Chapter 6 – Sophie
Judy began to stir in her bed as the new morning sunlight gently rose against the manor house. She opened a solitary eyelid before closing it again as she buried her face in the bed's soft pillows. The sudden memory of last night seemed to flash in her mind again. Rising, she threw the bed covers off and dashed to the bedroom door. Snatching her dress robe, she crossed the room, about to reach for the door's handle, when a sudden knock sounded on it. Judy, utterly surprised by this, jumped back a few steps as her nose trembled in fear.
"Ms. Hopps?" A soft-spoken voice called from the other side of the door.
"Yes," Judy replied, her voice cracking as she clutched the robe in her paws tighter to her chest. She continued to stare bewildered at the door before her.
"It's Tabitha, Ms. Hopps. We met briefly last night." Tabitha, the young housemaid, spoke again through the closed door. "Mrs. Otterton asked me to come and check on you and see if you were up, and I bought up a breakfast tray for you."
"Oh, yes, come in," Judy replied, breathing a sigh of relief as she moved back toward the bed, slipping on her robe as the door began to open. Smiling at the young rabbit as she entered, Judy noticed Tabitha's young features in the room's light. Tabitha looked to be at most eighteen years of age. Her slender frame and pure white fur seemed to amplify her beauty regarding her face and long ears.
"Mrs. Otterton thought it would be best if you could sleep in a little longer due to your late arrival." Tabitha continued to smile back at Judy as she moved to the small table in the bedroom. "I'll just set this down here then, Ms. Hopps."
"Thank you, Tabitha." Judy walked over to the table. "What time is it?" She asked as she walked over to the tray. "And please, call me Judy." Before taking a seat, the smell and sight of fresh oatmeal and buttered toast welcomed her. A single serving teapot and some fruit jam sat next to her plate.
"Just after eight, Ms. H...I mean Judy." Tabitha fumbled, blushing as she addressed her by her first name.
Biting into a slice of toast, Judy poured herself some tea. "When is breakfast served downstairs?"
"Breakfast is served in the staff dining room at six-thirty each morning. Except on Sundays, of course. Breakfast is at eight to allow the house staff to sleep a little longer." Tabitha answered as she moved over to the bed and started messing with it. "Mr. Wilde is adamant that the staff be allowed this and light housework on Sundays." The young maid moved the pillows aside and turned to the small fireplace. "Your meals will be served upstairs with Sophie, seeing as you are her governess now."
"Oh, I see," Judy replied, a little uncomfortable by this as she began to eat her oatmeal.
"Oh...I forgot!" Tabitha called out suddenly before rushing to the door. "I forgot to check on Sophie this morning."
Judy continued to eat as she watched Tabitha leave the room. Setting the spoon she was using down, she rose from the chair and moved to her room's window. The morning sunlight, peering through the opening in the drapes, flooded her bedroom as Judy pulled them apart. Shielding her eyes for a second, she glanced out for the first time at the lush green grounds of Casterly Manor. Its well-manicured lawn and shrubs seemed to be as if out of a fairytale. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the morning sun. A few moments later, deciding to wash before starting her day, Judy left to shower before returning to her room and dressing. She took a few extra minutes to brush out her fur thoroughly and stared back at her reflection. Perched on her vanity stool, she continued to examine her features when a sudden thought, her new employer, Mr. Wilde, sprang to her mind. "Was it he or Mrs. Otterton that hired me?" She thought to herself. "Does he even know I have taken the position here? And if so, will he find me acceptable when I finally meet him?"
After fastening the last button on her gray teacher's dress, the doe took another minute to ensure her outfit was presentable. Her ears low along her shoulders as she ran a few fingers along the underside of her chin and neck. "I will never be a true beauty." She told herself. "Just a plain-looking bunny." Judy turned and walked to the door of her room and along the hallway. Reaching the main staircase, she stopped and gazed down, for the first time, at the elegance of the floor below.
