Page 6 of Beneath the Beastly Duke's Mask
“Aunt Beatrice!” Arabella cried, throwing the front door open and running into the kitchen.
Her father's sister loved to cook and was always experimenting with food. Every few months, she fixated on a topic such as a hundred ways to cook chicken, how to preserve food after it has been cooked, medicinal uses of herbs—the list was endless.
She even had the slightly manic, disheveled look of a scientist keen on finding the answer to every question in the universe. Aunt Beatrice was rarely without her apron and a hairstyle of hair messily piled atop her head and secured with millions of pins that somehow still allowed tendrils of pale hair to fall and frame her heart-shaped face.
“Aunt Beatrice?” Arabella called out, upon realizing her aunt wasn't in the kitchen.
“I'm in the garden!” her aunt yelled.
Arabella left through the back kitchen door, finding her aunt kneeling in the herb patch. She was pulling up herbs from the roots and placing them in an old, large basket.
“What are you doing?” Arabella asked, leaning against a wall.
“I see no reason to leave these herbs for the next owners,” her aunt replied, sitting back on her legs. “Or the flowers and vegetables. You and your mother painstakingly planted everything in this garden, so we're taking them with us.”
Arabella laughed. “Some people would find that petty behavior.”
"Petty?" Aunt Beatrice replied. "It's petty to take the fruits of your labor? Ridiculous. We'll replant them once we reach Somerset. I'm thinking about cutting the tops of the herbs and drying them, but preserving the roots in water until we reach Somerset."
“But why are you doing it now?” Arabella asked. “Uncle still has to sell the house.”
Arabella's mother had taught her to never grow attached to material things and that relationships with people were worthier of her time. Her mother learned this the hard way when her father disowned her for wanting to marry a physician. Arabella's mother was stripped of all her jewelry, clothing, dowry—everything.
However, she soon learned that being with the man she loved more than made up for losing the things she used to believe were important. For that reason, Arabella had vowed not to mourn the loss of her family home. She could live anywhere as long as she had her memories.
“Your uncle has found a buyer for the house,” Aunt Beatrice informed her. “A lovely couple with two small children. This house is the perfect size for them.”
“Uncle Daniel found a buyer already?” said Arabella.
Aunt Beatrice smiled. “My husband is a capable and efficient man,” she said. “Of course, it also has to do with the house being a beautiful piece of history in Thetford.”
The house was a cottage that was once part of a larger estate. Over time, the estate was sold piece by piece until the cottage was alone, with just a little land around it. It by no means made them landed gentry, but it was also uncommon for commoners to own their own houses in such a respectable area.
“I suppose that is good,” said Arabella, thinking about her move to Euston at the end of the week.
"It's very good, dear!" her aunt exclaimed. "We can leave earlier than planned and get you settled with us in Somerset. Everyone is looking forward to you being there. You should label everything you wish to take with you and anything that can be donated to the less fortunate. My mother always said that if one took care of the poor, the Lord would take care of them."
“What about generosity?” Arabella asked.
"Of course, one must be generous," her aunt said, pulling out some tarragon. "That goes without saying. But is it not the same thing? Giving to the less fortunateisgenerous.”
“What about the herbs and flowers you're digging out of the garden?”
Aunt Beatrice raised her eyebrows. “This is entirely different!” she said. “My mother never said we should giveeverythingto people. We're already selling such a beautiful house to that couple. It's in wonderful condition, and they got it at a reasonable price. Your uncle could have asked for much more, but you insisted we be fair.”
Arabella pushed away from the wall and knelt next to her aunt. “Mama and Papa would have wanted the same thing,” she said, pulling on another bundle of tarragon. “When do the couple hope to move in?”
“Well, you still have to decide what we're taking with us,” Aunt Beatrice pointed out. “I've sent letters to your aunts and uncles to assist us with the moving, so I would say a month. The young couple are eager to move in. They're currently staying with the woman's parents.”
Arabella nodded. She had yet to tell her aunt that she would start work at the end of the week and would no longer be living in her old family home.
“Aunt,” she began. “I'll finalize everything before the end of the week. I will not take much, so you should decide what you would also like to have.”
“You do not have to rush, dear,” Aunt Beatrice protested. “You have a month.”
“Actually, I shall be working at Euston Hall by then,” said Arabella. “In fact, I start at the end of the week. I'm going tomorrow to get a tour and receive instructions.”
Aunt Beatrice sighed, tossing her shovel to the side and planting her hands on her hips. "Are you really going through with this?" she asked. "How can you become a maid? Is this what your parents wanted? And you'll be working for the Beastly Duke of all people. I know you're not one to judge anyone, but this is really too much. Why him, of all people? And it's not like youneedto work. Won't you reconsider?”
