Author's Note: Like I said in my previous chapter this is the second chapter I'm updating at the same time! So in other words… Master Cain is in the next chapter!!!!!

For the time being please continue to be patient, the next time I will be updating will be during the next spare I have on my timetable. Not too far away I promise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 3

By the time Isabella had managed to clean every last dish, and sweep the floor till there was not a single crumb to be found, she was already feeling exhausted.

The head chef watched over her like a hawk and would point and shout whenever she 'missed a spot' of dirt, or 'didn't wash this plate or that glass properly.'

Only when she felt like she was going to lose her mind completely did he finally allow her to leave.

"And I want you back here for lunch as always!" He shouted after her as Isabella walked as fast is she could down the hallway and away from the dreaded kitchen.

So now her next assignment was the ballroom. Like the kitchen it wasn't too hard to find. Situated on the first level of the grand staircase it beckoned forward guests with its beautifully embroidered tapestries, enormous dance floor, and of course the oversized chandelier which illuminated the dance floor from above it where it was hung.

A piano larger than that of the one in the music room, sat in the corner of the ballroom, surrounded by other instruments such as the flute, the violin, the cello and few more.

Isabella dreamed of playing that piano, and what it would feel like to play such a marvelous instrument such as that. With its shining polished ebony, and priceless ivory keys, it made the grand piano in the music room look like a pile of wood chippings.

"Ah Isabella, I see you've finally made it," one of the servants in charge addressed, spotting her gawking in the entryway.

"My apologies," she replied, snapping out of it. "What will you have me do?"

"Well for starters missy, you can grab this bucket and cloth and wash the entire dance floor. I want to be able to see my reflection in it when you're done."

Isabella groaned inside of her, apparently her emotions showed because the head servant gloated as she handed her the bucket.

"Oh, and please don't get in the way of the other maids who will be setting the tables for tonight, okay."

No it is not okay! Isabella thought, picking up her skirts and getting down on her knees.

This was far from okay.

"Now don't tell me you're gonna do that all by yourself," a voice asked.

Isabella recognized that voice, but didn't look up as much as she wanted to. "It seems I have no choice," she mumbled, beginning to scrub a small section of the floor.

She felt someone come down beside her. "Well don't just sit there," he said. "Pass us a cloth."

Isabella sighed. "Marcus, if you get caught helping me we'll both be up in our necks-"

Marcus silenced her with a wave of his hand. "We're both servants, and I'm you're friend, besides what's the worst they can do to me?" He took a cloth from the bucket and began scrubbing.

Isabella refused to waste her breath, she knew ever since the first day she met Marcus that he was never the type who obey and learn from their mistakes. And it was definitely that reason which always saw him in trouble.

Marcus was a young boy of ten with curly blonde locks and bright blue eyes. He was abandoned as a baby on the doorstep of Ellington manor, and was brought up as a servant boy.

From the moment he met Isabella he felt a need to be good friends with her because inside he knew she was in just the same predicament as him, and they both led almost identical lives. The only difference there was that Isabella followed rules, Marcus didn't.

He came and went as he liked, and on a number of occasions he'd publicly embarrassed the Duchess, thinking her to be pompous cow. The only reason he hadn't been sentenced to death by now was that along with his mischief he was also a very clever and sly boy. He would always successfully make it appear as though he'd done nothing, and he'd always have more than two alibis, so they had no choice but to clear him of any suspicions.

Isabella went back to her work with Marcus helping her. After a short while a cough interrupted behind them.

"What are you doing here boy?" the servant from before questioned.

Marcus turned to face her. "I'm helping Miss Isabella, ma'am," he replied.

"Indeed. Who's in charge of you? Where is your master?"

"I finished my work in the greenhouse ma'am. The gardener let me go to lunch."

The servant raised an eyebrow. "Lunch is in another three hours!" She pointed at the grandfather clock.

"Well then it looks as if I finished very early." He winked at Isabella who only rolled her eyes. "And since this is my free time," he continued. "I'm sure I can use it to do whatever I wish. I'm still working after all."

