Lord Emerson realized that he was partly to balm for her irritation, and decided it best to back down. “I’m sorry that we left you the way we did, but Alain was quite upset, as you could probably tell. After this, though, please don’t wander around. It is very easy to get lost in this house. If you were to get shut up in one of the unused rooms, we wouldn’t be able to find you for, perhaps days!”
Katie didn’t think that Lord Emerson was really sorry at all for his rudeness, and in truth, was actually angry with her because she had not been an obedient child who waited patiently for him to tell her every move to make. She felt that he had apologized only out of etiquette since a gentleman was expected to be polite. After all, it seemed that he had done nothing but apologize to her since the moment they met!
Lord Emerson’s attention was no longer on Katie’s disobedient actions. His insufferable indifference towards her seemed to have returned, as he turned his back to her, and stood before the painting that monopolized the wall, studying it for a moment.
Katie marveled at how he always managed to find little ways of ignoring her, right at the very peak of her infuriation at him! His eyes roamed over the art work, and then turned back to Katie as his intimidating gaze appraised her own features, with a raise of one dark eyebrow.
Katie’s heart raced, as she took in her breath. What if he should recognize her as Alain’s cousin? She realized she was holding her breath, and slowly released it, trying to calm her frantic worries. Would he insist on dragging answers out of her, and then carry on directing her affairs, as it seemed to be his occupation to do? Would he make her confess her relationship to the lovely Alain Yarnell, who was already upset at the prospects of finding her half-sister returning? Katie did not need more complications in her life! She was already having a hard time assimilating all the information she had just discovered. No need to announce her position to anyone.
The insufferable man seemed so determined on being responsible for Katie, it made her wonder what repercussions would come about if he did find out who she was. Would he then insist that Lady Yarnell take her in as a long lost cousin? Alain was already frantic about the fact that her sister, Katherine Gail Winslow, might turn up after all these years. An added cousin might be one relative too many!
No, Katie decided it would not do to disrupt things any more than they already were nor did she have any desire to accept any more unwanted favors from Lord Emerson or her cousin, Alain. She had always earned her own way in the past, and she would continue to do so in the future. Katie reinforced her decision that neither Lord Emerson or Lady Yarnell should ever discover her relationship to the family. To be honest, she was not even certain herself about it. Better to wait and see what else she would learn concerning her own identity.
“It is amazing,” Lord Emerson’s eyes scrutinized her. “You have a remarkable resemblance to the lady in this painting. Perhaps that is what struck me about you last night. The green dress you were wearing is very similar to the one Lady Winslow wore for this portrait. And your hair...it is almost the very same shade...” He seemed to be studying Katie more closely, and Katie quickly turned her face away.
“I am sure you are right,” she tried to sound nonchalant. “My red hair and the green dress in combination made you think of the painting, and you didn’t realize it. It is most likely just my red hair that makes you think I resemble her Ladyship in any way.” She felt uncomfortable having him scrutinize her and compare her to Lady Katherine, who could very well be her aunt. She hastily changed the subject. “Shall we return before Lady Yarnell becomes too distraught at my absence and decides against hiring me?”
Lord Emerson glanced at the portrait once again. The similarity was uncanny, he thought, but he could also sense that Katie felt nervous at his scrutiny. Not wanting to put her in any worse mood than she already was, he shrugged and then ushered Katie down the hall to where Alain Yarnell was impatiently waiting.
“Well, there you are!” She did not sound very happy when she saw the two approaching. “Do you always go wandering about in strange houses, Miss Dow?”
Katie lowered her eyes so Alain couldn’t see how excited they were. She had learned so much about the lives of these people and her relationship to them in the last hour that she felt they would surely be able to read all her secrets in her eyes!
“I’m sorry,” Simple humility was called for, she decided. “I didn’t mean to wander off like that. But if you will only show me where I am to stay, perhaps I could begin my duties without further distress to you.”
“You are quite right. Things are in such turmoil right now, I’m afraid my attention will be in other places. Yet I do have a lot of work for you to do. Come with me, Miss Dow. Where are your things?”
Katie hesitated. Now what was she to say? She had only brought an extra change of clothes in her saddlebags. The rest of her belongings, and clothes had been left back at her home in Windy gates. She didn’t feel up to any long explanation as to how she and Lord Emerson came upon meeting in the first place.
“Actually...I...I do have a few things with me out in the carriage. The rest of my clothes are...are...” Before she had a chance to think of the best way to explain why she had arrived at a position of permanent employment with only one change of clothes, Lord Emerson broke in.
“She means that she left them at Emerson Manor,” he improvised without a trace of hesitation, giving Katie a slight wink. Somehow he seemed to sense that she did not want to go into explanations with Alain.
“You see, Alain, it was the merest chance that we ran into each other last night. Katie came to my home asking about some relatives of hers that used to work at the Manor. She was on her way to stay with those distant relatives and worried that she would be a burden on them, so I suggested she try employment with you. She couldn’t very well come here to apply in the middle of a storm, so I suggested she stay the night at the Manor. After I found out you were still in need of a seamstress, I returned with the news.
