by K C Norrie
Lucas grew up tall and handsome, close to his father. He did not possess his father's dourness. Everyone loved and doted on Lucas.
This all happened years before I came to work at the Chateau; before I stepped into her history.
Chapter 36
Lucas was only a year older than me when I started work in the Chateau de Riene. I caught glimpses of him as I went about my work, sweeping steps, carrying laundry, doing whatever they asked, wherever I was needed. Much of the time both father and son were away at the newer modern place in Paris.
There were servants that had been with the family a long time—before Traver was even born. "Madame Anders" was head of all the female staff and "Monsieur Bates" was head of the men.
Madame Anders often put me to work in the kitchen. While I scrubbed at something one day, I noticed Bates place a serving of raw meat on a silver platter and cover it with a silver dome. He carried it out of the kitchen, but I didn’t know where. I thought nothing of it this the first time but became curious after seeing him do this every day. I followed him one day to see where he went, hiding myself behind pillars and furniture along the way.
Bates opened a locked door as I watched from my hiding place behind a curtain.
I'd passed that locked door many times in my travels about the Chateau, but I'd assumed it led to a storage area. Instead, I could see from my vantage point that it led down a flight of stairs to a dark cellar. The dungeons! I’d been told stories.
"He's poisoning the rats," one of the staff whispered to me as he noticed me watching Bates.
I envisioned big rats and fist-sized spiders freely wandering throughout the cellar. It scared me, the thought of so many rats somewhere down below the rest of us. As often as I could do so, I made sure that door was locked securely. I feared that Bates would forget and leave it open.
I was only daytime help which meant I went back home to my two parents and a much younger brother and sister, after each of my shifts. They were thankful for the extra money I brought in. The little extra I earned, kept us fed, at a time when many in our little village went to bed hungry.
Several other girls were day help. There was a horse-driven wagon that took us back and forth between Saint Ange and the Chateau. On colder days they sent a covered carriage and I would daydream that I was a princess returning home.
Each year when the winter storms arrived, the wagon, and the carriage stayed at the Chateau and the day help stayed at home. Whatever our weather in the village, would be harsher at the Chateau, because it sat so high in the mountain. The road became unsafe for travel with high snowdrifts and dangerous gusts. Anyone setting out for the Chateau in such weather took a risk.
When I got home that night, I slept poorly thinking of both the poisoned and living rats. I wondered what happened to the dead ones.
My mother misunderstood my anxiety and asked me what was wrong. She fumbled red-faced for words, to ask if a male at the Chateau had been inappropriate. This made me giggle as I imagined Lucas, who did not even know of my existence, and myself together. While this angered my mother, it seemed to banish the fright from me and replace it with romantic ideas instead.
****
During the winter of my second year, I was polishing away at the dining hall's floor when I began to hear the wind. I looked out the window to see swirling white snow and the sky so dark it looked to be evening though the afternoon meal had not yet been served. I was just a young girl with not much experience, and I was frightened.
"However, shall I get home?" I sobbed to no one.
"You won't of course," a male voice answered from behind me. "You will have to stay here. Don't worry. We will try not to be too cruel."
I turned to see a smiling handsome Lucas behind me. He patted me softly on my shoulder before disappearing to the next room.
I swooned. I was elated. Lucas had talked to me. He had looked at me. He touched me. Then I looked up to see Charmaine and Rondonna frowning fiercely at me from the balcony above and I went back to polishing the floor. I wondered what they had seen.
While there was camaraderie among most of the girls, Charmaine had a haughty air about her. Her friend Rondonna followed her like a lamb follows her ewe. Charmaine liked to whisper in Rondonna’s ear where I could see. She often appeared to be laughing at me and pretended to stop when I noticed. When I talked, she interrupted. When I smiled, she frowned. It was childish behavior, but that didn't stop us.
One morning my friend Aubrina put salt into Charmaine's red tea. Charmaine choked on it during breakfast as both Aubrina and I looked on grinning. This began a progression of mean pranks we played on each other. They once greased a floor just before I passed by, and the tray I carried flew into the air as my feet went out from under me. I turned just in time to see Rondonna's bright red hair disappear around a corner.
We once had Sauli, the stable boy; bring us a jar of spiders. We carefully placed them in a box and wrapped them as a gift from an admirer to Charmaine. Regrettably, we were not there to witness her opening it, but Aubrina swore she heard screaming.
I worried what they would do next.
****
An announcement came at the midday meal during the storm. The day help would be staying permanently at the Chateau until the weather was suitable enough for the carriage to take us home. That could be months! The news was met with nervous giggles. I hoped that my family would know I was safe and not come looking for me. I looked anxiously out the window, but the wind was blowing so hard, there was little to see. I thought about the dungeon.
After the announcement, Aubrina acted as though she were on a grand adventure. She danced up and down the halls singing in glee and did not seem to notice the frowns from the older women.
Extra cots were found and set up for us. There were common rooms set up for us to return to when our shifts were over. One for women and one for men. They did not want us wandering around the Chateau, and they did not want us mingling with the men. There were decks of cards to play games and books to read. There was paper for writing letters. Even though there was no way to send them, I still found comfort in writing letters to my mother.
