Chapter Four

Chapter 4


When one has had a particularly hard night, it can be cured by a good cup of tea. Or perhaps several, as it was in Georgiana’s case.
Upon the morning after her very peculiar encounter with Mr. Howler, it had taken her two cups of tea to get her out of bed, one to help her change, and then another during breakfast.
“Oh darling you’ll get yourself sick if you keep drinking cup after cup.” Her mother exclaimed dramatically, setting her own tea cup down with a loud clatter on the saucer.
Georgiana dipped her head in an apology as she buttered her toast.
Louisa Smith, Georgiana’s mother, was the noble kind. She had long brown hair that always stayed up in a fashionable bun at the nape of her neck. Her high arching eyebrows gave her a sort of look that one would not dare lie to her.
She was a women in the highest society, a very respected women. She attended every garden and tea party, every ball and baby shower.
In Georgiana’s lowest opinion of her mother, she thought she was a busybody.
In her highest opinion of her mother, she was one of the most caring mother’s in the world. Even if it didn’t come out in a way most would think, it still came out.


“Your father, and I have been invited to a ball next Saturday night. How exciting!” Mrs. Smith cried with obvious glee.
“We shall have to go shopping today to get a dress -”
“But mother, you have several very beautiful dresses already. Is it really necessary to go and purchase another?”
“Yes of course it is, this invitation was given to us by Lord Rupert and Lady Rachelle. And have you seen their manor? It’s the most exquisite place I have ever seen. Right outside Kingston, in the country. Beautiful place I have ever seen. No, I must get a proper ball gown. One suitable for the occasion.”
Georgiana smiled sweetly at her mother, and knew that she would never be able to talk her mother out of it.
Dress shopping it was.

The afternoon seemed to drag on for poor Georgiana. Her mother had dragged her through almost every dress shop in town. And through it all, Georgiana only commented on two patterns. Mrs. Smith was the one who picked out the dresses for the pretty parlor girl to put on so they could see it. Since it was never proper for a young lady to try on a dress that might have touched another women’s skin, Georgiana felt she wasn’t needed, other than for her mother to ramble on about the latest laces.
By the fifth shop, she was dying to find a way out of going to another one.
However, it seemed that luck was on her side.
In the very next shop, Mrs. Smith found the dress she fell in love with.
“Oh yes! It’s perfect!” She cried. “Don’t you think dear?”
Georgiana turned her gaze from the window to the girl on the dais.
“Yes mother. It’s very beautiful.” She agreed. The dress was very pretty indeed, and Georgiana didn’t want to think of the price tag as her mother ordered the dress.

Once they were done with the ordering, they’re footman helped them into the carriage waiting for them on the side of the street. Georgiana settled onto one of the embroidered benches as her mother did on the one opposite of her. They’re dresses filled up a good bit of the carriage, and Georgiana was glad no one else was traveling with them.
She leaned out the window and watched as the people passed by, going on their way of life, never bothering to stop and smell the roses as she said.
The saddest thing, she thought, about the society she lived in, was that everyone was in a rush. They had to earn more and more money, they had to buy a new and bigger house, they had to get this, they had to get that or they feared they would never be happy.
It had always bothered her. She always thought there was more to live for, always some adventure that was yet to be had. Of course, she could never say such things in the presence of her mother, but her father knew what kind of longing she had. He had it once, when he was younger. In fact, it was him who told her tales of the world he had visited. Paris, Hong Kong, New York, Dubai. He showed her all the treasures he had gathered over the years, and this had sparked her imagination.
Yet it seemed that she was the only one who had these dreams. All of her friends, all of her governesses and people she knew, were as content as could be sitting in their comfy little homes, ignoring the world, while they sipped on their tea, and went to a ridiculous number of tea parties.

“Georgiana, sit down and close the curtains.” Her mother ordered in a harsh tone.
Georgiana did as she was told, and sat in silence as they drove on. Her mother went on talking about the latest gossip in her circle of friends. Who was engaged, or having babies. Georgiana tried her best to be interested in the conversation, but it proved futile.
“Mother, do you…” She hesitated a moment, trying to figure out how to best phrase the question. “Do you ever grow tired of this life?”
Mrs. Smith’s face immediately turned hard, and Georgiana knew instantly that she had made a mistake.
“Georgiana, we are very blessed to be where we are. We never want for anything, we’ve got loyal servants, and enough money for us to live comfortably for the rest of our lives.”
“But don’t you ever wish there was something more to it? Don’t you ever get bored of all the tea parties and the gossip? And the wasteful spending? I mean there are thousands of people who could need the money for food or clothing because they have none! Couldn’t it all be put to better use?”
“Georgiana that is enough!” Mrs. Smith’s tone rose to a dangerous level. “No more talk of wanting more. You have everything a girl could want. Do not make me regret keeping you, young lady.”
Tears sprang to Georgiana’s eyes and she quickly bit her tongue and starred out the window.
She couldn’t have been more relieved when the carriage pulled up in front of the house. Not even waiting for the footmen, she bounded out of the carriage and almost tripped over her skirts.
Cursing very un-ladylike under her breath, she wrenched them up in her hands and walked into the house.
In side, the maid, Anna, took her coat, and gloves. Then Georgiana marched up the stairs and shut the door to her room quietly.
Sitting down at her vanity, she removed the pins that held her hat in place and tossed it onto the table. She caught herself, examining her face. It was very plain. Her cheekbones were defined, and she had a soft jaw. Her lips were small which never bothered her, she had light eyebrows above shockingly green eyes.
Her almost purple hair had been curled tight, her natural ringlets falling down against her neck, though most of it was piled up at the top of her head.
It always stressed her neck, and gave her a horrid headache, which was just beginning. And though she appreciated Anna’s hard work, it wasn’t really necessary around the house.
Her hands shook slightly as she pulled the pins out of her hair, each ring falling back down to it’s full length at her waist.
Once her hair was down, and pulled away from her face, she went to her closet and pulled out a pair of men’s work boots. Because of the length of her dress, she knew that the boots wouldn’t be noticed once she traded them out with her own heeled boots.
She let out a sigh of relief and then left her room, and ventured up the attic stairs.

