The next day the French lady had arrived and before the fitting began Edna came into my dressing room with flowers once again from Sir Holloway except this time he was downstairs in person.

"He is where?"

"Downstairs."

"Is it something the matter?" The French seamstress asked.

"Help me Edna, Lady Walker will be here any moment!" I feared for what she could conjure up once she knew he was onto me. "Hide him in the study, do not let Lady Walker now of his arrival."

"The study?"

"Yes go on ahead, keep him in the study, ask him to have tea for Lady Walker will arrive any minute now and she cannot see him in the drawing room."

"Lady Alice please I must measure you now," the seamstress insisted.

"Do not worry milady," Edna ran ahead of me down the stairs.

"Forgive me here I am, Edna was telling me they have a little problem downstairs so once you are done measuring me I shall need just a couple of minutes to decide the dinner menu."

"Yes once I am done measuring," she said.

Before going to face Sir Holloway I needed something kept in my drawer and managed to sneak it past by the seamstress and once I reached the study Edna was outside on the lookout.

"Edna come in with me and guard the door please," I asked her as she closed the door behind us and I met Sir Holloway on the farthest side of the door as possible for the conversation to not travel anywhere.

"Ah the busy, most requested lady of London," Sir Holloway got up.

"Sir Holloway please keep your voice down," I asked him approaching him with the box.

"Why the reserve Lady Alice?" I offered back the necklace box and he did not touch it.

"Please take this and never return here."

"Dear God what could I have possibly done to upset you so much milady?"

"Your flowers and your gifts are arising suspicions in my staff, they know Mr. Henry never did such things and you are making me look like the sort of woman my staff wishes I were for it would be easier for them to hate me then."

"Well I can only say Mr. Henry is a bigger fool than I thought him."

"Sir Holloway Lady Walker will be here shortly and she must not see you here..."

"Ah so your future mother in law frightens you, do tell why you are joining the Walker family? Is it true love?" He asked looking into my eyes.

"Yes, I love him and so did my grandfather."

"You are a little liar," he smiled and I did not see cause for amusement.

"I..."

"Do not bother it is clear you do not love him, so you are doing this as a family obligation?"

"Yes."

"Ah and if it was not?" He touched my cheek and I was taken back by the thought of being free from Henry, "if I could manage to separate you from Mr. Henry how would you like that?"

"Sir please do not meddle..." I trembled at the strings attached of such a favor from Sir Holloway and walked off.

"Come tell me what is it that you want, if not jewelry, not flowers, not kisses, then what is your request?"

"Nothing sir I wish for nothing from you."

"Then you are the first female in history... Shall I rephrase myself then?"

"Sir Holloway please you must go, my staff will talk, I am here with you and there is a French seamstress upstairs waiting to take the measurements for my wedding dress."

"Well let her then, I am not here to get in her way only yours," his hand went around my waist and his lips touched my nose because of our height difference and alarmed I looked back at Edna who thankfully had her back to us.

"I... I need you to go sir, I am engaged."

"Yes you are but for how long?"

"Sir Holloway please do not meddle in this, you must not."

"You should not have said that if you wished me to stay away," he smirked kissing my hand.

"Sir Holloway," I demanded as he was about to exit and Lady Walker could very well be on the other side of the door.

"I bid you good day Lady Alice, I know where the door is," he passed through Edna.

"The box!" I said angrily that it stayed behind so I had to hide into one of the fake books up on the shelf before running out to make sure he wouldn't bump into Lady Walker.

"Where is he?" I asked Edna and she shrugged and the next moment another maid came running down the stairs to the hall we were at.

"Milady you have to come quick it's the seamstress!"

As it turned out she went into hysterics when she opened her luggage to find it empty apparently on one of her stops along the way she was certainly robbed of the finest fabrics and lace.

"Mes Tissus! Oh non Dieu!"

"How could you be so incompetent!" Lady Walker yelled at the french woman surprising me with her unannounced arrival.

"Lady Walker I beg votre pardon but 'tis was here when I left Parie!" She talked with tears in her eyes lamenting over it though I could only smile at how comical it was.

Edna who was in the room exchanged stares with me as if asking me; how?

"And this is why we do not trust the French! Never the French!" Lady Walker stomped her foot into the ground and I liked the small triumph over her even if for a little while.

