46 - Chapter 46
If this continues, everyone will believe a war broke out in Blissbury.
“Who on earth is spreading such rumors? A foreign spy? Piles of corpses?”
Eloise’s eyes widened as she raised her voice in disbelief, prompting the village girls to recall the source of their information.
“Well, I heard William heard it from someone who has a constable friend in Cambon…”
“I heard it from Mr. Usher, who heard it from a friend…”
“I heard my mother heard it from Mr. Owen’s cousin who came to the mill…”
Listening to her friends, Eloise touched her forehead with her hand.
In the end, she had heard stories that had passed through a friend’s cousin’s neighbor, but none of the sources were accurate.
“By tomorrow, the story will probably grow to the point where the enemy fell just from Sergeant Thornton’s gaze, right?”
Eloise, realizing she was in front of her friends, quickly changed her words, having almost said Ryan.
Then, her friends looked at each other again and cautiously said,
“Wasn’t it? The Sergeant looked at the enemies with a cold gaze and said that if they repented their sins and knelt now, he would ask Her Majesty the Queen for leniency, and they bowed their heads…”
“No! First of all, it wasn’t a spy! It was just one deserter!”
After a while, disappointment was evident on the faces of the girls who had heard the whole story. Eloise understood their disappointment.
Feltham was a very quiet rural village. The most recent incident in this village was the death of the last wolf in the forest ten years ago, which tried to take a sheep from the village entrance.
The corpse of the old wolf, killed by the shepherds’ pitchforks, was placed in front of the village for a week, and people came to see it from neighboring villages.
And even after ten years, the people of Feltham still excitedly talk about what happened then as if it happened yesterday whenever two or more people gather.
In such a quiet and peaceful village, this incident was a major event that could excite anyone.
If Eloise hadn’t corrected them now, a fundraising campaign would have started in a week to build a monument to commemorate this event.
People would say, “That incident was really amazing,” whenever they passed through Blissbury.
For at least 50 years!
The girls’ disappointment didn’t last long. They were now burning with a sense of duty to tell those who didn’t yet know the truth about this incident.
Some of the more impatient ones were already saying goodbye and leaving Suberton House.
Looking at the friends who were still there, Eloise confirmed that the face she was looking for was not there and asked.
“Abigail isn’t here? Did she go to Cambon, perhaps?”
Abigail wouldn’t be uninterested in such a thing.
Although Abigail was reluctant to go out, Mrs. Ogilvy tried to take her daughter to Cambon as much as possible.
So, about once a month, she had no choice but to go to Cambon and attend a simple tea party there before returning.
Every time she came home, she would immediately come to Eloise and complain about how hard she had had it.
“No, she’ll be at home. She doesn’t seem to be coming out of the house these days. You know, Abigail sometimes gets sick.”
“That’s true, but…”
Unlike Eloise, who was often sick in winter and spring, Abigail often stayed home in the summer and autumn when everyone was having fun.
So, it was a plausible thing, but Eloise was strangely concerned about Abigail’s matter.
Eloise looked at Mr. Ogilvy’s house, which was close to her own.
Abigail’s room was the end room on the second floor. From Eloise’s room, the window of that room was clearly visible, and when they were young, they used to play by following the light codes of spies they had read in books.
Usually, the curtains were brightly drawn open, and a vase filled with wildflowers was placed there, but now the curtains were drawn so that not a single ray of light could enter.
‘Should I stop by for a moment before going back?’
As she was thinking that, Mrs. Suberton called Eloise from inside the house. Because of that, Eloise forgot about Abigail’s matter for a moment and hurriedly went into the house.
Not long after Eloise went inside, the curtains in Abigail’s room fluttered.
Ryan, who was standing next to the carriage, looked at that place. Then, a gaunt woman peeked out from between the curtains. The moment her eyes met Ryan’s.
Even from a distance, he could see the curtains being drawn shut again with a loud swish!
At that time, Eloise, who had gone into the house, came out again. Ryan naturally received the luggage she was carrying in her hands as if it were his own and asked her.
“Eloise, whose house is that?”
“That? It’s Mr. Ogilvy’s house.”
“Whose room is that end window?”
“It’s Abigail’s room… Why? Is there something wrong?”
When the name of her best friend, whom she always talked about, came out of Eloise’s mouth, Ryan hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.
“No. I was just curious.”
If it were the usual Eloise, she would have relentlessly questioned the reason why Ryan was showing such interest. But today, she was too busy.
“Eloise! Can you check this!”
At Mrs. Suberton’s voice from behind, Eloise quickly turned around.
After Eloise left, Ryan looked at the window of Abigail’s room again. The curtains hadn’t changed at all.
‘Why?’
Ryan clearly remembered the gaze that had looked at him for a moment. The hostility that was harbored beyond the moment his eyes met hers through the curtains.
‘Didn’t she say they were friends?’
When he first came to Blissbury to work, Eloise was very nervous when she saw him and rarely opened her mouth.
But when the topic of conversation was related to Blissbury or Feltham, she would start chattering as if nothing had happened, so Ryan kept asking related questions.
Then, the stories of the people of Feltham flowed out without stopping.
Among them, Abigail Ogilvy was a person who appeared very often.
He could tell just by listening. How long and deep Eloise and Abigail Ogilvy had been sharing their friendship.
But why was Abigail looking at Eloise with such a gaze?
Ryan stared at Abigail’s room for a long time, but when he realized there was no more change, he turned his head.
In any case, the gaze he saw clearly contained distinct hostility.
‘I have to be careful.’
Ryan recalled Abigail’s name on the Banquet attendance list.
The Ogilvy family was one of the few families in Feltham who attended the Banquet every year. They had never not attended so far, so they would definitely come this year as well.
‘I’ll have to see her then.’
If he became convinced that Abigail harbored some bad feelings towards Eloise, then it was something to think about again.
There was a commotion and people were noisy for a while, but in the meantime, the preparations for the Blissbury Summer Ball were steadily progressing.
“I’m so relieved that you and Emily are here. I feel like we’re preparing properly.”
Mrs. Parker welcomed Mrs. Suberton and Emily with open arms.
No matter how much Ryan tried to help by listening to Eloise’s advice, there were areas he didn’t know.
That was the kitchen that Mrs. Parker managed.
“These days, my back is getting worse and it’s getting harder to stand for long periods of time.”
As she said that, she looked at Emily with a regretful look.
“Come to Blissbury more often. There’s so much I want to teach you, but there’s not enough time just preparing for the Summer Ball.”
Emily’s eyes sparkled at those words. But that light didn’t last long.
“But I can’t visit you easily anymore…”
Emily fidgeted with her fingers and lowered her head. Mrs. Parker couldn’t possibly not know what her increasingly subdued voice wanted to say.
She was a greedy child.
She was living as the best maid in Feltham’s leading Suberton House, but if she received more education, she would be more than qualified to become the head housekeeper of a mansion.
So, Mrs. Parker kept getting greedy.
Usually, in this case, the employer would be greedy and try to keep her in their house for a long time.
So, there were many cases where people with good skills and a knack for work only worked in one house for their entire lives.
But fortunately, Mrs. Suberton recognized and supported her maid’s potential.
That’s why she brought her to Blissbury every time to learn how to work.
But with the arrival of a new manager this year and Mr. Serverton’s absence, things that had been tacitly continued until now were cut off.
Because of that, everyone realized.
That things that seemed like they would last forever would eventually come to an end.
And that the time had come to decide how to proceed anew.