The servant opened her mouth to say something but shut it almost immediately; with nothing left to argue she turned away from them and headed out of the ballroom muttering insults.

"So who did you convince to do your work this time?" Isabella asked, moving across to another section of the floor.

Marcus followed her with a stunned expression on his face. "My dear Bella, I'm insulted! All have you know I actually did my work today!"

Isabella glanced up at him skeptically. "You weeded the entire front garden, planted the new tulips, and pruned the hedges… in less than an hour?"
Marcus's mouth curved into a small smile. "Okay then, I did most of my work."

Isabella sighed and shook her head, before turning back to the floor.

*

"Hmm, not bad I'll admit," the head servant said observing every inch of the dance floor which now gleamed in the sunlight pouring in through the open-curtained windows. "I suppose they'll be requiring you in the kitchen again, go now."

Isabella forced a curtsy even though both her hands and knees ached from scuttling across the floor for at least two hours.

Marcus neglected his bow and took off down the hallway towards the dining room, closely followed by Isabella.

"You know what to do," the chef informed, once Isabella had walked into the kitchen, and he pointed to the pile of plates stacked up on the bench. Marcus entered with a group of other servants who made their way over to the food and carried it into the dining room.

Isabella and another two maids, (Collette and Genevieve), split the dishes between themselves and hurried into the dining room to set the table. The servants served the food, and then everyone scurried back into the kitchen to make way for the Duchess's party.

Isabella and the others in the kitchen helped themselves to the leftover food, taking a seat on the table closest to the dining room doorway, eager to listen to what the morning's news was.

Isabella strained her ears against Marcus slurping his soup, and before long she could hear the source of some commotion brewing amidst the luncheon.

"What do you mean you cannot play!" The Duchess cried. "And why tonight of all nights?!"

Isabella craned her neck further towards the gap between the doorways. The timid voice of the pianist was the next thing she heard.

"Your ladyship, I have injured my fingers most gravely. It would be exceedingly difficult for me to play as you wish."

The Duchess fell back down into her seat and exhaled, plainly frustrated. "All of London's finest noblemen and ladies will be here tonight," she announced. "And as you all know, our main goal is to impress them. The Ellington's reputation has fallen over the years and this needs to be put a stop to, and at balls such as these it has always been traditional to play piano, but without a proper pianist this is impossible!"

There was silence as the audience swallowed the Duchess's words; finally it was Ms Cromwell who spoke up.

"My lady, there is one I know of who could replace Miss Markova. She has had many years of practice on the piano and she has a marvelous teacher."

Isabella's heart skipped a beat.

"And who might this miraculous person be, pray tell Amelia?"

"Isabella, my lady"

Silence fell once again over the dining room, which then broke out into whispers. Isabella couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What's going on?" Marcus shouted. Isabella shushed him with her hand and went back to eavesdropping.

"Absolutely not Amelia," the Duchess retorted. "We had a deal that the girl stays far away from me and this is breaching that agreement."

"It is only for one night, besides Isabella has grown into a beautiful and skilled young lady, she will no doubt melt the hearts of all those noblemen. And I highly doubt, my lady, she will do anything rash to ruin your reputation and the manor's."

Isabella could faintly hear the Duchess's muttering as Ms Cromwell mentioned her beauty and skill, and withdrew from the doorway. She still wasn't so used to people praising her, even though most of what they said was true.

"Isabella are you alright? You haven't even touched your soup yet," Collette observed.

"She's been eavesdropping," Marcus whispered across the table.

Isabella's eyes widened and she slapped Marcus playfully on the back, before picking up her spoon and began eating her soup.

"Oh," Collette smiled. "Anything interested today?"

Isabella shook her head, chewing on a piece of bread. Once she'd swallowed she asked. "How many people will be attending the masquerade tonight?" If the Duchess actually agreed to let her play tonight, (which was unlikely), she wanted to know how many people she would be playing for.

Collette raised an eyebrow then seemed to remember something. "Oh yes, I forgot you've never attended a ball before," she laughed in spite of herself. "Well there's usually at least one hundred or more guests, of course that may have changed."