“Father?” Her voice came out as a whisper though she didn’t mean for it too.
“Yes dearest?”
She entered the library, and looked around.
The window was still broken, and the curtain still slashed in half. The fire poker even laid on the floor where Mr. Howler had dropped it.
Mr. Smith was rummaging through the desks that were in between the overflowing bookshelves, and then the piles of more books on the floor.
“What is it you are looking for?” She asked, in desperate need of a distraction from her mother’s harsh words.
“My journal. I can’t find it anywhere, and when you told me about the man last night I fear he might have stolen it.” Her father answered.
He paused his search and looked his daughter over.
Orville Smith was a handsome man, even though he was past his prime. His salt and pepper hair was slicked back, and he hadn’t shaved in several days. Though Georgiana liked the look on him. It gave him an air of mystery, like he had just come back from an adventure in the Amazon jungle.
His black trousers were wrinkled, and his white linen shirt looked as if it had never been pressed.
But to Georgiana thought he was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen.
“Georgie are you alright?” He asked. “You look as if you’ve been upset.”
Georgie sighed. She did not wish to talk about her mother just yet, so she veered the topic of conversation away from herself.
“Why is it so important in your journal that you’re under such stress that you can’t find it?” She asked.
Her father didn’t notice the change in subject as he eagerly expressed to her his dilemma.
“I wrote down everything I ever found interesting in that journal. And some of those things theories would be very dangerous in the wrong hands. Now, can you tell me exactly what you saw last night darling?”
He leaned against the table and studied her intently.
Georgie nodded, and walked to the broken window.
“Well I heard a crash last night while I was…working. And so I came up here to see what it was. And…”
She bit her lip and knew she could not tell what happened last night, with out either telling her father about the strange boy, or lying. She so hated lying, and was scared her father would have a stroke if she told him about the boy, but it was one or the other.
“Father, can you promise me something?” She asked, turning to Mr. Smith with wide, innocent eyes.
“Yes of course.”
“You can’t tell mother, it won’t do any good and she’s already in a foul mood.”
“I promise this will stay between you and I.”
“And you promise not to have a seizure?”
With this question, Mr. Smith suspected there was something very important she was about to tell him.
He gave her a nod, and watched her closely as she took a deep breath.
“The man in the library wasn’t the only stranger in the house last night.” Georgiana said finally.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, there was a boy in the house. I think he got in by the window in the hall. Anyways, he came up stairs, and was snooping in my room.”
She could see the question arousing in her father’s mind and quickly answered it.
“Don’t worry, he was quite proper. We had a conversation, and then we heard a crash from upstairs, so we ran up here, and he took up the poker as a weapon. He found the strange man hiding behind the curtain, hence why it’s torn. They fought, though it didn’t last long, and then he shoved the man out the window. Hence the reason why it’s broken.”
For a long moment, her father didn’t say anything. And the longer he didn’t, the harder she bit down on her lip, ‘til she could taste blood.
“And you’re being truthful that he didn’t do anything indecent?”
She nodded eagerly.
“Yes father.”
“Why didn’t you come get me?”
Georgiana hesitated, and decided to tell it all to her father.
“Once I saw a glance of your journal, and I saw this…this sketch of a pocket watch. It was an ordinary pocket watch and I didn’t think much of it. Well, I told the boy, Mr. Howler, to empty his pockets for me, so I knew that he hadn’t stolen anything. His pockets were empty, except for a pocket watch. The exact same pocket watch that was in your journal.”
Her father’s eyes lit up as she spoke, and he suddenly cried with joy.
“You’ve found it! Oh darling you’ve done it!”
He scooped up his daughter and spun her around the room. She squealed from joy and hugged his neck tightly.
When he set her down, she was beaming like the little child she still was in many ways.
“We have to find this boy,” her father stated, pushing his hair back into place. “I must tell him something very important. Something he will want to know.”
“Well then it’s just our luck. He’ll meet us tonight back in the library.”
Mr. Smith ran his fingers through his daughter’s hair like he use to do so often.
“That’s my girl.”