Judy noticed the numerous delicate wood carvings etched within the manor's walls, stepping into the foyer. Drawing her eyes along the foyer wall, she observed the massive collection of weapons hung from the walls. Sabers, each positioned in an arch, were placed identically to the other. Above them, set in the same manner as the blades, looked to be older-style flintlock rifles for different size mammals. Opening her mouth in amazement, she slowly made her way into what appeared to be a living room decorated in a colonial style. Two beige-colored sofas sat across each other, flanked by a white marble mantelpiece. Two high-backed chairs of deep gray fabric and dark wood faced the sofas. Judy's eyes fell to the floor. She felt the softness of the room's giant Turkish rug on the pads of her feet.
"Oh, Ms. Hopps, lovely to see you this morning." Mrs. Otterton, who had entered behind her, spoke, dressed in black housekeeper attire. A rather old, light blue cleaning apron wrapped around her midsection. The elderly otter approached one of the room's massive windows as she straightened the curtains.
"This place is so amazing, Mrs. Otterton." Judy walked to a set of sliding doors leading into another house room. She peered in and then back at Mrs. Otterton. "The manor seems so ancient. I can't imagine the pain on the staff to keep it up.
"Oh, the pains are all mine, my dear." Mrs. Otterton laughed a little at her own words. "That is one thing for sure, from the many years I have been a part of this household." The female otter walked over to the mantel and began to dust off its bare shelf. "The one thing Mr. Wilde hates is seeing the manor shut up and all the furniture covered. So, I always have to ensure the house is ready to receive him and any guests, should he arrive back." Mrs. Otterton pocketed her dust cloth in her apron's front pocket before brushing the top of her head with a paw. "Tabitha," She called out. "Are you out there?"
"Yes, Mrs. Otterton." The sound of Tabitha's voice called back from the foyer.
"Is Sophie upstairs, or is she out on the grounds?" Mrs. Otterton asked as she walked over to Judy.
"She is upstairs in the library, I had just checked in on her." Tabitha's voice called out again as a door closed moments later.
"Well," The female otter looked around the room, eyeing everything before returning to Judy. "If you follow me, Ms. Hopps, I will introduce you to Ms. Winters. Follow me, please." As the pair made their way through the room, Mrs. Otterton briefly discussed parts of the house she deemed essential for her to know. "I'm sure you've noticed our rather…." She cleared her throat. "…large collection we have here, Ms. Hopps." The pair stood in the center of the room. "In the time before Mr. Wilde's grandfather, it was the duty of the warden of this area to be able to arm the local militia if called on.
"Now, if you have questions about any room down here," She motioned along a hallway leading off the foyer. "The door just to the right of the hallway will lead you downstairs to the house staff area." They began to climb the main stairs. "The main library is on the second floor, along the west wing. Sophie spends most of her days between the library and her room. However, I always encourage her to go outside and explore the grounds on good days. A young vixen such as her should be outside more often."
"What about Sophie's mother? Is she somewhere nearby?" Judy asked politely as the pair reached the second floor and made their way along the landing.
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that, Ms. Hopps. At least not truthfully." Mrs. Otterton looked back over her shoulder. "From what I have gathered from Mr. Wilde, her mother died almost a year ago. He informed me the mother was a very close friend, you see. So after learning of her untimely death, he brought Sophie to live here as his ward." She stopped before a set of doors across from each other. "Well, anyway." Mrs. Otterton waved a paw lightly in the air. "Here we are, Ms. Hopps. Before I introduce the two of you to each other, I wish to inform you of something. All the staff knows this rule, so this room here." She moved to the other side of the hallway. "Is Mr. Wilde's private office." She placed her tiny paw on the door's surface. "His public office is located downstairs, next to the solarium. He is very protective of this room and does not like anyone going inside without his knowledge. It was his father's before him and his father before." Mrs. Otterton returned to Judy to reach for the library's door handle and opened it. Pausing momentarily as she entered, Mrs. Otterton, leading Judy, noticed the young vixen sitting on one of the room's window seats and called to her. "Morning, Sophie." She stepped aside to allow Judy to enter the library fully. "I would like you to meet Ms. Hopps, my dear. Mr. Wilde has hired her to be your governess.