“Wouldn’t you know, I was in such a rush to present her to you, that I neglected to throw her trunk onto the carriage rack. However, I will have it sent directly, when I return home.” Alden smiled with self-satisfaction at Katie, as though he had won some sort of private contest with her.
At this far-fetched story, it was all Katie could do to keep a straight face. She conveyed to Lord Emerson with her eyes and the raise of an eyebrow that she found his story rather amusing, and wondered at the ease with which he fabricated his tail. His smile only broadened and he winked at her again. He was beginning to enjoy the turn of events.
“In fact, I should be returning now.” He bowed slightly to the two young ladies, and then made his departure.
“Come along, Miss Dow.” Alain tilted her head in the direction she wished Katie to follow. Katie winced at the sound of her own name, which brought home to her the reality of her deplorable circumstances, and started down the hall after Alain. “I will show you to your room, and after lunch, we shall go over your duties.”
"Thank you," Katie following Alain up the stairs, "but please call me Katie if you will."
"Certainly, if that is what you wish. Right this way, Katie."
They were starting up the second flight of stairs towards the hall where Maggie had led her earlier. When they reached the top, Katie ascertained that they were on the same unused floor, where Maggie’s room had been. The walls were no longer richly decorated, and there were no plush carpets on the floor. Only bare wood floors and drab pale walls greeted them. Banished to the servant’s quarters, Katie thought solemnly, wondering how she was going to adjust to actually becoming a servant.
Alain led Katie into a small circular room that was sparsely furnished with the bare essentials. At least, the room was bright and had a lovely view of the garden from the tall narrow French doors that opened out onto a small balcony, Katie thought indifferently.
"The sewing room is next door," Alain pointed out. Katie nodded. "I shall have lu
nch sent up to you," Alain informed her, “but after this, you will be eating with the rest of the servants down in the kitchen. Our butler will inform you of the eating schedules.” She then departed leaving Katie to herself, with her precarious future to ponder over.
Her room, Katie decided, must be in one of the round turrets that towered above the house. Curiously, she approached the French doors and walked out onto the balcony that clung to the age-old wall of the tower. Standing next to the iron railing that encased the small sun ledge, she looked down in wonder. Below her stretched the expanse of the large, well-manicured garden that was newly in bloom. Lacy-looking iron chairs, which had been painted white, graced the brick courtyard. Lanterns hung in the trees like bright exotic fruit. Katie breathed in the fresh washed air from last night’s storm, and a strange excitement started to grow within her.
All she had wanted to do was discover more about her uncle, and now, all of a sudden, she had discovered a whole family! Sadly, a family that would never really know her relationship to it, but all the same, it was comforting to know that she had family.
Having lived a solitary life with her mother, Katie never dreamed there was anything beyond that. Now she was eager to learn all she could about this newly discovered extension of her own blood.
In the distance, Katie could barely make out the walls of Emerson Manor, and she thought of the story that Maggie had told her about the two families making plans to combine the two estates through marriage of their children. Thinking of that, brought her thoughts to dwell on Lord Emerson, himself. She realized that the very thought of him made her pulse quicken, and this aggravated her. Why did the man affect her so much? She tried to put the thought of him out of her mind, and drew her attention back to exploring what she could see of the garden below her.
Katie’s excited eyes scanned as much of the park, garden, and surrounding view as she could take in from her birds-eye perch. Then she returned to her round room and went through the adjoining door into the sewing room, looking about the square, plain room. Her eyes took in the large cutting table in the center of the room, the few somewhat comfortable looking chairs, and a window seat where she could sew in the bright sunlight. The walls were lined with cupboards, and drawers, and she was eager to investigate their contents.
Katie found that the cupboards were filled with bolts of material of every assorted color and texture imaginable. Silk, cotton, taffeta, satin, wool, and even fur for trimming were at her disposal. In the drawers she surveyed large spools of thread resting on little dowels. Katie discovered a sewing basket in one corner with a treasure-trove of pins, needles, thimbles, scissors, tape-measures, and other odds and ends. In some of the drawers she came upon containers of odd buttons, packets of new ones, and an assortment of beads and bobbles for special effects. Other drawers were full of lace, satin ribbon, fringe, netting, yarn, various colored trimmings, paper for creating patterns, and more supplies than her mother's dress shop ever held! Most marvelous was the very modern treadle sewing machine that would make her job all the more efficient.
On shelves clinging to the plastered walls, were catalogs of all the latest French fashions, which Katie was eager to browse through. This room, Katie decided, was a dressmaker's dream-come-true. She felt she was going to enjoy her position here.
Katie had barely returned to her little round room, when a warning tap on the door announced the presences of the maid before she entered with a tray. This young girl was nothing like the plump Bess who worked for Lord Emerson. She was thin, and even looked a little under nourished. Her tawny brown hair, escaped her cotton cap in long rebellious strands that clung to the sweat on her neck. Katie imagined her quick breaths and the sweat on her skin was the result of having to climb the three flights of stairs to reach the room. She looked a little resentful, that she was having to serve another servant. The tray was deposited on a small desk, and then the slip of a girl, bobbed and turned toward the door, leaving Katie to eat her meal in solitude. Katie found she was famished. She had left her breakfast untouched at Emerson Manor, and so she ate everything that was set before her with great zeal.
