Chapter 9
The carriage lurched to a rough stop and Christine gently woke up Nick who was sleeping on her shoulder. The ride could not have taken very long and Christine guessed it was around one thirty.
"Are we there yet?" murmured Nick still half asleep.
"Yes sleepy head, look at me. Let's make sure you're presentable." Christine was straightening his shirt and wiping dirt off his face as the door to the lavish carriage opened. Christine allowed Nick to climb out first, making sure he was careful not to hurt himself then smiled at Sam, the driver, who helped her out of the carriage. Sam was a nice boy, younger than Christine by about two years she guessed. He was kind and sympathetic to her situation making Christine feel a bit better about the move, 'At least there are some kind people, it couldn't….' Christine's voice tapered off as she gasped her first view of her new home.
The mansion was built with off white stone and consisted of two main wings separated by a middle section which held what Christine assumed to be the main bedroom furnished with a lovely black balcony. All fears of living in an unkempt ruin fled from Christine's mind, the house was beautiful and so were the flowers decorating the front garden. She knelt to smell a beautiful rose on one of the numerous bushes. 'M. DeLauriere must like them' thought Christine.
"Chrissie come look." Shouted Nick, running towards a grand fountain in front of the house. Christine hurried to catch up with her little brother before he could do any damage. The fountain must have been expensive; it had a bowl base with a podium in the middle spraying water up into the air. There were statues of beautiful women sitting around the edge of the bowl; this was one thing Christine knew Nick wouldn't be able to stay away from in the hot summer and she hoped he would be careful not to damage anything.
"It's beautiful Nick but let's try not to touch it, alright?" suggested Christine in a kind voice.
"I wasn't gonna climb it or anything." Murmured Nick.
"Of course not." Laughed Christine. "Well, we shouldn't waist any more time, let's go see the house!" Nick made no reply. Christine pulled her shoulders back and took a fortifying deep breath. It was now or never. She shifted her bag into the other hand so she could take Nick's and together they walked towards the door. Reluctant to let go of Nick's hand she placed her bag on the ground in front of her and lifted the heavy knocker, it swung back and hit the door with a thud so dull, Christine wondered if anyone would hear them at all. She was about to take Nick around back to see if anyone was outside when the door swung open.
"Hello my dears. You must be the guests we are expecting. Come in, come in," Christine attempted to explain to the kind women that they were not guests but in fact, here to work but she couldn't get a word in edgewise."Let me take your bag. How was your trip? Not too rough I hope. It would be dreadful if you were to miss the lunch the Monsieur has had us whip up for you."
Mystified, Christine and Nick followed the maid into a sitting room where she introduced herself as Mme. Fleur. She was rather short and plump but had a kind face that lit up when she smiled.
"Madame, excuse me but did you say that Monsieur DeLauriere ordered this…. Greeting?" asked Christine hesitantly, she was supposed to be working, cleaning, not being treated like a noble woman.
"Yes, of course. Woke us up at five o'clock this morning to get everything ready but don't you be telling him that you know that! He was quite clear that the house was to be perfect, never seen him so excited in my life! What a rare thing my dear and if your presence here promotes that, welcome home!"
Christine couldn't help but smile, the old woman obviously cared a great deal about M. DeLauriere and if someone felt that way about him, he couldn't be that bad. "But Madame, we, my brother and I, are supposed to be here as workers." Explained Christine, still very confused.
"Really? Well, that's the first I've heard of that. No, from my understanding, you were to be guests." Mme. Fleur was obviously confused as well. "No matter, no matter, whatever the case may be, you're here and there is a delicious lunch waiting for you."
With that, Mme. Fleur led them to an awe-inspiring dining room. Dark brown walls reflected off of a shinning marble floor. Black marble statues of angels, Gods and Goddess' looked down at Christine from the high ceiling above. Christine made a slow circle admiring the fine airmanship of the room gasping when she saw the immense table covered with food.
"Mme. That can't possibly be for us, there are only two of us." Christine could not believe that anyone would spend this much time, effort and money on two farm children coming to work, there must be a mistake.
"Oh, but it is dear, I oversaw the production myself. One of our best works if I do say so."
"Well, will M. DeLauriere be joining us?" asked Christine suddenly very aware of her plain dress and hair.
"Oh, I don't think so dear. It's nothing personal you see but I've worked here since I was a girl and I've never seen M. DeLauriere eat. I think it's because of… well, you'll see my dear but no, I don't think he'll be joining you. Now, why are we wasting time? Sit, sit, both of you, eat!" with that Mme Fleur left Christine and Nick to their super. Christine picked at the food in front of her without an appetite. Nick on the other hand devoured his meal with gusto.
"Do you think we'll get to eat like this every day?" asked Nick
"No Nick," laughed Christine "This is our first night, a sort of special occasion." Nick's disappointment was soon overrun by excitement as Mme. Fleur brought out a tray full of desserts. The meal ended with a hyper Nick and a confused Christine.
"All right my dears now, why don't I sow you to your rooms?" At this point, Nick ran ahead to examine some statue or another and called down to Mme. Fleur
"I don't have to go to bed do I? I wanna play."
"Of course you can play!" exclaimed Mme. Fleur seeming very happy to have a little boy in the house. "Let's put your stuff in your room then we'll go outside and find you a ball." Mme. Fleur led the way up a set of grand stairs and first showed Nick to his room.
"Wow!" exclaimed Nick looking around the room. "This is mine?" The room was quite a bit larger than even their kitchen had been.
"Of course it is dear!" Exclaimed Mme. Fleur, what was becoming her trade mark expression thought Christine. "Now, stay here while I show your sister to her room and then we can go play alright?"
Christine kept her eyes down as she followed Mme. Fleur down a door to what she assumed was her room. Christine didn't bother to look up to admire what she was sure was a beautifully furnished room. She was tired from the journey and lack of sleep and upset by her lack of goodbyes that morning and confused by the mysterious actions of her employer.
"Now," came the voice of Mme. Fleur interrupting her thoughts "we must have a little talk."
Hey guys,
I realize that my chapters have been a bit short up to this point but I've tried/am trying to fix that
thanks for the reviews I appreciate them!!
