The maid gently brushed Alice's shoulder-length hair out of its restraining headband. Alice had always been proud of her hair, and hated her father for forcing her to wear it up. Just because she was 18 now, a woman of marriageable age, did not mean she had to hide what she considered her most beautiful attribute.
It had been a disastrous evening. Alice had to dance every dance in the ball with Mr. Delaney, a Scottish man whom she was expected to marry. She was also expected to go to Scotland in the upcoming months to spend time with him and his family. As a typical Londoner, she knew nothing about Scotland other than it was cold, wet and generally miserable.
Delaney wasn't the only reason she had to go up North. Ever since she was little, Alice had been having unusual, recurring dreams of strange, otherworldly creatures. She had a doctor, a man of German descent named Mr. Snyder. His ointments, tinctures and powders did nothing to eliminate her dreams or "imaginings" and only gave her stomach pains, making her irritable. Snyder had recommended a stay in Scotland, saying the fresh air and time away from her family home may relax her.
Preparations for staying in Scotland went well. Her father was an organised man, even if he was away on business in Europe for months at a time. Alice was raised by her governess, a Miss Foster, because her mother had died in childbirth. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, and Alice had never truly felt the loss. Miss Foster was a very kind Welsh woman, and because she was an unmarried lady with no children of her own, she took very good care of her charge. It was Miss Foster, or Theresa as Alice called her, who would be going to Scotland with her. They would be staying in her father's hunting lodge, a masculine, medieval fortress where they stored furniture they didn't want cluttering up their London townhouse. Although Alice has never been before, she dreaded having to stay somewhere which everyone claimed was dusty, draughty and generally unpleasant.