Outcast.

Forcefully, Jacob plunged his way through with heavy footsteps loud enough to wake up anyone if they were still sleeping... By this, if Elizabeth was really in her room, she ought to have become alerted.

Once, at the corridor, Mr Blythe had called out...

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!"

No answer.

"Why won't she answer?" asked Jacob demandingly.

Since Louisa was the one closest to his side, she began to panic.

"I have no clue, father! Perhaps, we should have consulted the housekeeper about Elizabeth's welfare since she was kept in Bessie's care," said Louisa in a frightened tone.

Even though she wasn't the kindest or most considerate of Elizabeth, she could sense now that something was oddly wrong for the fact that Beth had not shown up before the family since they had returned from Aegremonth.

'Wha- for say! It shouldn't be that she has harmed herself in secret,' perceived Louisa as her fears crept deeper into her mind.

"There is no need to get the housekeeper involved, my dear. Are you not already near Elizabeth's bedroom door? If she can't hear your call, then you can at least knock," said Letita who had by now caught up to her husband and daughter.

Trustingly, Louisa complied with her mother's words while her father, Mr Blythe also concluded in his heart that his wife had said sensible words.

While she watched her husband reach closer to Elizabeth's bedroom door, Mrs Blythe laughed wickedly in her heart because of what she had done and had put in place inside Beth's room.

Being a crafty woman by nature, Letita had always been careful to reveal solely the part of herself that she felt people needed to know by right. Therefore, neither her husband nor her daughter, Louisa, knew that she was thoroughly skilled in the act of calligraphy and writing.

The only one who should be able to detect that the handwritten note in Beth's room was not in Elizabeth's handwriting, should have been Bessie but since Mrs Blythe had crafted her 'beautiful surprise' very well, she knew how and when to deprive the housekeeper from intruding in her perfect plotted 'Element of surprise'.

Jacob, by now, had reached for the door and decided to call on Elizabeth one more time before knocking on the door.

"Elizabeth! Honey! Are you okay?" said Mr Blythe as he finally began to succumb to his inner worries.

'This is very unlike my Elizabeth...'

TAP! TAP!

No response.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

No response.

Due to Mr Blythe's frustration, at this time, beads of sweat had begun to arrange in parallels about his forehead. Since he had his back facing his wife and other daughter, Louisa, neither of them could tell what was going on with him.

Impulsively, Jacob turned on the knob in an attempt to open the door while he pulled his chest outward in a bid to get in once the door would get open.

To his surprise, an obstruction coursed through his chest region forcefully pushing him back. Hence, he realized the door was locked.

'The door is lock-'

"Elizabeth! I demand that you open this door at once! When did you become so mischievous?"

"It has always been in her nature my dear, you just never noticed except me. That is why I make sure to discipline her accordingly," Letita chipped in, callously.

However, Jacob snarled and let out a sigh because he knew better while Louisa was at the verge of giving in to her tears.

TAP! TAP!

"Elizabeth! Will you open the door or you expect me to do it by force?" threatened Mr Blythe as he had grown excessively exhausted by his second daughter's pranks by now.

Bessie was careful all this while, only to peep from a distance. She stood by the entrance to the hallway while she peered at the others' activity.

'Should this not be a good time to break the news to the master of the house how that Elizabeth had journeyed to Aegremonth and has yet to return?' contemplated Bessie in her heart which was sorely breaking as a result of the recent unfolding.

Meanwhile, Mrs Blythe had grown tired of observing her husband knock on Elizabeth's bedroom door continuously while he called out her name alongside. She was now at the risk of developing a headache due to the repetition of the whole process.

Therefore...

"My dear, why put yourself through so much trouble when you have the spare keys to all the doors in this house in your possession?" said Letita, purposefully.

"Yes, you are right! Quick, help me get them."

'I thought you'd never ask.' Mrs Blythe hummed in her heart as she sauntered off to her shared bedroom with her husband.

She soon returned and handed Jacob the keys while she retained her former position in anticipation of the brewing thunderstorm.

Mr Blythe had quickly put the key in the keyhole and twisted the knob to usher himself into his other daughter's room.

There he stood aloof with no Elizabeth in sight.

"What manner of craftiness is this?" asked Jacob in a rhetorical manner amidst such confusion.

By now, his wife[Letita] and daughter[Louisa] had joined him in Beth's room, while Bessie maintained her distance for fear of Mrs Blythe.

'But why am I afraid? Doesn't the master's wife know already? Elizabeth's safety is my utmost concern. Perhaps if I should enlighten the father of the circumstance, he should have better understanding on how to help milady' thought Bessie.

Therefore feeling unrestrained, she was determined to plod her way forward to get the word across to the housemaster[Mr Jacob Blythe].

Hardly had she gone halfway through to meet up with the others, when she heard the master mutter certain words in fury as he held on to a little piece of note.

'For say, when did milady have the time to write out an explanation without my knowledge?' pondered Bessie, and again her gut was telling her vividly that something was oddly out of place.

——

"That shameless slut of a girl! I would never forgive her for this betrayal!" shouted Jacob as flames of fury oozed out of his nostrils to set the little room ablaze without mercy.

"My dear, please calm your nerves. What did the note say?" enquired Mrs Blythe accordingly whereas deep-down, the look and feeling of disappointment which reeked out of her husband's countenance by this time brought her great delight especially as it concerned Elizabeth.

Louisa also was confused by her father's outrage because she had never seen him exhibit such fury since she was born up until her current age[twenty-one years of age].

"Father! Please! Do not be so angry. Forgive Beth for what she might have done," cried Louisa pleadingly to her father who had then crumpled the letter and had kept it in his trouser pocket.

"Forgive her?! That shameless thing who has been the most ungrateful for all my efforts? NEVER! On this day! Right this minute! I declare that I have just one daughter! IF you want to be an outcast like her, then I dare you to plead her case with me again."

After spewing those threats, Louisa felt wronged and ran into her mother's arms where she gave in to her teardrops. Her mother, Letita, dutifully began to pat her on the back to calm her down while Mr Blythe charged on his way outside the bedroom and out of the house, pushing Bessie aside only slightly once she had stepped out of his way seeing how angrily he had stomped out on his way.

"For say! What could have made him so angry?" Bessie mumbled solely to her hearing while she followed behind him lightly until she saw his back as he fiercely slammed the exit door with aggression.

"My god!" exclaimed Bessie.