Chapter 16

A moment of silence settled over them as they drank their wine extremely slowly than usual. Both looking ahead. Not daring to speak. After what seemed like ages, Mr Carson cleared his throat. Mrs Hughes looked up at him startled with wide eyes.

Still without looking at her he asked softly, "Did you have to undergo that too?"

"Undergo what?" Mrs Hughes asked completely oblivious as to the subject of his question.

"Were you… were you punished too? For speaking Gaelic?" he asked again and faced her. His eyes meeting hers. Her ace darkened and she looked downwards.

"Yes," she replied in a strong voice. He was surprised for he expected that she would have sounded hurt about his question, and was mentally kicking himself for asking, but the tone of her reply startled her. She felt his eyes on her and she knew her tone would have surprised. Elsie Hughes had gone through a lot in her life but she hated pity. She did feel weak when unwelcome memories invaded her mind, but she was not the type of woman to crumble at the thought of something that happened in her childhood, something much more simple than most of the other things she had gone through.

"It was when… I was …" she began but he cut her off.

"I'm sorry Mrs Hughes. I… I shouldn't have brought it out," Mr Carson stopped her, now furious with himself for asking her so many uncomfortable questions tonight.

"Now that it's come up I'll just tell it and get over it Mr Carson," she said, still not looking at her. Taking his silence as an answer in the affirmative, she began again.

"I was around eight or nine at the village school. It was a new teacher. He was quite… strict and had his own ways. Anytime we spoke in Gaelic, he brought us in front of the classroom and caned us. His surname was Brown so one couldn't guess where he was from exactly. He spoke in a very English accent but I do remember clearly that there were traces of a Scottish accent that he hid well. One day a boy hit me on the head with a pebble in class and I was furious. I turned around and scolded him, in Gaelic. We spoke both Scots and Gaelic at home so it was normal. Mr Brown heard me, called me in front and caned me. My hand was all red and bleeding, then it turned to purple and I daresay it wasn't a pretty sight. It was the first of many," she finished with a sigh.

Mr Carson looked at her with so much tenderness in his eyes. This was the very first time that she had told him something so personal in her life. Regardless of the fact that it was just an incident at school, it seemed to him that it had struck deep in her heart, wounded her. He thought of how little he knew of the woman behind the Housekeeper. He was honoured that she had confided in him. But he couldn't help but wonder about who she really was, and what her life was before she embraced this never ending cycle of life in service. She should certainly have had a "life" before this. They all did. And God knows "he did", a much colourful one, now turned distasteful to him. And all he could do was to hope that he would be lucky to know that little girl she once was, the "woman" she now is.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that Mrs Hughes," he said trying to make his voice a whisper but failing epically. His booming voice could never be softened into a regular whisper.

"That's alright Mr Carson. It was almost a lifetime ago," she replied with a light laugh but the fact that that laugh was so weak and tainted with pain was not lost to him though her zealous attempt to sound perfectly normal. A moments silence again as they both drained their glasses.

Mrs Hughes was the one to break the silence. "Perhaps I should go up now Mr Carson, it's rather late and I'm afraid I have to make an early start tomorrow."

"Of course," he replied and stood up watching the way she stood up from her chair and smoothed her hands on the front of her skirts. She took the candle on the table with her and put out the one at her desk. He walked out of the door and she followed him, then locked the door. He waited standing a few feet away watching her lock up, using a key out of the many that hung from her waist. Having finished it, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Good night Mr Carson."

"Good night Mrs Hughes."

He watched her turn her back to him and walk away towards the staircase that led up to their quarters. Her head held high. The gentle swaying on her hips yet the walk strong and confident. The jangle of her keys at her strong steps. He watched her reach the bottom of the staircase and make her way up. The light slowly disappearing and her form engulfed by the darkness of the night that lurked the hallways of a house in its own deep slumber, just as those within. All except two. Just for now. And maybe for some time more into the small hours of the morning. Both daring to dream of forbidden dreams, forbidden only in the world they lived in. This little world within a boundless world of lands and seas.

He stood alone in the corridor for some time, sighed and made his own way up into the darkness with a weak yellow light of a candle in hand. Daring to dream of perhaps another lifetime when the staircase no longer parted them into two different directions. Only forward into one. Together. A dream, in the exact sense of the word. The kind, he thought, that one sees in deep slumber in the middle of the night and knows perfectly well that would never make it into reality come the harsh light of the morning and day.

To be continued…

Thank you again for your kind reviews! They are a marvellous encouragement. And I'm really enjoying writing this. I'm glad that I've been able to update the story regularly during the last few days and I really, really hope that I would be able to keep this up. Please let me know what you think of the chapter in the reviews. I'm ever so grateful for your reviews. See you soon with a new chapter.