The town was sparse of people now. Just in a little more than a week most of the men of the town had shipped out. The war was serious, I could tell even though everyone walked on tiptoes around me. The streets weren't as packed with horses and carts. Women bustling about their day to day chores were the only people out in the day. I often wandered about the streets discreetly taking pictures for when I get back, trying to stay away from home as long as possible. Margaret and Duchess Hemerton were even more insufferable than normal. They were obsessing over my wedding like it was their own. Margaret  was completely taking over, my input was practically worth nothing. Everyone was extremely tense with the war getting more intense, the 'witch' in the forest, and the biggest wedding in this region in a century coming up. To top it all off, Abrahams father was keeping him away to prepare for husbandhood and Eleanor was too busy to talk. Honestly I would love to get away from boring proper Margaret and all of this wedding talk.

A carriage rolled in front of me as I exited the pub. I had been trying to get a pint of beer but now that the innkeeper knew who I was, he refused to serve me. Typical, everyone is scared of the name Hemerton. It's not like I wanted to chug a keg! Duchess Hemerton hailed me from the window. Before I was even seated, she started scolding me.

"What do you think you were doing at a place like that. If anyone were to see you..." she pursed her lips,"You must stop this inexcusable behaviour, at once. A married woman does not act such as yourself."

"Ok mother."

"And you are being inconsiderate of Margaret. You two were arranged to study your lessons." She stared hard at me. I couldn't see how anyone could view her as a mother. She was cold, unforgiving, and formal. Everything a mom from the present shouldn't be. I rolled my eyes, ignoring her. I stared out the window as she continued grilling me on everything. I thought my mom was harsh. I don't blame Elizabeth from running away in the slightest. The estate came into view. When I first came here I thought it was magnificent, old and beautiful. But now it was like every flaw in the building stuck out. Every shadow, every crack, every cobweb, every rotted board. It had become a rotted and dark mansion. Every now and then like a mirage, I could see the splendour in it. But that's becoming less and less the more I get desperate to get home. I miss my family and Molly. Even her dorky boyfriend I would be glad to see. This might sound really weird but I really want to be able to walk into a room and flick on a light switch. That automatic light seemed almost fictional. I even miss school, which is saying something. Duchess Hemerton was still jabbering on when I exited the coach, heading straight to the library where lessons are supposed to take place. I was not exactly sure where I was going, since I had never exactly been to lessons. Usually I snuck out of the building before the time came. I always had been a school skipper.

I expected Margaret to patiently be waiting in the library, but she wasn't there. No one was. I sat in front of an open window, Margaret would be here shortly, she was never late. Being late was considered unladylike after all. The sun was warm and it didn't make me want to move. I could go on my phone, but it was getting low on battery and who knows when I will get a charger again. So instead I found the non-fiction section of the library and decided to play a game. What could be considered real science in the 21st century and what was garbage. Surprisingly a lot of the non-fiction section was variations of biblical stories. I decided to put that in a inbetween section; who knows if it is right or wrong. The last bit of books was studies. Like the religious books that I had already gone through, most were handwritten but some were printed in sloppy, uneven ink. The things that they took for facts baffled me. Of this is what they thought was true, then what did we actually know in the 21st century. We take things in textbooks for facts but a lot of it is just consistent guessing. I laughed throwing an anatomy book into my trash pile. There wasn't much information on anything on the systems of the bodies. One particularly interesting note in the book said that women's bodies  cleanse itself of excess emotions once a month and should be avoided at that time of the month in risk of the women's excess emotion affecting the level headedness of men. That's just... not even close. I'm pretty sure that doctors here are just guessing with everything. An older handwritten book was of astronomy. A diagram of a large earth in the centre surrounded by orbiting stars, the largest of which, the sun, was closest to earth.

The back of my neck prickled like someone was watching me. Even though I knew someone was behind me, I still jumped when they spoke. "Miss Alice, may we talk?" Eleanor asked.

"Yeah sure. I hardly ever see you anymore. What's up?" I asked, shuffling books off the seat so she could sit.

"I don't understand, sorry."

Oops, that's a fairly new greeting. "Um I mean what is new with you? Why have you been so busy lately?"

She looked into her lap, "To tell you the truth, I have been avoiding you. It frightened me that you were not from this time. But I have decided that it is more interesting than frightening." She looked up smiling eagerly, "I would like to learn from you. Slowly though, unfortunately I do not have time for lessons."

"That is fantastic! I'm glad to have a friend."

"I have not yet asked you, how is the preparations for your union moving along," she asked as she melted into the seat, getting comfortable.

I groaned, "I really don't want to talk about that. That's what everyone is talking about and I don't even want to get married!"

"If you don't mind me prying, why do you wish not to?" She inquisited.

"There's a list. I'm too young, I barely know him, I'm going to go home, I don't feel like being married, ecetera." I sighed.

"Is it not normal in your ... time, to marry at this age?"

"No it is not. Let's talk about you for a change. Anyone interesting in your life?" I pryed grinning as her cheeks reddened.

"Well I have begun courting a man. He is a clock maker," she smiled to herself.

"Oh tell me more about him," I pressed leaning forward. I am glad I can talk to Eleanor so casually.

