In the morning that followed her arrival, Emma had indeed started to make herself "a Home," as Goody Seamstress, the absent NPC, had instructed her to do. She had found good makings for a broth in the cupboard and had set about learning what each new drawer and cabinet contained, from the top of the private apartment to the door of the public shop. But she did not feel confident to open the door and invite in the town as yet; she had been taught that nice young ladies are introduced to others, and she had badly stumbled in meeting Lord Lightbridge, addressing him as the casual "Thee" instead of the "You" or "Ye" that she had been taught to say to those above her station. She desperately hoped that by the time she had straightened the shop and gotten her things in order, one of the older women would be there.
But she had just finished a small lunch of peppered meat and cheese when she heard a loud banging on the front door. She hurried downstairs to open it, finding a young woman in working maid's clothes standing before her.
"We need Goody Seamstress! My Lady's sister must marry in one month, and there be none other what can sew the satin and the lace like she! I be sent for to fetch her thither!" the maid gushed.
Emma had stepped backwards into the room as the young woman had pushed her way inside, looking from corner to corner in rushed anticipation. Emma took a deep breath, not even knowing how her voice would sound after so long without speaking to another.
"I be muchly sorrowful for thee," she started, then cleared her throat and spoke louder, "but Goody Seamstress bee away to her owne sister's," Emma explained. The young woman began to panic.
"But what shall we do? She be with child, an my Lady's father hath put the date down t' th' minute for the wedding night to take place! We must have more tha' 40 dresses finished by then, and we have nay skill nor maids to finish in such time! What shall we do, what shall we do?" She excitedly circled the cloth display, wringing her hands as she spoke more to herself than to Emma.
"I can come with thee," Emma said, touching the young woman's arm. "It be said I be good with the satin and lace, and I be the First Apprentice to Goody Seamstress," she offered, exaggerating her own title and place in the business, but only a bit, she told herself. She felt confident with the work, even if she had not yet earned the title. "My name is Emma -- Emma Archer."
The girl's face changed completely, and she moved to hold Emma's arm even as she went into a small curtsy in front of her.
"Oh, thanks be to the Virgin, Goody Archer! My Lady will be so thankful if Ye come!" Emma lifted the older girl's elbow, indicating that she should rise. Emma was uncomfortable with such emotional displays from one more than five years older than herself, and had never been comfortable when others treated her with higher class respect. Even though her father had served on the town council, she had never thought of herself above those girls who, every morning, had thrown the contents of another family's chamberpots out into the street.
She sat the young woman down with a hot cup of the broth she had made for breakfast and was keeping warm for dinner, and went upstairs to gather her belongings, from where she had only recently stacked them, back up for another trip. She carefully tied the sheath with her father's second best set of fishing knives, given to her as a going-away present, under her skirts around her right thigh. She slipped the heavy outdoor travel overskirt over her head and pulled on her cloak. She then picked up her sewing basket, heavy with all of the materials and needles and threads that her mother had packed for her, settled the hanging ropes onto one of her shoulders, and made her way back downstairs.
The other young woman was surprised to see her ready to go so quickly, with such a prepared pack, and her eyes showed the surprise as Emma went over to stir the fire down to ash, indicating that she was ready and waiting for the other woman to get her own cloak back on. As she did so and moved by Emma out the door, Emma stood in the doorway looking around at Lightbridge, the town that she had not yet even seen, but should be calling home. She thought of the strange circumstances, and found herself saying under her breath, "Hello, Lightbridge, au revoir, Lightbridge! I hope to get to know you on my return!"
She stopped in at the stables across the way, to let them know both that she had arrived and appreciated the kindness of the fire, and that she would soon be back.
No comments:
Post a Comment