"Et' cest pourquoi nous n'aimons pas les Anglais..." The french seamstress said she hated the English and then at once left back for Paris with her things as she and Lady Walker walked outside arguing.

"And as for you prepare to be the talk of London you will be ruined once you reach Paris!" Lady Walker slammed the door of the coach on the seamstress and Edna and I laughed at the mistake from up my window.

"So what will you do about Sir Holloway?"

"I have no idea, I can only hope he does not make things worse than what they already are," I said thinking back on his insistence.

With my dress postponed I focused on the post, every day of the week I repeated the same heart accelerating attitude when the post came but every passing day I got nothing back from Mr. Howard. Could it be I had ruined my chances of being seen as something good to the one who mattered the most? More than four years had passed by since I met Mr. Howard, another Spring time had arrived but no letter from him.

"Milady letter for you," the new lady's maid said and I jumped at the card though to my surprise it was the a calling card from the last person I expected to hear from, my once dear friend Cynthia.

Please meet me for tea at this place today half past the fourteenth hour.

We must make amends for the good of all.

Your friend,

Cynthia.

"It's Lady Cynthia," I gave it to Edna who played the piano with proficiency.

"Why is she calling on you?"

"To make amends, finally."

"I am happy for you, and when did she ask to see you?"

"In fourty minutes," I looked at the clock.

"Oh how quick, we better get a move on then," Edna rose up from the piano.

"No I shall go alone, she will be at a friend's house so I do not need the company."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am very sure, thank you for the offer Edna, practice the piano, you are magnificent at it."

"Thank you milady," Edna resumed her playing and I headed out alone to a townhome I had never been to before and I knocked on the front door by myself.

"Hello?" I said when the door opened by itself and I stepped into an empty space of nothingness.

The place was deserted, no furniture, no curtains, just the floor which ran for meters where Cynthia stood in the middle of it waiting for me.

"What are you doing here?" I announced myself.

"Hi, you came."

"Yes, of course I did I cannot say how overjoyed I was at your invitation, there is so many things I would like to explain to you."

"Forgive me but maybe that can wait."

"Yes of course, is this your new place?"

"What?"

"The place where you and the Earl will live once you are married?"

"You know then?"

"Yes I know."

"And who told you exactly?" I fretted to think of who to place the blame on since I could not say Martha then who?

"Well..."

"You see I kept asking myself this question for Martha swore you already knew before she told you."

"Oh..."

"And then the answer was pretty clear once I read this," she threw the letter I had sent to Mr. Howard on my face, "you were even stupid enough to sign it!"

"My letter?"

"And before you ask no he does not forgive you! He gave it to me, he told me I could burn it if I wanted to, but I thought I would do better than that so I called you here to tell you that you are done talking to my husband! You are done trying to take what is mine!" She slapped me across the face so hard it left me disoriented.

"Cynthia I..."

"Stay away from my fiancée do you hear me? First you directed Sir Arthur towards Martha and then you took Henry from me twice after you promised you would break it off with him so I am done with letting you have your way, you shall not take the Earl too! He loves me! Not you! So stay away from him! From us! We deserve to be happy without you interfering!"

"Mr. Henry?" I asked and another smack on my face to leave me seeing double when I touched the wall for balance.

"I had him all to myself when you accepted the engagement! How could you do that to me? If he did not have to honor your engagement he would have married me! But you pushed him into it! You made him go through with it and leave me! You did the whole theatrical of saying you would disengaged yourself from him just to punish me for being the one he loved! All because you could not stand to be passed up for me!" Cynthia hysterically crying grabbed a hand full of my hair into her hands.

"What? No! I did not do that! I swear I never..." Mr. Henry had lied to Cynthia made her fake promises and blamed me.

"Shut up no more of your apologies Alice you were out to destroy my happiness from the moment we met, you just had to prove yourself superior to me!" She shook me back and forth as I gasped for air and she tightened her hands around my throat.

"Cynthia let go!"

"No, not this time!"

"Not this time?" I began to cough.

June of 1891.

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No part, character, names, plot, setting, conflict or resolution, point of view, theme or symbolism of this story may be replicated.

Copyright: All Rights Reserved to A. Sena Gomes.