Thinking of herself as a maid brought back the memory of the time that she was a maid briefly in the household of the Dawsons called Linwood Manor. In fact William Dawson of that same house was good friends with Katrina‘s husband as it turned out. She had seen William a few times when dining in society, and it was quite awkward. She fancied herself in love with William during the time she was a maid in his household. She thought that he also returned the feelings, though it was never spoken of; no, that would be scandalous. But the way he looked at her and made her feel special; he was the most agreeable man that she had ever met.
From the moment Adeline laid eyes on William Dawson she sensed that there was something different about this gentleman. It was not just that he had the power, authority, and regal manners that most gentlemen had, though that certainly was true, or that he had the most gentle voice she had ever heard. What Adeline found unsettling was that at certain moments during her tenure of being a maid, his eyes would flip towards her, not long enough to be a stare mind you, but certainly with a degree of some sort of focus which an inexperienced young maid of her age might construe as more than a casual look toward ones maid.
At first Adeline responded, as a maid would under the circumstances. She would lower her gaze and continue to do her work, as was required. Adeline Simmons, so she was called at the time before she adopted the name Proctor, had no more notion of what his glances toward her might mean than any other woman in his employ. She did not think much of it, except for some wishful thinking.
But then one day when she had been cleaning the library of William Dawson as he worked at his desk, there was an exchange between them, one that she could never have expected.
It was a very nice summer day in June, and bright light poured into the library from this sunny day. Adeline felt a strange feeling overcome her as if the sunlight was beckoning her to be bold. For this very reason, when she caught the gaze of William Dawson, she did not lower her eyes to her work, instead she stared right back at him-bold, very bold indeed. She tilted her head slightly, she had never flirted with a man before, let alone a wealthy man that was her employer, and she was intimidated by her own brave maneuver to say the least. In fact, her breath quickened as she started to feel alarmed.
She noticed that William Dawson, who is quite the genteel sort of gentleman and not at all like the men who he called friends who seemed to be very dominant and owned every room, seemed quite off guard by this.
To Adeline’s astonishment, he dropped the quill in his hand onto his desk that made a loud clatter. This caused Adeline to smile slightly. William shuffled the papers on his desk and cleared his throat. His thick full lips curved into a slight smile.
Adeline felt the blood rush up toward her cheeks, her bosom, and neck as she tangled with a slight embarrassment. She had the dreadful feeling that everyone on the staff and the entire Dawson family would notice that they had had this exchange even though they were completely alone in the room.
“Oh brother, I must commandeer your attentions for this problem I am having, you must come straight away,” Louisa Ashford, William’s sister, stuck his her head in the door and Adeline quickly jolted back to dusting the books and being invisible.
“Yes, of course,” William stood from his desk and followed his sister out, but if Adeline had looked she would have seen him give her one last glance.
But that was before things turned dark, yes very dark indeed. Mr Ashford, the husband of Louisa Ashford, took it upon himself to be a most disagreeable man. He had thrown himself on Adeline; something that she would call assault. But when they were found, Mr Ashford made known that it was Adeline that had thrown herself upon him, in order to get at his riches and wealth.
She pleaded and raged the truth, but no one believed her. It broke her heart that William did not believe her. Louisa and her awful sister Eleanor threw Adeline out as quick as may be. She was on her own, just as she now found herself. But that had seemed so long ago and she had grown to the comfort of having others taking care of her, and she felt as though she had lost her streetwise manners. She needed to remember them and use them now.
If only Mr Ashford had not stayed at Linwood Manor, that would never have happened. She would still be an acquaintance of William’s. She had not seen him since...
“But of course, the Davis’! Why did I not think of that before?”
It had been many months since I had seen them, but they were acquaintances, and at one time close friends. Indeed at one point I thought the younger brother Robert Davis to fancy me. The younger sister Wilhelmina had taken quite the attachment to Katrina and I, and at one time we were of their society. But it had faded, could I call upon them now?
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Order of Book List
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ALSO BY DOROTHY GREEN
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LINK: The Orphan’s Christmas Eve
The Winds of Misery series
LINK: Book 01 - The Ragged Maid
LINK: Book 02 - Passage of A Desolate Woman
LINK: Book 03 - An Alone and Destitute Girl
LINK: Book 04 - A Poor Girl's Peril
LINK: Book 05 - A Farm Girl's Despair
LINK: Book 06 - The Convent Orphan
Publisher Notes
This book is copyright © 2020 by
Dorothy Green
All rights reserved.
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
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An Alone and Destitute Girl (#3, the Winds of Misery Victorian Romance) (A Family Saga Novel) Page 24