Aubrina could not sit still that first night. The excitement of being away from home had seized her. She wanted to explore the Chateau, but we had been told that since the family was in residence, we were confined to the sleeping quarters or the common room, unless we were on a shift.
I was a strict rule follower while Aubrina laughed at rules.
"When you laugh at the rules, they sometimes laugh back," my mother had taught me.
While I yearned to catch a glimpse of Lucas, I could not ignore the shame I would have felt had I been expelled from my position for breaking such a simple rule, so I refused to join her. I gave her some of my paper and told her to draw or write. "It's calming," I told her.
It worked for a short while, but soon she was up pacing again. Eventually we went to bed.
That first night sleeping in the Chateau, my ears strained to hear sounds from the dungeon. I could not hear anything through the thick stone walls, and we were situated high in an upper floor; but I dreamed I heard the locked door to the cellar creak open, and footsteps that came closer until I woke with a start. I sat up in bed, the room, so dark I could see nothing and my heartbeat the only sound. A fear had gripped me, and I was afraid to close my eyes.
One evening all of us day help girls we were working in the kitchen. Dinner had already been served to the family in residence consisting of Monsieur Traver, Mademoiselle Gwendolyn and Monsieur Lucas.
The servants had also eaten dinner, and those who were off duty had retired to the commons room. The regular live-in staff took advantage of having the extra help this winter by assigning the evening duties to us.
I was cleaning an oven. Charmaine was washing pots and Aubrina was sweeping the floor. The old servant Bates walked by with a plate containing raw beef. He covered it with the silver dome. Aubrina watched him go by, then picked up
her broom and followed him discreetly out the door. I went to stop her.
"Aubrina!" I called out. There was no senior staff in the kitchen to watch over us, so I followed her. "Aubrina!" I called out again. She had already disappeared. I found her staring down the stairway at the dungeon. "Aubrina!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the kitchen. "You must never come here," I scolded her.
"But what is down there?" she asked me.
"Rats, I am told," I answered. "Bates poisons them."
"But why does he need a silver tray?" asked Aubrina.
I didn't answer because I did not know.
Too late, I realized that Charmaine had followed us out and witnessed our exchange. She had an odd smile on her face, and it worried me.
****
Aubrina, the Curious, began secretly exploring the Chateau alone during her shifts. Each evening in the common room, she would write to me of her adventures of the day. She would write of various discoveries. I enjoyed reading her encounters. She was a good writer. She described rooms I'd never seen. She reported Lucas's whereabouts. She discovered secrets affairs among the servants. At the end of each of her letters, she wrote instructions for me to destroy the letter, and I would promptly drop them into the lit fire of our common room fireplace. Charmaine and Rondonna kept careful watch of me waiting for me to forget, but I never did.
One day, Aubrina came upon the open door of Lucas's mother, Madame Merana's bedroom. Madame Anders herself kept that room cleaned and left everything as it was all these eighteen years or so since her death. Servants report that sometimes they heard Monsieur Traver sobbing behind the closed door. Aubrina thought Madame Anders must have carelessly left the door unlocked and ajar. Aubrina stepped inside. A fresh fire had been lit. Aubrina described the beautiful dressing table with a pearl and diamond necklace that had been left as if just taken off. A pearl handled silver hairbrush still held the loose hair of the former Madame Montrell. A silk nightgown was laid across the bed just waiting for her to come to bed. Aubrina was just reaching out to touch it when she heard fast footsteps approaching. It was too late to leave, so she quickly rolled herself under the bed. She heard the door close and could see a man's boots from where she lay hidden It must have been Monsieur Traver. He sat down on a chair beside the bed. For an eternity he did not move. Aubrina was sure he must have heard her heart beating; it beat so loudly. He stood once and walked around the room. He stirred the fire and opened and closed a drawer. At last he left.
Aubrina was out the door as fast as she dared, quietly closing the door behind her. The experience frightened her just enough for her to give up her explorations for a few days. But not for long.
****
With so many of us afoot, and the Chateau at a standstill due to the weather, Madame Anders and Bates struggled to find enough work for us.
I was assigned to the sewing chores as soon as they found I could handle a needle. Sewing confined me to sitting in one spot, where I was used to moving about freely. It hindered my spirits. Life for me became dull. I missed my family. Aubrina's tales of adventure helped fill my emptiness. Aubrina's adventures gave me things to think about as I stitched.
Some nights we sat in a wide window ledge overlooking the side grounds of the Chateau and just talked. We could see all the way to the carriage house when the grounds were illuminated by snow cover and a bright full moon. This was a great place to talk privately as it was very chilly here and the rest of the women, including Charmaine and Rondonna preferred the heat of the fireplace. Tonight, Aubrina had a story about Lucas. I was rapt.
