I was so nervous as we rode through the streets of London. It felt like my stomach was twisted into a tight knot, which didn't help me at all. The thing I was the most nervous about was meeting the Gilmore's relatives. For some reason I imagined them to be even more snobby than Mrs. Gilmore, if that was even humanly possible. The thought of living with three snobs for a whole month made me question why I had even come to begin with.
By now you must be wondering how I ever managed to convince my father to let me go. I assure you that it was not easy. He had been against the idea in the beginning, but after he stopped to think about it, he began to realize that Mr. Gilmore would not let anything bad happen to me and eventually gave me his permission. On Thursday morning, I said my goodbyes to everyone and promised to bring back some gifts for Giselle and Henry.
Mr. Johnson had left two days before me. He told me that he could not be with Caroline, but that he would try to come back and visit again, which I sincerely hoped that he would. Louise was devastated when I told her that he was a lowly farmer. Luckily, James had not even noticed her attempts to get Mr. Johnson's attention. Everything had turned out all right I suppose.
I glanced at the other passengers in the carriage. Caroline was seated on my left, with Mr. Gilmore directly opposite to me and Jonathan at his side. Vincent would have liked to ride with us; however, Mrs. Gilmore had insisted that he ride with her and a couple of servants. I thanked God that I did not have to be in the same carriage with her.
"What do you think of London so far, Miss Hoffman?" Mr. Gilmore asked.
"It is certainly bigger than I imagined," I commented.
"I suppose that it would seem large to someone who has never been here before," he replied.
He was probably right. It would seem large to me. To him, it was nothing new. From what I had heard, he had spent a good amount of time here. His father was rumoured to have had a holiday estate somewhere in the city. Unfortunately, we would not be staying there. We would be staying with his sister and her husband at their house.
"Is there anything in particular that you would like to see?" Caroline asked.
"I do not want to be a burden to any of you. Just being in London is enough."
"You are not a burden, Miss Hoffman," Mr. Gilmore assured me. "We are very pleased to have you with us."
"If I have time, I will try to show you around a bit. Although I fear that my aunt will keep me busy," Caroline stated.
Just then, our carriage came to a halt, and a moment later, one of the servants scurried forward to open the door for us. Jonathan and Mr. Gilmore got out first, out of protocol. As expected, it was Mr. Gilmore who helped both of us out, while Jonathan stood off to the side, observing everything in silence. Had I observed such behaviour a few months ago, I would have concluded that he was simply being arrogant, but now that I knew him, I knew that it was only because he did not wish to have any additional attention drawn towards him.
My eyes widened the moment I saw the house. It was enormous! It made the Gilmore's estate look like a modest home! "It looks like a palace," I mumbled.
Jonathan, who was now standing on my left-hand side, must have heard me. "Our uncle is a Viscount," he whispered to me.
"That would explain it," I whispered back, as we were escorted inside by the butler.
Much to my surprise, the inside was actually quite similar to the Gilmore's estate. The house was bigger, but it's furnishings were not quite as fancy. There was not quite as much gold in the room. There were less paintings. The floor was different, and the staircase was a tiny bit smaller, but aside from that it really was not that different.
"My masters will be down shortly," the butler told us.
However, we did not have to wait long. Five minutes later, a woman dressed to the height of fashion came down the stairs, her face beaming with happiness as she hurried to greet Mr. Gilmore. "How are you, my baby brother?" she asked, pulling Mr. Gilmore into a hug.
"I am just fine, Josephine," Mr. Gilmore replied, returning the hug briefly before breaking away.
Seeing the two of them side by side, I could see the resemblance between them. They both had light brown hair, and smokey grey eyes. Although there obviously were some differences. Mrs. Edwards had higher cheekbones, and dimples, where as Mr. Gilmore had neither of those physical traits.
"Where is your family?" Mr. Gilmore asked.
"Thomas is a bit preoccupied at the moment, but the others should be here soon," she explained, before turning her attention towards Vincent. "Jonathan, what on earth happened to your arm?!"
