Chapter Twenty-Seven

September 15, 1835

Caroline had not seen much of Sir. Elton since they had come to an agreement. He stopped showing up for meals at the same time as her, so she was once again left to sit alone. In the long run this may have been a good thing, she thought, since he was to be leaving soon and things would return back to normal. Meals alone. Walks alone. In bed alone. Everything she did she'd do alone, and nothing had filled her heart with greater dread than the loneliness she had first felt during her time at the manor. She quickly had the Viscountess to keep her company, but she was forever gone. Then she had Sir. Elton. Even if they had made up he was to be leaving soon. She would have no one now, but the servants until she had children of course.

That's right she was to have children, that was her only real duty at the estate now that Valencia had taken over the rest. Then she wouldn't be so alone, at least for a little, and she'd have something to do. Those thoughts provided a small glimmer of hope in the depths of despair her mind was in, but the isolation was slowly breaking her; the loneliness had begun to consume her.

“My Lady, why don’t you have tea in the garden today?” Milly suggests to Caroline, her voice full of both hope and concern, “It has been quite a while since you did that. Perhaps Sir. Elton would join you-”

“Ms.Winsor please focus on getting me ready for the day, what I do is my business, and you’ve still yet to prepare my outfit,” Caroline replies.

“Yes, I apologize if I’ve spoken out of turn, it was purely out of concern for you my lady."

Caroline stays quiet for a moment, before responding. "If it eases your worry, I will go on a walk in the garden today."

Milly lets out a sigh of relief, and smiles brightly. "Thank you, I shall get your outside wear!" She picks out a warm blue gown for Caroline to wear, and commences with the rest of their morning routine. Caroline had breakfast, by herself, then went to the library as she did most days. After she had found a new book to read, she went for a walk in the garden. She had decided to read there while she still could, since winter would soon come.

The walk was surprisingly quite peaceful. It was nice for Caroline to get some fresh air, after many days cooped up inside. As she walked in the garden looking for a place to read, she stepped in something sticky. She looked down at her feet, and her face twists in horror. As she lets out a blood curdling scream, and falls back onto the hard dirt; that had begun to freeze over. “Caroline?!” Sir. Elton yells out, as he runs over to her. He stops in his tracks, once he sees what had frightened her, so. One of the hunting dogs had, had an unfortunate accident, it appeared as though it had been attacked by a wild animal of sorts. This was surely a bad omen.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the slow updates, I was on vacation for the holidays, and I've been working on something new for you guys! I promise to try and be little faster in the future.