She was sure she had never seen or tasted such delicious food before in her life. Or perhaps it was because she was just so hungry. There were little thin slices of beef and duckling alongside an assortment of cheeses. A choice of three kinds of bread teased her decision, while a salad with little round tomatoes, arranged in a nest of several different kinds of greens and grated carrots, invited her eyes with eager anticipation. Katie spied a plate of sweet cakes, frosted in pink with little green leaves clustered about a small sugar rose bud, that promised to taunt her taste buds in delicious expectations. She had hot tea to drink with milk and, upon finishing her meal, she felt very satisfied and refreshed.
Katie pushed the tray aside and stretched with a contented feeling of security, when there was another unexpected knock on the door. Before Katie could rise to answer it, the door was thrown open and a footman stumbled in with a trunk on his back.
"This came for you from Emerson Manor," he grunted and swung the trunk down to the floor with a loud thud.
She felt sorry for the poor man who had to lug the trunk up so many flights of stairs. Seeing from the perspiration flowing down his face, much more so than the maid had shown, it had been quite a task. Before she had a chance to thank the tall gangly man though, he was out of the door and away without a word.
Katie stared, wide-eyed, at the trunk that was taking up a great amount of space in the middle of the floor. Why was it sent from Emerson Manor? Even though Lord Emerson had said something about a trunk of her clothes being left behind, which he would be sending out, that had been a complete fabrication. She had never expected Lord Emerson to actually send one! At the time he had made the statement, she thought perhaps he had planned to arrange with her for someone to travel to Windy Gates and collect her own belongings. However, he hadn't given her the chance to discuss the matter with him, and now this unexpected trunk had arrived. Well, there was nothing for it but to investigate, she giggled to herself.
Opening the lid with the excitement of a child at Christmas time, she peered inside. Neatly folded on top of the bulging pile of Lorna’s clothes, was the green dress she had worn the night before. "Why, he has sent me his sister's clothes!" Katie’s exclamation escaped through astonished lips.
A folded sheet of paper, sealed with the Emerson crest neatly pressed into the wax, was pinned to the dress. With a bewildered smile she removed it, broke the seal and began to read.
My Dear Miss Katie,
You looked so lovely in Lorna's dress last night and quite proper in her gray suit today, that I have decided these clothes would be of more use to you than taking up room at Emerson Manor. They would just end up collecting dust here anyway.
Since it would be difficult for you to return to Windy Gates to gather your own belongings, I am giving this meager assortment of clothes to you as a gift, so please do not refuse me. I have been so clumsy and rude to you that I feel I owe you more than just this collection of discarded outfits. I wish there was more that I could do for you, but I perceive that you would resent it if I tried. Please forgive me, for all my blunders, and accept this gift as a token of my apology.
Lord Alden Emerson
Katie read the note through again, and then laid it aside. At first she felt perturbed. What right had he to give away his sisters clothes? And even if he had the right, what made him think she would accept such a gift? She started to close the lid, thinking that she would return the whole lot, and then she realized that she had no other choice but to keep them.
What would Lady Yarnell think if she returned the trunk when Lord Emerson had implied that she had left her things at Emerson Manor? She didn't feel up to going through all the unhappy details of how she really happened to be here. And as distasteful as it was to face the true circumstances of her situation, she had to admit that she had no clothes of her own to wear. He knew I would have to acce
pt the gift whether I liked it or not! she fumed to herself as her eyebrows puckered into a perturbed frown. Being in that position infuriated Katie in a way she did not understand.
Eventually, she shrugged off her irritable feeling and lifted the clothes from the trunk, one by one. In spite of her aggravation she could not help but feel a certain excitement at having all these lovely clothes, which were unlike any she had ever owned or even made before.
The excitement she felt as she examined each dress brought back memories of her childhood when she had gone through a trunk in the attic, hoping to find some treasure, or perhaps the secret box. Only then her mother forbidding her to get into things that did not belong to her had cut her exploration short.
How could she look for clues, she had wondered, if her mother did not allow her to search for them? Perhaps her mother did not want her to actually find them, she realized now.
Katie shook her head in amusement. These things did not really belong to her either. It was so absurd! She was a mere seamstress. How was she going to explain having expensive clothes such as these? What would Alain Yarnell think of it? Lord Emerson was out of his mind even sending her Lorna's things! There was nothing she could do about it now though, so she began hanging her new belongings in the small wardrobe.
When Katie saw that Lorna’s shoes had been sent as well, she had to laugh because she knew none of them would fit her small feet. She would just have to make do with her riding boots until she was able to purchase some slippers in her own size. Only how was she ever going to explain that to Alain Yarnell? A whole trunk full of lovely clothes and no shoes! She shrugged. When the time came, she would have to think of something. She stuffed the whole lot of shoes under her narrow bed.
Katie was relieved to discover that her saddlebags, with her treasured music box, had been sent up along with the trunk. She wondered about her saddle, but assumed it must have been sent to the stables.
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