Chapter IV

Tea With the Maids

I began to get dressed as soon as I reached the bunk again, Will was still asleep, and so I decided to leave a note, informing him of my departure. I wrote quickly, for I knew that four 'o clock was not far away, and I still needed to get dressed. I left the messily handwritten note beside the bunk, hoping that a maid would not find it, or confiscate it. I decided to wear my second dress, the crimson one with the cherry petticoat, but as I unpacked my things I noticed my mother's pearl necklace, and I was suddenly reminded of that terrible day, the day I had lost her. Hiding the necklace back within the other things of my estate-my books, (Shakespeare and English history, mostly) my petticoats, and my pendant, marked with the letters E, A, and S, my initials.

After I got dressed, I walked upon the deck once more, searching for the mop cabinet, where Charlotte was supposedly meeting me. I asked many of the sailors, but they only laughed, and motioned me to go away. Finally, when I was on the verge of giving up and turning in for the night, I noticed a boy with sandy blonde hair, who seemed to be around three years old running towards a door, a chestnut-curled girl followed close-in behind him. Lillian and Matthew. I stepped towards the door, noticing that it was marked, in rusty gold letters with the word: Mop.

Suddenly I felt entirely stupid, and foolish, how could I not have noticed this before? Well, so it always is, you never find something until it is too late, but I had been lucky this time. As I walked into the "cabinet", I noticed that it was a completely different room, with a table, at least twenty chairs, and of course, maids. Gossiping away, they didn't even acknowledge my entrance, so thus I walked in, descrimianting Charlotte among a crowd of younger maids, possibly only sixteen years old.

"Alise! Alise! I'm glad that you could come, I was afraid you couldn't find your way. I was just about to go out and start looking for you, but I was stopped by some of my sister's friends," she said, directing her left hand towards the three girls standing beside her. "Oh, I believe you have not met before, yes? Alise, this is Jane, Maggie, and Lauren. Lauren, Maggie, Jane, this is Alise," Charlotte said, introducing me to the girls. Jane seemed to be rather quiet, almost shy, Maggie was gossipy (not unlike most maids), and Lauren was pretty, the kind of girl one would not expect to be a maid, but rather a young bride. I was about to begin a conversation with the four about my past life, and they seemed somewhat more interested than I thought they would be, when we were interrupted by the clanging of metal on glass.

"Attention, attention please!" ordered an elderly lady, obviously the head maid, "you have half an hour to have your tea before you are required to return to your normal state of work." After that request the maids began to sit down, Charlotte invited me to sit beside her, I noticed Lisa, Lillian, and Matthew seated somewhere near the head maid at the start of the table. "Begin," said the head maid, which was apparently some sort of signal to initiate the maids' eating. The further events of that half hour were completely normal, and not very eventful, but the tea, by the way, was very good, and I was asked by Charlotte to return as soon as I could.

As I walked up to the deck, I noticed only a few soldiers, probably guards stood there, and as I walked down to the cabin, ready to turn in for the night, I noticed that Will was awake, waiting for me at the edge of the stairs. "Where have you been?" he asked, looking none too pleased.

"In the maids' cabin, having tea with Charlotte. Didn't you read the note?" I answered, although he still looked puzzled, then I realized that he probably hadn't read the note I had left. Then he began to look around the area of the bunk, until he came upon the wet piece of paper, holding it up to his face.

"I can't read," he replied glumly, "at least not that, I can only read basic words, and those were taught to me by my mother.

"Oh, I didn't know. But I can teach you," I alleged, trying to offer help to him, for he looked disappointed, and, for the first time, I think he understood my "highness over him".

"You would do that, for me?" he asked, still questioning me.

"Of course, but first I must tell you about Charlotte, and where I have been all afternoon," I said, re-calling the events of this afternoon to Will, he sometimes inquiring me during certain parts.

"So, you've made new friends," he said, looking excluded, but I knew, in my heart that he would always remain my friend, when other friends passed by.

"You'll always be my friend, Will," I whispered remembering my mother's words once more, and I knew that I would complete the task given to me, the task that I knew I would complete alive. Oh, that was my "boring" chapter, but I needed to do that chapter, just to show Will's reading abilities, and the bond of everlasting friendship between Will and Alise. Thank you to Clueless Patty for being the only person so far who has reviewed me! I will try not to make it more depressing, but the story's second-last chapter will be quite tragic, just warning you. Big thrills nest chapter! Thanks again for reading, Juliette Handover