Caroline and I tried to hold back our giggles. "You were right," I whispered.
"I am not Jonathan, Aunt Josephine," Vincent corrected her, letting out a small sigh or irritation.
Mrs. Edwards looked as if she was going to say something else, but then stopped as she noticed the figures coming down the stairs behind her. One of them was an older man with a wise looking face, whom I assumed to be the Viscount, and the other was a pretty young lady, possibly around my age. I assumed that she was the daughter.
"Charles, you remember my husband, Benjamin," she said.
"Of course I do," Mr. Gilmore replied, shaking the man's hand.
"I do not believe that we have met your guest," the woman noted, noticing me all of a sudden.
I gulped as everyone's attention turned towards me. For a moment, I thought that they were all going to start scrutinizing me, but I was greatly mistaken. They all smiled at me with such warmth and kindness. They did not seem snobby and stuck up at all.
"This is Miss Helene Hoffman. She is one of Caroline's students," Mr. Gilmore introduced me.
"It is nice to meet you, Miss Hoffman," she said. "I am Josephine Edwards."
I could not help but smile at her in return. "It is nice to meet you, ma'am."
She then motioned for her daughter to come forward, "This is my daughter, Anne."
Slowly Anne crept forward from behind her mother and extended her hand to me. I immediately got the impression that she was shy, and that put me a bit more at ease. "It will be nice to have someone my own age around for a change," Anne said, her voice sounding a bit quiet, but very sweet and friendly. Clearly I had once again been too quick with my judgment. Mrs. Edwards and her family seemed like wonderful people. Maybe they were the happier side of the family.
"I am sure that everyone is tired from their long journey, so I will have the servants escort you to your rooms," Mr. Edwards explained. "Anne, would you like to escort Miss Hoffman to her room personally?"
"Of course, Father," Anne replied, escorting me up two flights of stairs, and down a long corridor, away from the group. If I had thought that the corridors in the Gilmore manor were long, these were twice as long, much like the rest of the house. I started to wonder how I would ever navigate through this palace for an entire month; however I was soon introduced to the man who would help with me that. "This is Mr. Brown. If you ever wish to explore the estate, I would advise that you ask him to escort you," she explained.
He reminded me a little bit of my father. He was an elderly man who wore glasses and did not seem to be very happy. In an attempt to lighten his mood, I smiled at him. "It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Brown."
"Now, let me show you your room," she said, as she pushed open one of the door's, revealing one of the biggest bedroom's that I had ever seen. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. The bedroom actually consisted of two rooms. One of them was called a sitting room, and according to Miss Edwards, it was appropriate for me to accept visitors in that room, while the other was reserved for my own privacy.
"I should introduce you to the servants who will be taking care of you," she said, as she began to introduce me to five more servants who stood in a straight line.
"All of these servants are at my disposal?" I asked, slowly becoming overwhelmed by the new life that I would be living.
"Are you not used to having this many servants under your command?" she asked.
I merely shook my head.
"I shall dismiss a few then. If Hannah and Edith could stay as Miss Hoffman's lady's maids then that would be fine," she instructed. Three servants then left the room, leaving two women, one older and one younger. "Will three servants be enough?" I nodded my head in silence. "I shall take my leave now." Then she did just that.
I began to look around my new rooms with the curiosity of a child. It was as if I had stepped into a whole new world. Everything seemed so amazing! The bed was so large that I could probably fit my entire family into it, including my five uncles back in Germany. Originally there had been six, but one of them had died of smallpox when I was a baby.
"Would you care for a nice, relaxing hot bath, miss? It may help you to unwind from your journey," the younger servant, Hannah suggested.
I looked at myself in the mirror that hung on the wall and suddenly felt ashamed of my appearance. I was in London now! People would surely mock my appearance if I went around like this. "Perhaps a bath and a change of clothes would be best," I said.
"As you wish," the two lady's maids replied as they pushed Mr. Brown out of the room and commenced to bring out a tub of water.