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Chapter 12
While Louisa spent the entire day mulling her options surrounding Stephen’s proposal in her mind, she did her very best to make it appear that there was nothing else afoot. She helped her father to dress and talked through some affairs that he wanted to keep a handle on; she cooked lunch for her mother to feed to her father and then cleaned up afterwards.
She tended to all the mending that needed doing in the mending basket, and she even worked on the repairs to the chicken coop. Thankfully, no one seemed to be keeping a very close eye on her, and so no one asked her any questions about how she was feeling. That was until Sophie caught sight of her.
Sophie had spent much of the day out of the house tending to family errands in town. When she arrived back at the Pelham home and saw Louisa for the first time, she immediately said, “What’s happened?”
Thankfully, she and Louisa were in the kitchen alone when she noticed her mood so her comment didn’t raise the alarm with anyone else in the household. Louisa did her best to remain nonchalant, although she knew that Sophie could see right through her.
“Whatever do you mean?” Louisa asked her, taking the potatoes out of the sack and chopping them up for dinner. She could feel Sophie’s eyes practically boring a hole into her.
“Don’t be givin’ me any of that now, Louisa, for you know that I can smell a rat from a mile off,” Sophie responded, coming up behind Louisa. That only made her chop the potatoes more frantically, trying to delay the conversation that she knew was inevitable until Sophie put her hand over Louisa’s and took the knife right out of it.
“Did something worse come to Mr Pelham?” Sophie asked, putting one hand on her hip and gesturing at Louisa with the other. She appeared much more menacing than Louisa figured she meant to, as the hand that was gesturing happened to be holding the knife. When she realized what she was doing, she placed the knife down on the board but kept the stern look that she had been giving Louisa upon her face.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Louisa responded, scooping the potatoes into a bowl of water.
“Then tell me what it is like, girl,” Sophie scolded her. “And don’t be trying to evade me no more.”
Louisa wiped her hands on her apron and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “The problem is, Sophie,” she said, brushing her hair from her face, “I want to tell you, but if I do, I shall be ruined.”
Sophie gasped under her breath. “Ruined?” she asked with a hint of disbelief in her tone. “You’re jokin’. You’re not a thing like Evelyn, and I doubt that there is anything you could ever do that would …”
“Then just believe me, Sophie,” Louisa said urgently, as she could see her mother about to come in through the back door. “Know that I’m making a choice in an attempt to cause my family as little pain as possible.”
Bewilderment flooded Sophie’s face, but it did not much matter, for Martha came in a second later, and so both girls had to make it seem like nothing was happening. Louisa had to hand it to Sophie, she did a wonderful job of pretending all was well, but whenever her mother’s back was turned, or her father was looking out the window, Sophie gave her a constant look of concern.
When night finally fell, her father was soundly sleeping in bed, Sophie had gone home for the evening, and her mother had taken to the sitting room to do some painting, Louisa finally found a moment for herself. While she would have taken this time to think over her options and what she should say to Stephen, she realized that she did not even need to do that.
The truth was, Louisa had no choice. She had to marry Stephen and accept his plan; otherwise, her family was going to fall into a worse state than the one they were in right now thanks to her. And, unlike her sister, she did not intend letting her family down.
And so, instead of staying up and fretting about the next morning, Louisa retired early and rose early. She wore one of her finer dresses and did her hair up in the only style that she knew she could reliably do that always looked good. She decided that though she was going to admit defeat to a man who she would have rather spat in the face of, she was going to do it with her pride still intact.
She collected her travelling cloak and fetched the family’s horse, Holly, from the barn, and then she set off for Stephen’s estate. It was not a great distance from her home, but to get to it, she did have to travel through town, which she was loathed to do, even this early in the morning. Thankfully, however, there was no one about yet, and so Louisa was able to slip through town unnoticed.
As she and Holly came to the front of the estate, Louisa noticed that even her horse seemed somewhat hesitant to go down the front drive to the house. “Come on, my trusted steed,” Louisa said, leaning down and stroking the horse’s neck. “I know it looks intimidating, but just think of the fine hay that you’ll have to munch on while I’m inside?”
Almost as though she understood Louisa, Holly then positively bounded down the lane towards the house. When Louisa had secured her away with the other horses, she went and stood outside the main entrance of the house. She had to convince herself a few times to hit the knocker, but finally, when she did reach for it, she was surprised to see the door fly open in front of her.
An older, gruff-looking servant opened the door. He had a mean look in his eye and a scowl upon his lips. “We’ve been expecting you,” he growled and opened the door to allow her in.
Louisa now felt even less like entering the house, but she went ahead anyway. She held her shoulders high and followed the servant through the intimidating home. It was big and spacious, but even though the walls were covered in breathtaking paintings and the tables were filled with luxurious fineries, there was a certain ... emptiness to the home. It made her feel uneasy, almost as if something bad was about to happen around every corner. Louisa didn’t dare think about herself living in this home if she were to be married to Stephen, for if so, she knew that she would have run out screaming.
When she and the servant finally came before a door that was so tall it loomed above their heads like a menacing force, the servant knocked. From deep inside the room came an “Enter,” and Louisa steeled herself for Stephen.
When the servant had closed the door behind him, Louisa was left in a very, very long room that was entirely bare except for an enormous wooden desk at the opposite end. There was a deep green wallpaper covering the walls that had details of ivy in gold, and though there were a great many windows, the room seemed to swallow up any light that managed to penetrate it.
Seated at the desk was Stephen Strandmere, smoking a pipe with his feet up upon the desk. His long hair that in yesterday’s morning sun had seemed blond now looked so white that Louisa would not have been surprised if it was iridescent. When Louisa stopped walking to take in the room, Stephen did not move his head but began talking to her.
“Please, come this way, Miss Louisa,” he hissed in his unnatural way, beckoning her towards him. He kept his gaze out the window to his left, and the way he was sucking on the pipe made Louisa want to be sick. It was as though he was suckling on a cow’s teat.
Louisa walked towards him quite slowly, but nevertheless very confidently. As she reached the beginning of the windows, she checked to see what it was that was captivating Stephen’s attention so. It turned out to be a murder of crows that had taken roost in the gnarled, dead-looking trees that lay on the edge of his lot.
“Are those ... crows?” Louisa asked curiously.
“Magpies,” Stephen answered, rising and striding over to the window. “Have you ever seen such a group of them gathered? Legend says that when they converge in a group such as this one, ill deeds are about to transpire.”
Without warning, Stephen suddenly struck his hand against the windowpane, causing the birds to fly off, and simultaneously Louisa jumped a foot in the air. Louisa made an utter of annoyance, and Stephen turned his attention to her. “But we won’t be engaging in any ill deeds, now will we, Miss Louisa?”