Rising from her seat, Sophie stood beside the window seat after hearing Mrs. Otterton call her name. Her head bowed low; she averted her face so the two other females could not see the redness of her eyes. Judy, catching sight of her, noticed that the vixen's height was only slightly a few inches taller than her own. At only ten years of age, Sophie could not be described as anything but simply breathtaking. From the color of her soft white fur to the silkiness of her ears, Sophie's arctic fox features seemed to amplify her natural beauty. She began to take in more of the vixen as she moved further into the room. Her thin body, Judy also noticed small traces of dark grey along Sophie's front and rear paws. Her thick, soft tail hung low behind her, curved around her leg, as she continued to stare out the window.
"Hello, Ms. Winters." Judy addressed Sophie in a soft, welcoming tone. "How would you like to be addressed? Would you prefer Sophie or Ms. Winters?" Judy asked, taking a step closer to her. For a moment, the young vixen did not say a word before she replied in a mumbled voice, "Sophie," before taking her seat once more. Judy, clearly able to hear her words perfectly, smiled at her. She turned to look at Mrs. Otterton, who remained by the door during the encounter. "Thank you, Mrs. Otterton. I don't wish to keep any longer from your morning work." Judy, confident with the situation, spoke to her.
"It was no trouble, my dear." The aged otter answered back before closing the door. "I'll say goodbye for now, and I'll check back on you both briefly to know where you wish to place the lunch trays later in the day."
Sophie turned her head away and gazed back out the window. Unsure of what to do next, Judy continued to stand out of reach from Sophie as she rubbed the back of her right paw. Sophie caught sight of Judy while glancing back at her. Judy, shifting herself, noticed the unmistakable signs of a child having cried herself dry.
"What's wrong, Sophie?" She asked the vixen worryingly. "Please, it's alright." She glanced over her shoulder toward the door and back again. "You can tell me."
Raising a paw to her eyes, Sophie rubbed them and sniffed slightly along the brim of her nose. "It's nothing, Ms. Hopps." She shifted herself on the window seat. "I'm just acting like a selfish kit, that is all."
"Why would you say something like that?" Judy's ears fell limply to her shoulders at these words. Unable to believe what she was hearing, she raised an eyebrow with a confused look.
"Because Mrs. Elker, who looked after me before I came here, would say that when I would start crying at night, thinking of my mother." Sophie looked over at Judy. "I'm just scared. I'm starting to forget her face and features, and I don't want to forget them." Sophie began to break down and cry. "I couldn't even grab the picture of her and myself together before they took me away from her bedside."
Judy reached out and embraced the young vixen in her arms without speaking. The pair sat motionless on the window seat; Judy was overcome by emotions and felt her eyes burn with tears as she held Sophie's head to her chest. "I know it is hard, Sophie, young as you are, to lose a parent," Judy spoke after a few minutes. "I was three when I lost both of my own." She lifted the vixen's face up to eye level. "Faces will fade in time, but we must remember the love they gave us." Judy wiped a few tears from Sophie's eyes before sniffing and cradling the vixen's head against her body.
They continued to gaze along the lush green lawn below before Sophie said, "Thank you for understanding, Ms. Hopps." She wrapped her paws around Judy's waist. They remained where they were for over an hour, getting acquainted. Judy, for her part, helped keep the subjects discussed between them on a happier level. Slowly, a smile started to appear on Sophie's face. It was only when Judy told of a time when she was a student at Ravenswood, during an acting skit, that Sophie laughed aloud to her for the first time.
"Well, I'll admit, it was not one of my finest performances." Judy, laughing also, shifted herself off the seat to the floor. "But the kitchen maid at the school did not take kindly to the amount of ketchup I wasted during my death scene." She observed as Sophie rose, and the pair walked over to a large English oak table in the center of the room. "Let's get in some schoolwork before lunch, shall we? I'm unsure of your education levels, so how about we review a few things?"
True to her word, Mrs. Otterton, two hours later, emerged back in the library as Judy was finishing her examination on a few math equations she had set for Sophie to test her knowledge. Sophie, seated to her left, nervously gazed as Judy made a few notes on the sheet of paper. Both females turned their attention to Mrs. Otterton, happy for a break to enjoy their lunch.