Isabella's eyes widened, she dropped the bread she was holding. "One hundred?"

"Yes, but seeing as tonight is a special night that number may increase," Collette looked her over. "Are you sure you're feeling alright Isabella? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Isabella nodded and went back to her food. She'd never played in front of such a large audience before; come to think of it she'd only ever played in front of Ms Cromwell, Christine and, him. She was very nervous; her hands even started shaking much to her unawares.

"Are you actually going to attend tonight?" Genevieve enquired, looking somewhat excited. "Other times you always have to do work."

Isabella shrugged, Genevieve prattled on. "Oh if you do come you must meet Earl Hargreaves!"

Isabella slurped the last spoonful of her soup and paused to look at Genevieve. For some reason the name Hargreaves sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't quite pinpoint whereabouts in her memory she remembered it.

"Do you know his first name by any chance?" She asked.

"Afraid not, Bella. Why? Are you acquainted with him?"

"Of course not," Isabella denied. "I just think I've heard of him before."

Genevieve nodded and went back to praising the Earl with a dreamy look on her face. "Oh he was so kind to me once! I'd tripped over the carpet and he helped me up with the utmost courtesy. Oh I do hope to see him again tonight."

Marcus stuck out his tongue in disgust, but Genevieve was too busy daydreaming to notice. Meanwhile Isabella was lost in a world of her own; she was searching her mind for any traces of the man Genevieve was so obsessed over, but didn't seem to find anything.

"Come, we have to clean up the dining room," Collette interrupted, snapping her fingers in front of Genevieve's face to wake her up.

"Alright, alright," she mumbled, pushing her chair out.

Unexpectedly the door to the dining room opened, and whom should they find but Ms Cromwell standing there beckoning for Isabella to follow her.

"I have good news," she proclaimed, taking hold of the girl by the hand and pulling her inside leaving the other three to stare curiously after them.

Isabella's expression didn't alter much, she was just a little astonished at Amelia's entrance. As for the 'good' news, she'd already spoiled that for herself.

Ms Cromwell pulled her on towards the ballroom and steered her inside in the direction of the massive piano.

"Sit, sit," she hastened. Isabella sat for fear of being barked at. "Now play," she continued. "I want to hear you play me a song."

"Which song," Isabella hesitated.

"Any! How about that one you said you haven't perfected yet." She put extra emphasis on the word perfected, as if she didn't believe it.

"But I-"

"PLAY IT!"

Isabella shrank away for a second then cleared her throat and began to play. Her fingers practically flew over each of the beautiful keys hitting each note perfectly which erupted into a sweet song.

All the heads in the room turned towards her. The maids stopped what they were doing and paused to take in the melody and who was playing it. There were many shocked faces once they saw Isabella; even the head servant opened her mouth in awe.

Isabella tried to ignore them and focused on just playing, pretending it was just her and her mysterious angel as always. Of course it felt somewhat strange not having the familiar violin accompanying her.

Finally it came time to hit the last note, and as she did so everyone in front of her clapped and cheered. Isabella stood to curtsy, feeling inside of her a sense of achievement. Ms Cromwell watched her with a proud expression and clapped along with the others.

"Bravo!" She cried.

And from not so far away the Duchess thought to herself. "Very well, we have our pianist."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poor Bella, she just keeps getting pushed and pulled around by everyone! In this chapter I also introduced 3 other characters by name, (Marcus, Collette, and Genevieve).

I chose the name Genevieve cos one of my best friends said that was one of her favourite names.

Even though Marcus is very cute and mischevious he's not my type of favourite character. That doesn't mean I don't like him! Genevieve is a bit of an airhead and Collette's more the busy work, work, work person.

Final thought- I can't wait for the masquerade ball XDD!! It's one of my favourite scenes in the whole story.

Next chapter we finally get to see Cain! . Riff, adorable Merryweather, and even… Oscar. Keep in mind there may even be a little reunion concerning two of our characters, and a bit of romance later on…

Till then, please READ AND REVIEW!

Adieu