Dark Remains: A Maggie Power Adventure (Maggie Power #1)

I Chapter 18 - An Education

Chapter 18 - An Education

As it is with all good times, the minutes swiftly dissolved into hours and the hours suddenly became days; then the days unexpectedly escaped the restrictions imposed upon them by the sun and the moon, and formed themselves into weeks.

The children - Maggie, Tom and Jack - had never felt so free in their entire lives. And life had become a blissful routine of waking up to a filling breakfast, followed by a morning of exploring the nearby woods or rowing up and down the lake. There was also the chance to take the short walk and visit the Countess' small farm - modelled, she told them, on Marie Antoinette's Little Hamlet at Versailles. At Hameau de la comtess, as she referred to it, they could watch the servants and farm hands milk cows and collect eggs - as well as see the array of ducks, chickens and geese wander around freely in a most idyllic setting.

During the evening they were treated to wonderful and elegant meals, at which the Countess held court - always looking far more animated after her late afternoon naps, more colourful in both her complexion and mood. They were treated like adults and the meals would have many splendid courses and on occasions, given the Countess' mood, would continue for a number of hours.

After nearly a month of this wondrous existence, the Countess begged the children to stay on. She also suggested she would postpone indefinitely the day they would have to be put to work.

"Who knows, if you are good children you may even find yourselves staying on her permanently," she said. "I have nobody to inherit all of this, apart from an adopted son, a boy I took off the streets in similar circumstances to yourselves. He is now a brilliant man in London, but rarely visits these days - such is his demanding life in that city. He is set to inherit all of this, as my late husband provided for him in his will. However, if you decide to stay, I may be able to alter my will so that you all benefit too."

The children gasped audibly at the Countess' generosity.

Later, after dinner, the Countess asked Maggie if she would remain behind.

"I take it then that you do read, Margaret?" asked the Countess when the boys disappeared.

"Judging purely from the way your eyes light up in whenever you visit me in my study."

"Yes, my lady."

"But do you read well?" asked the Countess.

"I think so. Recently I have had very little opportunity. And the bookshelf in my room is empty so -"

"That is easily remedied," replied the Countess.

"Mother taught both of us," Maggie continued. "Tom and I, from a young age."

She was going to say more, but stopped herself. Stopped herself from repeating the words her father used to illustrate the importance of reading: reading and power go hand in hand he had said. The rich prefer to keep the poor illiterate and ignorant. Remember, Maggie: knowledge is power.

"Excellent. So long as you remain here, and I hope you will be here for a great while yet, I think it would be wise for you to receive an education. What do you say to that?" she asked.

"Yes, I believe it would be a splendid idea, my lady. It is a most kind offer." Maggie was always wary of offending the Countess, but in truth she would have preferred to spend her days in the same way she had filled them since she arrived: running wild in the seemingly borderless grounds of Little Serrant.

"Very well it is settled. Tomorrow we shall start on your schooling."

"Thank you, my lady."

"That is all, Margaret. Have a pleasant sleep. Goodnight and God bless," said the Countess, sounding more like a schoolteacher now, than - than a what? thought Maggie. She did not know how to describe those intimate moments, those moments only she appeared to share with the Countess. The Countess, sometimes part mother, sometimes part confidant. And from this day forth, thought Maggie, to become her schoolteacher too.