France's Little Servant

Chapter 8

  Alice's P.O.V.

  I woke up the next morning feeling a bit better about what had happened yesterday. I still felt guilt just not as much. I don't really think it was wrong to protect Francis. My mom knew about Francis actually being France and she knew about me being the one thing he could keep alive. My mom had also raised me to protect the things I loved, and now thinking back on it, I feel like she had meant Francis the whole time.

  I crawled out of bed. It was five thirty, as it said on his alarm clock. I admit that having an alarm clock was efficient but it was still a bit strange to me. I guess it was that I wasn't as good as staying in the new century as Francis.

  I opened the door and quickly headed to my room. I changed into green dress that was a few shades darker then my eyes. It had a brown trim the same colour as my hair. Francis had once said that this was one of his favourite dresses on me because it really brought out my eyes. He was drunk then but I knew he was telling the truth.

  I went into the ballroom and dragged the giant table into the middle of the room. It was hard work but I eventually got it after pushing end by end over and over again. The chairs weren't as hard to move but there was a lot of them. There was over fifty chairs that I needed to set up.

  Then I went and grabbed flowers from the garden and put them in vases. I put them in the entry hall then went out side into the morning sun. I quickly took care of the gardens out there. Pulling out all the weeds and getting rid of dead flowers. It took about an hour to do that alone. Then I had to water them.

  Once I was done that I went back inside and hurried to the kitchen. I had totally forgotten there was no longer a chef. I washed the dirt off my hands and put some water in a kettle before placing it on the stove. I had just finished doing that when Wendy came into the kitchen.

  "Why you go and do my chores?" She said with a smile evident in her voice. I laughed and hugged her. She was head gardener here.

  "I truly am sorry." I said but she just laughed.

  "Don't worry about it. I know what your going through right now and with the world meeting being tomorrow that's really no help to you." She said. Wow word got around fast if she already knew about me killing Fredrick. "Oh and about that, I'm sorry you had to do that. Such an innocent young soul shouldn't need to do that."

  "Wendy I am older then you, if anyone is to have got the young soul it shall be you."

  "Well sweet heart you're right there but you sure do have the most innocent one. Geez you're almost two centuries old and you're still a vergin." Wendy said like it was the hardest thing to believe.

  "Well at least you haven't killed a living soul." I said as I pulled the kettle off of the stove and turned it off. I hadn't realized until I turned around that Wendy had made Francis and Arthur eggs, bacon and toast. Truth be told, bacon was the best thing about this century.

  "Stop beating yourself up about that. If you didn't kill him he would have kill both you and Francis and probably Arthur as well. Now get going and bring these up to them." She said handing me two trays. She quickly put the teas I made on each plate before making me leave the kitchen.

  I walked up the main stairs, knowing nobody was going to be walking on them. I passed Arthur's room first and kicked his door softly. It opened just like I knew it would since his door never closed properly unless you pushed on it. Which I already knew Arthur didn't do.

  When I walked in Arthur was asleep like every other time I brought him breakfast. He was here quite a bit and through out the years and I had always been the one to put the breakfast tray in his room. I knew it was dangerous but now that the secret was out, I guess it really didn't matter. He probably finally knew it was me who was the one to put the tray in his room now.

  Then I walked down the hall to Francis's room. When I walked in he was awake as usual. I smiled and placed the tray on his bedside table. I was about to leave when he called my name.

  "Alice." He said. I turned around to look at him.

  "Yes?"

  "I'm glad to see you're doing better." He smiled at me and I nodded. Then I curtsied to him and left the room. We still had so much to finish getting ready. But first I needed something to eat.