She was cleaning windows on the mountain side of the Chateau. It was always dark on the side that faced the mountain, and the curtains were always drawn, but they set Aubrina to clean the windows anyway. She had trouble drawing the curtains open. They hadn't been opened in so long that the hardware stuck somewhere at the top. Aubrina could have had one of the men servants grab a ladder and repair it, but she decided to just clean the glass with the drapes shut. So here was Aubrina working behind the drawn curtain, hidden from any passersby. She heard footsteps approach and a man's voice.
"Where is that pretty maid these days Ferguson?" she'd heard a man ask. She peeked discreetly out from the drapery to see who had asked. It was Lucas.
"Surely we haven't put her out in the cold to fend for herself or locked her up down in the dungeons for some infraction."
Then they were past and too far away for her to hear Ferguson's reply.
My heart skipped a beat. The thing I disliked most about my new position in the sewing room was that I no longer had the opportunity for chance encounters with Lucas. Mostly the encounters were just glimpses of him walking by, but sometimes he nodded to me. Sometimes he would smile. Being confined to the sewing room as I had been, I had not seen him for days. Who was the pretty maid he had been talking about? I foolishly let my heart think it was me. No one else needed to know of it.
I became aware of Aubrina staring me straight into the face, all seriousness.
"Did you hear me?" she asked. My face reddened in embarrassment. I shook my head and she repeated. "I think there are more than just rats in the cellar. I think someone or something is locked in the dungeon and whatever it is; it eats raw meat."
As if the poisoned rats' story wasn't dreadful enough, but I nodded in relief. I thought she had guessed of my love and affection for Lucas.
"I have to get down there to see!" she told me.
I could not talk her out of it. No amount of reasoning, pleading, or scolding would budge her. Aubrina was determined to carry out this mission. She didn’t listen to me, almost as if she didn’t hear. I worried about what would become of her if she were caught. I refused to help.
A few days later, I had more pleasant concerns to occupy my time.
****
The door opened to the sewing room and Lucas entered. Only Marianne and I were present. Madame White, who kept charge of us, had a headache and was taking a nap. Lucas sat near me and showed me a loose button on the cuff of his jacket.
"Can it be fixed?" he asked me.
"Of course, it can," I answered. "You may leave it here and I will have it returned to you when it's finished." I smiled brightly, but he looked serious and seemed disappointed. "That wouldn't do. You see, it is very chilly in the Chateau due to the weather. If I remove the jacket, I may get a chill. I'm sure that you have heard, as I have heard, throughout my life, of the many maladies and misfortunes that can occur when one gets a chill."
He was teasing, and I blushed. He laid his arm on the side table next to me. Close to me.
"If I lay my arm just so, and promise to be very still, do you think it could be fixed right here?" Then he smiled. He had a melting smile.
"Well of course I could, as long as you hold still," I answered as professionally as I could.
It was very intimate. I threaded the needle and kept my eyes lowered. His hand was a man's strong hand, much larger than my own. I longed to touch the warmth and wondered what it would have been like to hold hands with him. I glanced up once or twice to find him staring at my face. Had Madame White been present instead of taking a nap, this would never have been allowed to happen. As it was, Marianne kept trying to distract him by carrying on a somewhat one-sided conversation, asking after his father and many other trivial such subjects. I carefully cut the thread with scissors as I finished with the button. I watched him warily as he inspected my work.
"I am amazed," he said. "This button has been attached to my jacket so superbly—it makes all the other buttons seem inferior by comparison. I may have to ask Madame White to assign you to re-sew all of my buttons." He was teasing again, and I smiled. Then he bowed and left the room.
Marianne told Madame White at once. I was told I must have encouraged him in some way. I assured her I had done no such thing, but Madame White kept a closer eye on me.
After my shift, I went to the common room. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I only half-listene
d to Aubrina and some nonsense she'd had about someone following her. You'd think I would have dreamed pleasant dreams that night, but instead my dreams were filled with fear. I woke in the night with a near scream in my throat and my heart beating fast. I felt something evil had followed me out of my dream and hovered in the dark where I could not see.
Chapter 37
A few days later, Aubrina was waiting for me when I finished my sewing shift. I was on my way to the servant's dining room for dinner.
"Louisa!" she whispered loudly from somewhere around the corner. I looked but did not see her.
"Louisa!" she repeated.
I found her crouched low, backed into an alcove. I found this ridiculous.
"What are you doing?" I asked her pointedly. "Why are you hiding?"
"I don't want them to see me!" she answered.
"Who?" I asked looking around and not seeing anyone. "Who?"
"Charmaine and Rondonna! I think they were following me. But that is not important. I've been waiting for you. Listen to me. I have something to tell you! Just listen!"
I listened, but I told her to whisper quieter. "The whole Chateau will hear you, if you don't lower your whisper."
"The cellar door is open!" she whispered quietly but urgently.
I heard her but my slow mind was still registering this fact when she repeated herself.
"The cellar door is open! Someone left it open!"
"I heard you!" I answered, but I didn't know what to do. There seemed to be one part of me that wanted to go and look at the door while another part urged me to stay away. I followed meekly along letting Aubrina lead me toward the open heavy door that led to the dark dungeon somewhere far below.
When we got close enough, I could see that it was not really open, only ajar. We crept a little closer.
