found

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Lyndsey's new home was called Willow Grange. It was well over one hundred years old and maintained to a spectacular standard by the numerous staff under Lilith's instruction. It had an attached farm which had cows, sheep, pigs and chickens; animals which Lyndsey had been very keen to see until Celeste had informed her it was not for her to go down there as they were eating breakfast all together on her first morning. Only the staff went down there. She was a little disappointed but accepted it nonetheless. There were plenty of other things for her to see. The grange also had large stables and many horses. Oswald and Lilith each had one to ride, as did Celeste. They also had horses who worked on the farm and ones who drew the carriages.

"Soon enough there shall be a horse for you to ride too." Oswald said, as he dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief. "I sent one of my men to go and find one suitable for a new rider as soon as I was sure I had found you. He sent me word just before I came for you that it would arrive in a little over a week." Oswald twirled the ends of his moustache between his fingers absent-mindedly as he spoke, a pleased smile on his face.

"A horse all of my own?" Lyndsey asked, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Oswald nodded. "I never dreamed I might get a horse. I've never even seen horses aside from the ones which pulled the carriage yesterday." Had Lilith not been giving her a particularly sharp look, Lyndsey might have got up and hugged him like she had done at the guesthouse. She sensed that this wasn't the kind of thing that would be accepted in this house. A small nod in her direction told her she had made the right choice.

Lyndsey was soon excused from the table. She wasn't sure how she was to spend her day. There was no teacher waiting for her, her uncle had gone to his office to work and Lilith and Celeste had gone off somewhere together. Lyndsey spent most of her and those of the following days just wandering around and exploring the large house. Sometimes in the afternoons Lyndsey was invited to take afternoon tea with her aunt and sometimes Celeste too would join them but she seemed to want to avoid Lyndsey wherever possible. She would never return Lyndsey's calls of greeting in the corridors and Lyndsey was sure Celeste would turn and look away from her whenever they were in a room together. Lilith seemed never to notice this however. Celeste could do no wrong in her eyes.

"Oh Celeste is such a kind girl you know." Lilith would say as Lyndsey sat with her during afternoon tea. "I brought her up you since her mother, my dear sister, died not long after Celeste was born. Her father decided it would be better for her you see, to be raised around a strong female influence rather than around himself and her older brother."

"So her brother lives with her father?" Lyndsey asked, innately curious about how the family worked. "Does she see them often?"

Lilith shook her head. "Sadly not, I am afraid her father spends much of his time working overseas and her brother seems to be following in his footsteps. I do wish he would settle down though. Charles is such a handsome boy and clever too. He would make a fine husband to any young woman. He is supposed to be coming to visit us for Easter so I expect you shall see that for yourself soon enough." Lyndsey nodded and sipped on the cup of tea in her hand. Most of her interactions with Lilith seemed to be in this fashion and she didn't mind. She liked to learn about new things and she had never had the chance to study such a woman as her aunt. Lilith was soft spoken but Lyndsey couldn't help but sense a steely undertone to her word whenever she gave instructions. It would not, Lyndsey was certain, be a good idea to disobey her aunt.

After she had been living at Willow Grange for around a week, it was decided that the weather was good enough for Lyndsey to be taken into town to purchase some new clothes. The morning of the shopping trip, Lyndsey could barely keep still as one of the maids fixed her hair into a heavy braid. Lyndsey had never once been to a shop or been able to pick out anything new for herself. Once dressed she bounded downstairs only to find that her aunt and Celeste were not yet ready. Given a few minutes of free time, she decided to walk in the grounds a little.