On Sunday - Part 3

Back at the manor that afternoon after lunch I went down to have a talk with mother in the drawing room concerning her housekeeper.

"Is there a cause for concern?"

She questioned as she removed her glasses closing back the text she had been reading.

"No." I crossed my legs sitting comfortably on the couch next to her and the chimney. "None, I just want to know, you seem very fond of her."

She smiled. "What do you expect from a lonely heart like myself to do when she was the one that restored back hope to my life?"

"How so?"

"It's not in a sense an epic story but one of significance to me"

"Well, I'm all ears."

"It was on a particularly rainy night," she began.

"you know how the rain in bickport went on for days and weeks nonstop"

I nodded.

"I had grown sick both in heart and soul, my heart stood sick from the predicament and my body suffered from the endless cold. To the extent, that I couldn't fetch firewood for myself to the fireplace. I thought I was going to give up that season with only Earl and Count who were dying as well from the lack of warmth as my companions"

I looked at the cat that was on the floor beside her and the dog at the door. I felt it. The pain. The loneliness.

"It was past 1 am when a knock came at my door. I was surprised because no one came up to the hills at that time of the night not even to the manor.

I was scared and disturbed at the same time but, when the knocks became persistent I got the courage to ask who it was.

A voice replied, telling me it was a desperate woman at my door asking for help.

I had no idea how and why such a person would be looking for me amongst everyone in the parish. But with the desperateness in her voice and her relentless knocking and pleadings, I managed to unlock the door to her.

"That's risky" I commented.

"I know but you could see I was resolved to see the worst happen"

She was in a deep mess. Her hair was all over the place, the gown she wore was torn to shreds and tainted with mud and dirt of all kinds, yet, she still stood strong in the cold.

"Who are you?" I had asked. Only her name she gave and grew mute to my other questions.

I asked what she wanted at last when she wouldn't speak further and she said; "A place I could stay for the night and if possible provide me with a job"

I told her I wouldn't offer much to a total stranger but the deep cough I had caught up to my throat and she went ahead to fetch me water from the kitchen. Seeing there was no fire she lit one on the stove with the pieces of firewood on the kitchen floors and gave me hot water that helped my state.

"I could be of good help to you madame if you would allow me to take care of you and your house. I wouldn't mind the amount of pay you offer me, all I want is a place to stay."

You can imagine my weak and sick self, what else could I do?

I allowed her to stay and she nursed me back to health.

She washed my belongings, made the house clean, fetched wood by herself to light and warm the house, and prepared meals for me. A few days later she arrived with ready men and women to help in the house.

They helped to patch the house, the roofs, and the ceilings and even cleared the overgrown wells and the whole compound. That is how the manor returned to the state you see it in currently.

I took in a breath and repositioned myself.

"That's.…. Quite touching"

"It is son, she was a miracle to me then and still is now."

"But is that all you know about her? No further information? Like… is she married? Her family.… nothing?"

She shook. "Nothing else."