Judy, her attention shifting to the clear blue sky through the window, spoke to the aged otter as she closed the gap between them. "Mrs. Otterton, would it be too much trouble if I were to ask for a simple lunch we could enjoy out on the grounds?" She looked over at Sophie, a look of confusion on her face. "It seems a waste not to enjoy the day a little. Would you not agree, Sophie?" The young vixen simply shrugged her shoulders, continuing to write something.
"No trouble at all, Ms. Hopps." Mrs. Otterton spoke, "I can have Mrs. Dammore put together a few sandwiches and a light salad for you two. There is also a small blanket in one of the storage lockers downstairs you can use."
Later that evening, after a delicious dinner, the two females were to find themselves downstairs in one of the manor's small sitting rooms. Judy had suggested this to Sophie, allowing them to enjoy their evening hours in a more relaxed environment. A small brass mantle clock, set above a simple low burning fire, finished its quarter-hour chiming as Judy, reading a novel she had found in the library earlier in the day, sat on a small sofa. Sophie was lying on her stomach on the floor, close to a dying fire, examining a large atlas book, her tail brushing Judy's feet. Mrs. Otterton, having finished her duties for the evening, had joined them later that evening. Sitting in a modest, high-backed chair, she had taken to mending a colorful shawl she had found earlier in the day.
"Ms. Hopps," Sophie spoke, peering over her shoulder. "Have you ever wanted to travel across the ocean?"
Judy, lowering her book, thought for a moment before answering. "I don't know. Maybe one day. I would love to see Paris." She smiled down at her. "What about you?"
"No, I don't think so." Sophie turned back to the book and flipped a page. "I think I would be too scared to leave."
"Never be too afraid of a bit of adventure, Sophie." Mrs. Otterton spoke from her stitching. "Think of Mr. Wilde and all the places he has seen and been." Finishing a few last stitches on the shawl, she placed her sewing needle back in a small ornate box, perched open beside her on a side table. She briefly ran the soft material through her fingers before whispering "Emmitt" under her breath.
Judy turned to look over at the aged otter with her left ear twitching. "Did you say something, Mr. Otterton?" Judy once again closed the book she was reading as she gazed over.
"Oh, it's nothing, dear," Mrs. Otterton responded to Judy's question. "I was just thinking of my late husband, Emmitt; bless him." She slid off her chair, still holding the colored shawl in her paws. "I just remembered when he purchased this for me during one cold late evening while in the village together so many years ago." Judy and Sophie had turned their full attention to her as she continued. "He had noticed me eyeing it in one of the shop windows a few days earlier. We had taken a stroll near the waterway before he excused himself momentarily." She grinned at the two females. "Distracted by the sight of the setting sunset, I began to feel cold. It was then I felt this wrapped over my shoulders." She smirked as Sophie snickered at these words. "He always loved to spoil me with what little money we had then, with both of us working for the Wide's family. The mantel clock in the room, chiming the oncoming hour, caught Mrs. Otterton's attention. Noticing the lateness of the evening, she stepped over to where Judy sat. "Here, Ms. Hopps, before I head up for the night, this is for you." She spread the shawl wide and draped it around Judy's shoulders.
Startled by this, Judy glanced at it. "But...Mrs. Otterton, I can't."
Mrs. Otterton prevented her from finishing speaking. "No, you can, my dear. I know you'll use it more now than I do." She placed her right paw on Judy's shoulder, turning to leave them. "Now, I'll say goodnight to you both."
Adjusting it a little more, Judy felt the softness of the shawl on her fingers. Unable to think of the words to describe this gift, Judy looked over to Sophie, who was now sitting up. "What do you think, Sophie?"
"I think it looks beautiful on you, Ms. Hopps." The young vixen, too, began to feel the shawl.
"Well, I think it's bedtime, young lady." Judy smiled at her as she set her book aside before waiting for Sophie to get to her feet.
"In the morning, we'll review some vocabulary, and then I want to test you on French." Later, Judy discussed a few more lesson plans with Sophie on the second floor as they walked along the hallway to their rooms.
