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Chapter Nineteen
Unfortunately, Lord Langston’s hopes of keeping any gossip from Rose’s door had been woefully naïve.
The following day, as Rose went about her daily work in the laundry and tried to put all thoughts of last night from her mind, she noticed that the other laundry maids were not quite as talkative as they usually were. Thinking they were just tired or that there had been some dispute between the younger contingents that she did not know about, she continued in her duties as she did every day.
However, as the clock struck noon, and the laundry maids set down their things to go into the house for their luncheon, Hannah pulled Rose to one side.
“Is it true?” she asked, without preamble.
Rose frowned. “Is what true?”
“That you were seen walking with His Lordship last night in the estate’s gardens. One of the stable lads saw it, and he’s been spreading rumors since. Did you not notice folks looking at you queer this morning at breakfast?” Hannah looked nervous, rather than bitter, as though she was worried about Rose’s welfare.
No… Oh goodness, no…Rose’s stomach clenched in a vise of anxiety, for she knew that she would not be able to explain what had happened in a way that would satisfy the gossipmongers. They would make their own conclusions, regardless of what she said. Although, she supposed she did have one option.
“I wasn’t walking with him. The housemaids played a trick on me and sent me to fetch coal for them from the store by the lake. His Lordship was walking too when he saw me and insisted on bringing me back to the house in case I got lost in the dark or there were miscreants in the forest who might’ve attacked me,” she explained, praying her friend would believe her. After all, it was not entirely false.
Hannah breathed a small sigh of relief. “Well, it was the housemaids that were taking the most pleasure in spreading the gossip. Nasty vipers.” She weaved her arm through Rose’s. “Folks are going to give you a hard time for this, no matter the truth, but you just keep your head down and don’t say anything, and I’ll spread the counter-rumor for you.”
“Thank you.” Rose smiled at her friend, though she could not quell the fear that roiled in her stomach. She had not come to this house to have herself scorned and spurned by others, nor had she come here to make a bad reputation for herself. If she had wanted that, she would have stayed in London under the lashing tongue and sour glare of her father.
Through the luncheon, she managed to avoid the whispers and stares of the other staff members and made it back to the laundry unscathed by the sting of rumor. There, after Hannah had spread the word among the laundry maids of what had ‘actually’ happened last night, the small group resumed their usual chattiness, and the atmosphere mellowed back into a comfortable bubble of good humor and laughter. It pleased Rose to have normality resume, and, for the rest of the day, she was lured into a false sense of security that all of this would pass.
However, as she returned to her bed-chamber that evening, having walked a while in the gardens in the hope of seeing Lord Langston again, she entered the room to sudden silence and the disdainful scowls of the three girls she shared the room with.
“You have a gift,” one said drily. Her name was Penelope Smith, and though she had been somewhat welcoming to Rose, Rose had always sensed a nastiness beneath the girl’s overly pleasant exterior.
Rose furrowed her brow. “Pardon?”
“On your bed. There’s a gift.” Penelope pointed to a large box that was sticking half out from underneath Rose’s pillow. “I think we can all guess who it’s from.”
The other two girls snickered.
Mortified, Rose went to her bed and took the box all the way out. Judging by the ruffled covers and the partially open drawer of her bedside table, the girls had clearly ransacked her belongings for any sign of the rumors being true.
Turning her back to the sneering women, she opened the lid of the plain black box and gasped as she looked upon the contents. Inside, there was a sketchbook with thick, smooth pages of expensive vellum and a canvas pouch filled with thin sticks of charcoal, several folded cuts of scrap silks and satins, and a brand new sewing kit in a red tin, emblazoned with gold fleur-de-lis.
“It’s not what you think,” Rose said quietly, trying to come up with an excuse. “These were mine before I came here, but I had no time to reclaim them before I left London. His Lordship merely had them sent here, that’s all.”
Penelope scoffed. “Are we supposed to believe thatyouwere wealthy enough to afford vellum and silks and a sewing kit so fine?”
“My father was a rich merchant once, trading in silks and garments, and these were all I had left of that life.” Rose smoothed her fingertips across the fabrics, her heart swelling with happiness and remorse. She could not have been more grateful for the gift, but she wished that Lord Langston had been more cautious in how he had sent it to her.
At least I know he doesn’t hate me, after what I said last night…It was a small consolation against the barrage of gossip this gift would bring, once these girls had spread it throughout the household.
“Maybe she’s telling the truth,” one of the other girls, Angela Rickard, suggested meekly. “It does seem like the kind of thing a merchant would keep, even after his business failed.”
“And what would you know, Angela?” Penelope hissed. “You probably don’t even know what the word ‘merchant’ means. She’s lying. I know she is. Sam told me personally what he saw last night, and it seems a little convenient that there’s suddenly a box waiting for her.”
Rose whirled around: her cheeks fiery hot. “You were one of the ones who sent me to the coal store by the lake last night. That’s all I was doing when His Lordship saw me walking alone. He brought me back to the house because he didn’t want anything bad happening to me, thanks to your nasty trick! How was your coal, by the way? I hope it warmed you, knowing I might’ve been hurt acquiring it.”
Penelope blinked in astonishment. “His Lordship knows w-we sent you t-to the coal store by the lake?”
“Yes, he does.” Rose used the only ammunition she had left. “It is only his generosity and my plea that you meant no ill-will that is preventing you from being punished, and I am certain he would not appreciate it if he discovered you were spreading baseless rumors about him cavorting with the likes of me!”
Penelope immediately backed down. “Well, how was I to know that? And we did not mean any ill-will when we sent you out there just so you know. That is what we do to all newcomers.”
“Then stop with your gossiping before His Lordship really has cause to punish you,” Rose retorted, feeling flustered and tearful. “These belongings are mine. They are not… a gift. And I did nothing untoward last night, and neither did His Lordship. He was simply trying to be chivalrous after the position you and the other housemaids put me in. This is like when His Lordship helped at the farm. He behaves with kindness, and you treat him with derision and rumor.”