"He is kind and sweet. He takes me places when we are both not working. Once he took me to a restaurant! My stomach was twirling so much I had difficulties eating. I am hoping he asks my hand in marriage soon," her blush deepened.

"What's his name?" I laughed at her infatuation with this man.

"Thomas Ainsworth," she sighed his name.

"Well I am happy for you," I said.

She looked away, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, I guess," I replied cautiously. Her happy mood seemed to disintegrate almost immediately. She looked down at the ground and wiped her bottom lid repeatedly.

"My grandfather, um, recently moved on and his only true possession was a dog, Wilbur. It is against the policies to keep a pet in the servant quarters here so I have been keeping him in the woods, but it is not the best place to keep him. I would appreciate it if you could somehow arrange for him to live here. He is my last connection to my grandfather." She said with tears swimming in her eyes.

"Of course, I am a dog person anyhow," I laughed. I used to have a black lab named Benny. He was a loyal and happy dog. Everyday when I got home from school he would bring his favourite toy, a stuffed pig, and lay it at my feet; a welcome back present. When someone in my family left home he would lay against the front door, waiting patiently for them to come home. I didn't normally sleepover at other friends houses because I felt guilty because Benny wouldn't eat or sleep until I got home. He would just wait by that door all night.When my lying cheat of a father left home in the middle of the night when I was fourteen, he took Benny with him. He didn't even take Benny's toy with him. If my father really wanted or loved Benny he would have known to take his toy. He just wanted Benny to spite my mom. Shortly after, my mom had offered to get us a new dog, but I couldn't have a different dog laying in his bed and playing with his toys. I still leave his toy by his bed like he's out on a walk with my dad. Maybe one day they'll both come back. I know that's wishful thinking though.

"I will go retrieve him. He is very quiet and not rambunctious in the slightest, I promise. No one will hardly even notice he is here," she promised as she got up. She nearly ran out of the library. Did she say she kept Wilbur in the forest. Maybe I'll be able to spot him. I smiled as I looked out the window. The library was the best view on the estate. It looked across the flowering bushes and trees of the garden to the forest and always had the best sunlight. The bright light warmed my face. I scanned the trees for a sign of the dog. A bit of movement caught my attention. It was too large and too brightly coloured to be a dog. Margaret snuck out from behind the trees of the forest, she checked the yard to make sure she wasn't being watched, then walked into the garden. Her blue dress was slightly dirtied and her hair slightly astray. What was she doing back there? Maybe she was looking for the dog too, but I highly doubt it. It gives me slight satisfaction realizing that maybe Miss Margaret isn't the perfect lady everyone thought she was. If I was back home I would have assumed that she was in the woods either getting high or making out with someone. Hey, maybe they do do that here too.

A few minutes later she entered the library looking a little cleaner. She set down some books on the table and looked up. Her mouth formed a delicate surprised O shape, then turned into her normally gleaming smile.

"I did not expect you to come to our lessons. Usually you are so... busy. I am glad that you were able to make it," she said settling into a chair.

I am not typically one to beat around the bush. When I have a question, I want to know immediately. This was no exception. "What were you doing in the woods, Marguerite?"

She stopped flipping pages in her book, stopping halfway through flipping a page. She didn't look up but spoke as she looked down, "You saw me?"

"Yup. What were you doing out there. Isn't that a bit 'improper'?" I asked putting air quotation marks around the word improper. Her brow twitched in confusion from the odd hand signal, but I think she had bigger things on her mind. She looked up her gaze frantic and wide. She did not look like the proper lady she normally was but instead a bit insane.

"Please do not tell anyone what you saw! I beg of you!" She pleaded her hands clasped together.

"It depends what you were doing out there," I said. It may be cruel but maybe this was my way to send her back home.

She paused for a few seconds, pursing her lips, probably considering whether to tell me or not. Her gaze flicked to the woods. Even the heavy powder on her face could not conceal the red in her cheeks. "I was meeting my love. He is a pauper and neither my nor your parents would approve. But I can not stay away from him. Please assure me you will not tell because it would tear my heart in two for the two of us to be kept apart!"

Maybe Margaret was not the innocent young lady I and everyone else had assumed she was. From the small glimpse of the love story that I had just been given, it sounded like a storybook. "I guess I don't want your heart to be ripped in two, so I'll keep my mouth shut."

"The Lord will reward you for this, cousin. I owe you my gratitude, if there is anything you ever need, I will grant it with eagerness!" Tears of happiness welled in her eyes.

"No need for that, just being a decent person, you know," I laughed it off.

"You always did come through for me," she smiled softly, "remember when we were young and we accidentally set that farmer's barn on fire." She laughed. Who laughs at setting someone's barn on fire. "And I caught my apron on fire before we could run away so you told everyone that the farmer lit the barn on fire when we were in it so we would not be in trouble. That was the one day our parents were not there to watch us. You saved my backside that day as well." She laughed merrily, ignoring my wide eyes.

"Um, do you remember what happened to that farmer?" I asked, very concerned for that farmer. If the Duke and Duchess thought someone tried to harm their daughter they would ruin him and his family.

"No, why should we be concerned in that affair? We should begin our lessons, shall we?" She smiled sweetly.

"I guess," I mumbled opening a book that seemed relatively new. Margaret seemed to be a different person than I originally thought.