Page 10 of Beneath the Beastly Duke's Mask
"I'm very talkative, Your Grace," she admitted. "I always have so many thoughts in my head that I try to get them out all at once. Sometimes, I do not talk fast enough for my thoughts, and the words trip over themselves in their haste to get out. I try to minimize my chatter at times, but I mostly fail."
“I do not mind your chatter, Miss Lockhart,” he said. “I find it refreshing.”
The duke's eyes suddenly widened as though he had said something he shouldn't have. Arabella was confused, not understanding what he had said wrong.
“Would you excuse me, Miss Lockhart?” he said. “I have matters to attend to.”
He turned away without another word, marching away quickly. Arabella frowned. Perhaps she had said something wrong, but she didn't think so. Perplexed, she patted another dog's head and picked up the bucket before returning to the kitchen.
She left the estate thoughtful, still trying to understand what on earth had happened. Despite his sudden behavior and confusion, she looked forward to the end of the week because the more Arabella saw of the duke, the more intrigued she was.
Chapter 4
“You truly are thorough,” Jane commented, looking down at Arabella. “Just watch your head when you come up. You bumped it the last time.”
Arabella grinned, removing a cobweb from under a side table. "You would be amazed at all the places a spider builds its home. There is so much nature outside, yet they choose a house to make their dwelling. And that's not all. They'll watch their web destroyed, only to build another one not too far from the first. Are they asking for trouble?"
Jane tilted her head in amusement. “You think about many odd things, don't you?” she said. “Yesterday, you yelled at a mouse you found in our room.”
Arabella and Jane shared a room in the attic and were partners when cleaning. They were a team of ten maids who took care of the front of the house, such as the parlor, drawing room, ballroom, dining room, and wherever else guests frequented.
"I wasn't really yelling at the mouse," said Arabella. "I merely questioned its choice to live in our room when the house cat usually goes there for day naps."
“But you weretalkingto it,” Jane insisted.
"People are not the only animals in this world that can communicate," Arabella explained. "While the mouse may not have understood my words, it would have heard the urgency and disapproval in my voice. Some people keep mice as pets, and they respond well to their masters."
“Who keeps mice as pets?” Jane asked incredulously.
“Some people,” she replied vaguely.
Arabella had secretly kept a mouse during her eleventh year because she was so desperate to have a pet. It was rather intelligent because it would hide whenever her parents came into the room and slept beside her in the bed, usually near her head. Unfortunately, it escaped its enclosure one day when Arabella wasn't home.
The maid who assisted Arabella's mother with daily chores assumed it was unwanted and took a broom to it. That was the last time she attempted to hide a pet. Crawling out from under the table, she rose to her feet, tossing the feather duster into a basket along with other cleaning materials.
“I'm going to Thetford on my free day this week,” Jane informed her. “Perhaps we can ask Mrs. Cooper if we could have our free time on the same day so we can go together.”
Arabella and Jane had grown close relatively quickly. Being the same age and from the same town had helped, but they were also similar in disposition. However, Arabella wasn't sure if she wanted to go to Thetford just yet.
“Will you go just for the day or stay with your family?” Arabella asked.
“I think I might stay the night with my family and return to the estate early the next day,” said Jane, fluffing up a cushion. “I also wish to do a little shopping. It has been so long since I've seen a beautiful piece of fabric or lace. I've saved up some money for a new dress, so I'd like to see what I can buy.”
“Let me think about it,” said Arabella. “I was actually thinking about taking a walk around the village and getting to know the area a bit better.”
Several weeks had passed since Arabella started working at Euston Hall. Her aunt and uncle had returned to Somerset, and the new family was living in her old home. She didn't have a family nearby to visit, and it saddened her to think so. However, she could visit a few friends of the family and some of her father's old patients. Perhaps she could even stay at the inn run by her mother's close friend.
Her ties to Thetford had not been completely severed, but sometimes, it was difficult to think about her hometown without missing her parents. She thought about them every day, but being in Thetford and seeing all their favorite places could be overwhelming for her.
“Could you let me know by tomorrow?” Jane asked.
Arabella nodded. "I will," she said, picking up the cleaning basket. "Shall I start in the drawing room while you empty the dirty water?"
Jane nodded with a sigh, eyeing the dirty bucket. “I suppose it is my turn this time,” she said. “The other girls clearly do not clean this room well on their days," she said. "That's a lot of dirt in there."
“They probably know we'll do it better,” said Arabella.
“Well, perhaps we shouldn't be as thorough as we usually are,” Jane suggested, hauling the dirty water to the door.
