I told her to make sure that bag was brought to me inside the carriage, but was it? No! I was sick with worry all the way from the station!”
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Whitlock.” Miss Thompson spoke just above a whisper. “It will never happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t!” Mrs. Whitlock shot back.
Selena felt sorry for the young woman. Having served many years as a governess, Selena knew from personal experience how difficult and demeaning it could be to work for people who didn’t value you in any way other than the manner in which you could be of use to them.
Thinking it best to change the subject, she glanced at Mr. Clarke and said, “I presume the three of you met up on the train today?”
“In fact,” replied he, “we met up by chance yesterday in Warwick at the White Hart Inn, where we all stayed the night en route.”
“What a horrid excuse for a lodging house that was!” Mrs. Whitlock grimaced. “The bedding was unclean, and I am sure there were rats in the walls.”
“Ah, but they had excellent meat pie and the best ale I have tasted in many a month,” Mr. Clarke put in with a smile. “And how nice it was to see a familiar face. I had dinner there with these two ladies and what a jolly evening it was.”
Mrs. Whitlock’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at Mr. Clarke. “Running into you, sir, did add some levity to the evening. Although I fear you may have had a bit too much to drink last night.”
Mr. Clarke waved away this remark with a chuckle. “A man is always more congenial when he is in his cups, Mrs. Whitlock.” A comment that made that lady frown and shake her head.
The footmen had been busy all this time bringing in the luggage.
Mrs. Hillman led the new arrivals into the house, where an exhibition of ancient weaponry was displayed above the polished black-and-white marble floor of the spacious entrance hall.
Beyond, a wide central oak staircase, whose elaborately carved handrails were intertwined with holiday greenery, led to the upper floors.
Mrs. Hillman introduced the two head servants who stood waiting at attention.
“Wells is a treasure,” she said of the white-haired butler, who was clad in a traditional black tailcoat.
“He has been with me since I came to Darkmoor Park as a bride. Mrs. Middleton, my housekeeper, has also been here for many years and is a wealth of knowledge.”
Mrs. Middleton wore a high-necked, long-sleeved, black woolen gown beneath an immaculate white apron, and her light-brown hair was tucked up neatly beneath a white cap.
“Feel free to ask either of them any questions you have,” Selena added. “Mrs. Middleton will oversee all your needs.”
“Since the other guests won’t be arriving for another couple of hours, we’ll wait to give you all a house tour until tomorrow,” Mrs. Hillman said. “But everyone always wants to see the great hall, so let’s take a quick peek in there before you go up to your rooms.”
The immense great hall, which opened off to one side of the entry hall, was paneled in dark oak and featured a high ceiling carved with elaborate scrollwork, a marble parquet floor, and more displays of weaponry above two gleaming ancestral suits of armor.
Selena had overseen the arrangement of the Christmas decorations and was pleased to see how pretty it looked and how good it smelled.
Boughs of evergreens, ivy, and holly, entwined with red ribbons, decked the mantel of the enormous marble fireplace and were draped in garlands around the pillars, entrances, doors, and sideboards, which held an array of silver and pewter objects.
A tall evergreen tree, as yet devoid of any Christmas ornaments, stood in one corner and imbued the room with its fresh piney scent.
“I’ve made many improvements to Darkmoor Park over the years,” Mrs. Hillman explained as the three guests took in the vast space with open-mouthed admiration, “but the great hall is the one room that my late husband didn’t want to change, so it remains as it has been for many a century.”
“Marvelous,” Mr. Clarke said with an appreciative nod.
“It’s so festive,” Miss Thompson said quietly.
Mrs. Whitlock merely stared in silence, her jaw and shoulders tense. Selena couldn’t tell if the woman was envious or merely in an eternally bad mood.
“Roger and I held many a ball in this chamber.” Mrs. Hillman seemed to be lost in memory for a moment, which she shook off with a little sigh. “But that was ages ago. I’m sure you are all tired after two long days of traveling. Mrs. Middleton will show you to your rooms.”
“This house functions as a school now,” Selena put in as the group headed back towards the entry hall and main stairs.
“Our pupils occupy the bedchambers in the south wing on the first floor. Although they’ve all gone home for the holidays, we didn’t wish to disturb their rooms, so we have placed you all in the guest rooms in the north wing, not far from Mrs. Hillman’s and my own rooms.”
“Please take all the time you need to settle in,” Mrs. Hillman said. “Dinner is at eight. We’ll meet for drinks before dinner in the drawing room at seven.”
“A staff member will meet you at the foot of the stairs to show you the way,” Selena added. “We’ll see you then.”