Death of a Duchess by Nellie Steele (the beginning after the end novel read TXT) 📗

Williamson found her voice, cutting me off. “This stunt is not entertaining, Lenora. And you shall be punished for it in the morning. I am too tired to deal with your games now.”

“You do not understand…” I protested.

“I understand perfectly well, it is YOU, Lenora, who does not understand. You consider yourself clever, playing this ruse of my mother visiting you. However, my mother is alive.”

I pressed my lips together as sorrow filled my heart. “She passed earlier this evening, headmistress. I am so very sorry.”

Headmistress Williamson stared at me, frozen in her place for a moment. “What a horrible girl you are, Lenora. Your antics disgust me.”

“I am sorry, but it is the truth. She has suffered from pneumonia these past months and succumbed to it earlier this evening.”

She grimaced at me, but I continued. “I can prove it,” I claimed.

“Prove it?” she scoffed.

“Yes,” I insisted. Cool air brushed past my ear as the specter whispered into it. I spoke, recounting what she told me. “When you were young, about six, you found a kitten, gray striped, tiny and with a malformed back foot. You took it in, caring for it. You hid it from your mother, assuming she would not allow you to keep it. Despite the care you gave it, it died. And you wept for three nights over it. Your mother knew, and she wasn’t cross with you. In fact, she admired you for it. And she wanted to tell you its death was not your fault. The kitten could not have been saved, but your care of it made its only days on earth tolerable. It knew love, and she was very proud of you for what you did.”

Tears filled Headmistress Williamson’s eyes and her breath caught in her throat. “How…” she choked out.

I continued, information still flowing into my ear from the specter of Headmistress Williamson’s mother. “She wants to tell you she is very proud of you. Your position here is an achievement. She forgives you for not coming when she wrote to say she fell ill. You could do nothing to change the outcome.”

A tear fell from Headmistress Williamson’s eye and she clutched her stomach. With a gasp, she collapsed onto the bed. I approached her, putting my hand on her shoulder. “Your father’s departure was not your fault.” Headmistress Williamson’s head bobbed up. Her eyes stared into mine. Her lips trembled as she held back sobs. “He and your mother had a terrible falling out. He rushed out of the house. Your mother let him go. He did not return. She heard a rumor later that he had been drinking. He was always an angry drunk. An altercation occurred, and he died. She did not have the courage to determine if the story was truth or rumor, so she continued to deny it. It led you to believe your father may return, that he had left because of something you did. But that isn’t true. She wanted you to know. She did not want you living the rest of your life believing you drove your father away.” I paused. “She loved you, Miriam.” I offered a slight smile as she gazed at me.

She wept, bending at the waist and resting her head on her knees. I eased onto the bed next to her, allowing her time to grieve. I placed my hand on her back as I fixed my gaze on her mother. The specter stared at the huddled form next to me. She shifted her gaze to me, a tiny smile crossing her lips. She nodded to me. I returned the gesture, and she stalked across the room without a sound. She glanced back before passing through the door.

After several moments, Headmistress Williamson regained her posture. She wiped at her face. I offered her a handkerchief from her night table. She dried her eyes. We sat for several more breaths in silence before Headmistress Williamson stood. I rose as she did.

She breathed a deep breath, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin. She set her jaw and made eye contact. “Go to bed, Lenora. Speak of this to no one,” she instructed.

I nodded and crossed the room without comment. As I stepped through the doorway, I reached behind me to shut the door. “Oh, Lenora,” Headmistress Williamson added, “do not expect this incident to change my opinion regarding you and your ... ability. I still find it abnormal, amoral and foul.”

I nodded to her again and pulled the door shut, retiring to my bed. After that night, while there was still no love lost between us, Headmistress Williamson and I avoided each other as much as we could. My treatment, though still callous, lacked the usual cruelty I endured as a younger child.

The carriage rocked after hitting a bump in the road and my mind snapped back to the present. My situation no longer depended on the whims of a harsh and spiteful woman. I drew in a deep breath, gazing at the scenery as it passed. Each passing moment brought me one step closer to my home. The thought brought a small smile to my face, and I rested my head against the side wall as I continued to gaze out the window.

Chapter 8

Blackmoore Castle rose from the mists high atop the moor. The sight delighted me, setting my heart aglow with excitement. This had been my first extended trip away from my new home since I’d arrived three months prior. Even in that short time, the attachment I’d formed to the property ran deep.

The connection surprised me. After bouncing between three locations in eighteen years, I grew unsure that I could ever truly feel at home. I assumed, unless I obtained a suitable placement in another’s household, I would stay at the orphanage. A home, it was not. The concept that I had my own home still astounded me.

I leaned forward, focusing on the growing outline of the castle. “Anxious to return home, Lenora?” Robert inquired.

“Very,”