"Ms. Hoops, can I ask you something?" Sophie was wary a little as they both stopped by her bedroom door. The young vixen looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was around. "Did you hear laughter late at night when you arrived?" She looked into Judy's eyes before lowering them to the floor.
"Yes, Sophie, I did," Judy replied as she touched her paw on Sophie's shoulder. "I asked Mrs. Otterton about it this morning." Judy took a moment to gaze toward the hallway leading to the locked door. "She mentioned an older staff member named Anna, who works downstairs with the kitchen staff." Against the dim light of the burning oil lamp she was holding, Judy noticed something suddenly off by the look on Sophie's face at hearing this. "Sophie, is something wrong?"
"No one by that name works in the kitchen," Sophie answered slowly. "At least, not that I have seen since arriving here. She then looked up and down the corridor. "I've started locking my door at night due to it. Once or twice, scratching on my door has wakened me up."
Putting on a brave face, Judy smiled at her. "I'm sure it's nothing to be alarmed by, Sophie." Before ushering the young vixen into her room. "I'll see you in the morning." Judy watched as she entered her room and shut the door behind her. The doe lowered the oil lamp onto a side table beside her door as cold air whistled through the manor's upper floor. Judy raised her ears high at once, listening cautiously for any sounds along the passage. As she walked toward her bedroom, increasing the height of the lamp's light, she struggled to gaze further into the darkness. Judy stopped before her door, looking over her shoulder and back along the corridor. She opened her bedroom door, bathing the spot she stood in light from her room's lit fire. Judy extinguished the lamp before stepping inside, locking the door behind her.
Later the following morning, Judy, thinking of a way to briefly converse with Mrs. Otterton, suggested that she and Sophie would benefit from a leisurely walk outside. Taking a moment to excuse herself, Judy took the opportunity as Sophie cleared up her school papers to go downstairs. "Once you put everything away, Sophie, I'll meet you downstairs." She eyed the young fox as she opened the library door. Within minutes of walking along the small passage downstairs, Judy arrived at Mrs. Otterton's open office door. "Mrs. Otterton," Judy knocked before stepping inside, eyeing the female otter sitting at her desk. "May I have a word, please?"
"Certainly, my dear." Mrs. Otterton smiled as she turned to face Judy. "I hope your morning has been well?"
"Oh yes, thank you," Judy replied, stepping inside the office. "I don't wish to bother you earlier, but I must ask something."
"Of course." Mrs. Otterton answered in a friendly manner.
Unable to think of how best to ask, Judy looked at the aged otter and said, "Sophie mentioned something last night just before she went into her room, you see." She paused before taking a seat next to her. "Is there an Anna that works with the kitchen staff?" "I'm asking this because of what Sophie had said." Judy continued, keeping her eyes on Mrs. Otterton. "She stated that she had not seen or met anyone by that name down in the kitchen since she arrived at Casterly. Is there any truth to this?"
The happiness and smile on Mrs. Otterton's drained slightly at hearing the question asked before her. The otter, taking a deep breath for a moment, stayed silent. She lowered her head, "All I can say, Ms. Hopps, is yes and no." Mrs. Otterton looked back at Judy before eyeing the office door, ensuring no one was nearby. She got up from her seat and walked to the door, closing it. "Anna is a particular case, Ms. Hopps, as to staff. She had been a staff member during his father's days. Mr. Wilde has known her since he was a young kit himself." She walked back over to her desk. After all her faithful service to the family, Mr. Wilde allows her to remain here since her retirement."
"I'm afraid; I think she is frightening Sophie late at night." Judy, a concerned look on her face, continued. "Perhaps I should talk to her and..."
"No, I'm sorry, but that is out of the question." Mrs. Otterton interrupted. "Mr. Wilde has given strict instructions that no staff other than myself to talk to her. I'm sorry to lead you the wrong way, Ms. Hopps. I'm simply following orders." She glanced over at the office's small mantel clock. "I better get a move on." She spoke, stepping toward the door again. I'll be late getting started with the cleaning schedule." She held the door open for Judy. Not wishing to hold her up further, Judy rose and exited the office. Smiling back at the aged otter, Judy set off to meet with Sophie for their walk.